Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1912-10-24

among the PattersoH-AeAiilha people
about loSal option is very low grade
OF common nonsense. Ii they mean any
thing by it at all, they mean that where
the people of a community have voted
against the saloon, the law will be re-
spected, They give as the reason for
law violations in Nashville, Chattanooga
and Memphis. the fact that the law was
imposed upon them without vote. The
talsity OF this argument is demonstrated
by the fact that in Knoxville, where a
strong majority voted the saloon out,
the whiskey business is now being con
Quoted almost as flagrantly as in Nash
villa.
Saloon Lawless.
The truth is that the saloon is essen.
italy lawless. The whiskey business 10
lawless. 1t has never submitted to legal
restraints anywhere. If you regulate It
1t violates the regulations. Ii YOU segFe- ,
gate. it, it sneaks across the forbidden
line. II you close the front door, this
back door is opened. 1t obeys the law ,
only where it is compelled to obey 1T. +,
The regulated saloon is a myth, and the
Model License League is a fraud. .,'t
Two yeats ago the Regular platform 4,
said that the saloon problem was a
moral and economic question, but this
year they have admitted the truth that
it is also political question. Some Of
the greatest political issues that have !,
ever confronted the states and nations
of the earth have involved consideration
of right and wrong, which made them
moral issues.
We have Travelled too far around the
cycle of civilization to waste much fur
Their time IN the argument that the sale'
and use of alcoholic drinks IN the worlds
greatest curse. so.
The history of the human family is .
record of its struggles with this evil
thing. According to statistics, it has de-
stroyed ten thousand men to every man
killed in war. MiElons of men have sue,
cumbed to it, and great nations have,
gone down before it. 1t is the curse of
the rich and the poor, the high and the
low. 1t has debased manhood, defled;
wOmanho0d and filed the world with
widows, orphans and outcasts. 1t has
been condemned by religion and morals"
for over three thousand years, and now
science says that it is not food, but q
poison; not a stimulant, but narcotic,
and the fruitful cause of disease, weak
ness and death. '..r ...
The philosopher has spoken against it,,
the p.dpit has Numbered its anathema,
and tte state has taught the little chill
dren is ruinous effects. 1nere are yet
men in the world, however, who claim
that the state-the public--lnust do
nothing to check the ravages of this
monster, but must sit still with closed
eyes and folded hands and offer no re-
sisance to the greatest seourge of hui
mainly. These men say that it is wise
only to build and equip hospitals, asy.
lums, poor houses and prisons for The
victims of this destroyer.
Country and City. I'd
But the people of Tennessee do not
subscribe to this doctrine. They have
long since decided, in the light of reason,
that the sale of whiskey is not bust.
ness, but a crime 1t adds nothing to
the sum of human wealth. 1t sucks the
life-blood from the business prosperity
Of any community.
They have also decided that if the
four-mile law is good for the country, it
is good for the city. If it can be en-.
forced in the country, it can be enforced
in the country is punished, the open,
public, continuous violation In the city
must also be punished. If it is d crime
to secretly sell a pint in back alley
in a small town, it is a greater crime to
hand it out openly and brazenly from
the gilded bar-roQm, with its nude and
ewd pictures, in the great city.
What, then, is Tie question before
tie people? The question ia whether or
ROT the liquor power shall be permitted
- entrench itself in the large cities Of
This state and nullify the laws of our
1t il the question of law
against anarchy-the great
Ind sovereign state against the lawless
What is the situation with which we
1t is this: The four-mle law he's been
accepted and respected by the g1eat
masses of the people in the country and
he small towns. Their officials have
enforced it reasonably well, and the EN-
of it is growing stronger every
lay In the cities the law has not been
enforced. No effort has been made to
enforce it in three of the cities. The
officials have positively and publicly re-
used to enforce it. Hundreds of sa-
oons are running wide open--not blind
igers, but twoeyed tigers, with gold
immed spectasles. They no longer
lain, as of yore, that the law cannot
e enforced. They simply declare that
hey will not enforce it because ma
" Of the people do not want it en-
Eho constitute this majority
It's they obey rather than
the land And their official
Be saloon-keepers, gamblers
Sepers and their numerous
black and white; large
Erupt politicians composing
kbuHty machines, who are
the law-breakers; a con-
Der of business men, who
sale of whiskey bus
b would rather enthrons
lose a dollar; and the
lpu!atiqn which flocks to
bur land.
blcm of City.
ton, this condition, pre-.
Ist problem in the Amer
Mt today-the problem of
recently caught glimpse
rdness Of the government of
tbo 80 ,rhI.h