Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1912-10-31
FINAL WORD
TO THE VOTERS
Chairman Of Federation in
aFinal Appeal to w. Va.
Manhood
FOR DEFENSE Of HOMES
eloquent Appeal TO the Voters Of West
Virginia Concerning the Great strun-
ole At the Polls In November.

ss
EBy Judge ]. 6. McWhorter.l =
We are now reaching the end Of the
amendment campaign. The crisis mo-
ment has Come. The hour that shall
test the moral courage, the citizen
ship, and the manhood and woman
hood Of West virginians is here. This
IS no time for the weakling or the
coward.
MEN, MEN AND WOMEN, az West
Virginia, the state, in this hour OF
need, is calling to you'll Every child
who has felt the cuff Of drunken
father; every wife who has reeled UNI
der the blow of q drunken husband;
every man or boy who, In hopeless
agony, writhes in the deathgrip-o Of the
saloon is holding his hands out to
you, pleading In wordIess, pitiable an
guish, for your help. VIII you, can
you, withhold it? Win you, can you,
turn your back upon the pathetic, out
stretched hands Of defenseless child-
hood, give deaf ear to the pleadings
Eof a wretched, despairing manhood,
and cold heart to the entreaties of
an anxious motherhood?
Fathers and husbands Of West Vir-
ginia, are there spots out yonder in
Gods acre made sacred to you by the
memories Of the dead darlings who
sleep there, whose eyes were as blue
as the violets that bloom above their
pulseless clay, and whose clinging
love for you was as fixed and change
less as the planets to their orbits?
If there be such, then, insthe name Of
the undyfng love you bear to those
dead darlings Of yours, in the name
7 Of every sacred memory that clusters
round those halIoW6d spots, declare by
your votes upon this mighty question
| that the children of other fathers shall
receive at your hands the same protec-
ltioh you would 80 gladly have accord
ed to your own.
And you, more fortunate husbands
and fathers Of West Virginia. you who
lstiu feel slipping into yours the hand
of condding love, and stealing round
your necks the soft tender arms OF
helpless dependence, those dear ones
who a Merciful Providence has still left
to bless and sweeten your lives, de
sertethem not in this hour Of their de
pendent need; give to them the best
environment within your power. HelI
to remove from their pathways the
saloon death-trap gaping to receive
them.
And you, young mon Of West Wiz
ginia, you, strong young masters Of
your state and her destiny The bur
lden must lie close to your heart. She
who went down to the brink OF the
grave to give. you Life, and she who
has or will some day. plight her faitl
and surrender her very life and sou
to your keeping, to become the mother
lot the children God may give to you
their hope andstheir Happiness hang
trembling upon the toss Of your bal
lot on this question, and the destiny
Of your children yet to be is in YOU
hands.
Let US make no mistake. Never
Iagain, perhaps, In our life times will
1--we have another opportunity to vote
ON this question. For tWenty-foul
years has the organized liquor traffic
/ in this state beaten back the rising
tide of civic decency that has de
creed the death of the saloon. During
that time no fewer than $4,000 lives IN
our beloved state have been offered
up on the dripping affairs Of this Mo
loch. Is this not enough? Is this moi
enough CHASTITY evidence OF the uttel
futility of all license measures? What
more do we want? Shall we temper
lie longer? Shall We compromise fur
Their with a thing innately wrong and
immoral? What will be the answer
OF the Christian citizenship Of West
Virginia to these questions?
Men OF West Virginia. Kingly mer
Of our little mountain state! The -eyei
Of the nation are upon you. The
civilization Of the twentieth century
has laid its burden upon yopr hear
and conscience, and trembling awaits
your verdict What will It be?
Are you indecisive? Are you II
doubt and uncertainty aSto what you
vote should be? Then go down into
some home where the Drunkenness Of
. husband has swept from the cheeks
of young wifehood the bloom Of youth
and placed there In It's stead the sick
| " pallor Of blignted love and sunless
misery, and ask her how you shall
yote-for or against the saloon?
II still you move in doubt, go 10 the
mother whose sons saloon-induced dis
sipation has wrung her heart with an
anguish which only mothers hear
can feel, and from the red agony 81
her ceaseless Gethsemine take you
instruction.
If still your duty is not clear, go t.
the poor child whose father has beer
guttered by the pitiless saloon, and
then, from out Of the depths Of ii
halloW pleading eyes, set IN q face
pale and pinched and haggard with
the dumb agony of its starved and
frightened life, read your duty. and
know of the very truth, that littll
child shall lead you.
II still you hesitate, then 60 to oul
state penitentiary, bid its iron Jaws
open until yon can look through III
hideous. grated teeth into the pale ri
despaiTine faces Of 500 men aud ho3I
sent khither by the criminal hand d
the "a 1S,1sS end La fts,sssls sssiN Pa