Norwich bulletin., 1912-09-14

of our people have believed that we can destroy the liquor traffic by prohibitive law.
 Administration the Remedy.. And that is where the people have been wrong for the past sixty years. We never can destroy the liquor traf- fic by law alone. Law never has de- stroyed and never will destroy the traffic (Now, don't have heart fail- ure, my prohibition brothers. Just wait : a little while and you will see that I have not been backsliding.) It is not law that destroys the liquor traffic Law is not government! Administra- ton of the law Is government. And all the people who. for the past sixty | years, have stood for destroying the traffic by getting a prohibition law, have been all wrong.
 Why have they been wrong? Be- cause they have relied upon the law. The law is one per cent. in the de- 1 structfon of the liquor traffic and the l interpretation of the law and the ad- ministration of the government are 99 l per cent. What is needed is a party , elected to power that will deal with l the manufacture and sale of liquor from the standpoint that it is crime and not business.
 It has been well said that we elect men to office, but we elect political ! parties to power. We1d don't want any laws of any kind whatever passed. All We want is to be elected to power. First Steps in Administration. | What will we do? Repeal the "in- fernal' revenue law-sometimes called l the internal revenue law. Repeal the 1 section of the statute in each state that permits the granting of hcensel Elect our political party to power and we will administer the government from the standpoint that the making and selling of liquor is crime and not business, and the thing will be dead. Elect us to power, and we will 1 repeal a few laws and do the rest by i interpretation sof the constitution and administration of the government.
 Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to get hold of this proposition tonight, as you never have before-that we are not government by law, but by law and interpretation and administration of the law by the political party in power. That is the only way to carry out a great reform and theory of gov ernment. No one. except the non par tisan republican and democratic tenn 1 perance prohibitionists. have ever pro-, posed great reform or a revolution without trying to get hold of every | branch of government
 We think it is 'imperatively de- manded' that there should be an en- tire change of administration this I year, Then we will administer the I government, organize the supreme court, interpret the law and constitu- I tion, kill the liquor traffic, and after that as a matter of precaution. pef- haps, amend the constitution.
 We don't propose passing local op- tion or prohibition law or consti- tutional amendment and getting a town dry, a county dry, or state dry by law! There never was a more 1 absurd plan carried on and called a method of dealing with the liquor traf- f1cs Had it been tried on any other great political issue except the liquor | question, people would have said the men proposing it did not have sense l enough to ache when they were cold. | At the rate you are going now, how long will it take your republican
 denlocratic-t temperance people to de-
 stroy the liquor traffic? You won't I have it done when Gabriel blows his
 trumpet. And If we succeed in get
 ting law, turn the administration of | 1t over to the two grand old liQuor
  they cannot do it in any other way, I.l they will seek to set 1t aside by de- cision of the supreme court. That's the on-partisan way, don't you see It has been a glorious success, hasn't lit? .,l Standpatter and Progressive. : |. The supreme court is very im- portant element in this proposition tmoye important than even prohibition ists have conceived. It was an issue
 in the last campaign.
 . For fear any of you don't know, l . will tell you he difference between a
 standpatteP and 3. progressive;' "A
 standpatter Is g statesman who has ! stopped and you cannot start him; and
 a progressive is g. statesman who has
 started and you cannot stop him"
 The whole fight in the last campaign was over the question of administra-
 tion-was it not-interpreting the con-
 stitution and the laws? Taft was [ elected. During the first three years } of his presidency there have been five vacancies in the supreme court. Ht , has already appointed a majority o1 tthe court. With what result? Every ' appointment, l believe, has been made } with the expectation that whenever z I decision on the liquor traffic is asked
 ne Will QeClQe from the StAndpOln
 that the manufacture and sale of liquol is legitimate business. Am I justi : fled in making that statement? Le : the facts speak.
 7 A Monstrous Decision.
 Think of the supreme court, in thi
 age of civilization calling whiskey-
 that awful stuff-a legitimate articl Il of interstate Ncommerce!" All vol n people living in dry towns remembe z. the next time man reels by you, an r say: He Is full of interstate com { merce; he has got too much inter x, state commerce in him. and is drunk! }, Think of such-a supreme court Why s ladies and gentlemen, think of a su Q preme court making that kind of
 decision-one without a fundaments U principle of morals, law or govern ment to support it, and a thousand t 0 condemn it and give it the lie. I ), twenty five years those judges will b d classed with those who made the Ore
 Scott decision on the slavery question It will be known as another infamou
 decision to fasten a monstrous Wron
 upon nation.
 A collection for the prohibition treas
 ury was taken up as the meeting aO