The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1901-1982, 1912-08-15
ATKINSON SPEAKS
ON PROHIBITION
STATE GOVERNMENT unit
SAYS WHISKEY MEN HAVE NO
RIGHT TO POSE AS LOCAL
OPTIONISTS.

From Saturdays Daily.
A good crowd of enthusiastic citi-
zens and including a number a ladies
greeted Gen. w E. Atkinson last
night at the courthouse. General At
kinson has for many years been in the
forefront of the battle for moral re-
form. He was introduced by DR.. J.
w. Conger, and made an eloquent and
able speech. He warned the people
that the whiskey men were making ev-
cry effort to deceive the voters and
that their only hope of success is in
being able to deceive. 81 deny to the
fwhiskey people the right to call them
selves local optionists, for when the
present advocates of prohibition were
in the battle to get local option, they
fought the then local optionists at ev-
cry point and to the last ditch. When
they had the choice between whiskey
everywhere and local option, they were
to man for whiskey everywhere
when it is now a choice between whis-
key nowhere and local option, they are
loud in their praise about local option
That is to say, they are for all the
whiskey they can get, anywhere and
all the time; there is not a temperance
man among them.
'TheSe same people come to you
with the plea that they stand for the
good old Anglo-Saxon principle of To-
cal self-government. But they falsify
this principle. For the unit of govern
ment in this country is the state-not
county, not the township, not the
ward. The constitution of Arkansas
recognizes this principle and provided
that special laws shall not be enacted
by the legislature where general laws
can be made to answer The whiskey
men themselves know this, for they
raised this very point against us when
We first sought to put whiskey out by
special acts. They went into court
and pleaded that the constitution itself
was against the local option process.
The case arose in Cleveland county.
The supreme court declared that the
exigenc:es Of the situation justified the
process. We have, therefore, this re-
suit: First, that by the doctrine laid
down in the constitution and thus in
terpreted by the supreme court, the
regular method of procedure is the
statewide method, never to be depart
ed from, except to meet an exigency ;
and, second, the Whiskey men them
selves are on record with this plea,
and were overthrown in the supreme
court on the ground that here was an
eXigency justifying a departure from
the state wide method. In other words,
the state simply stands on the original
ground of right to govern itself by
general laws, applicable to all its
parts, when it proceeds to enact a
state wide prohibition law. Local self
government never did mean the right
to do wrong thing in any place
never meant the right to engage in the
business that infringed upon the peace
and liberty of your neighbors. Be-
sides, these places that have liquor are
not after local self-government; they
are after extending their whiskey-
rox,arpp,opt oxor x,o,, If 7 ;ttla Pool
Fort Smith, Hot Springs, Pine Bluff
and Helena cared only for local self
government, they might be content to
sell and drink their liquor. What these
liquor men, calling themselves local
optionists, want is the right to inter-
fere in dry counties, ship their stuff
into them, to the ruin of your young
men. They want to keep themselves
in position to corrupt your elections
and debauch your officers. If they be-
lieve in local self-government, why are
they so active now in all the dry coun-
ties, sowing them down with lying lit
erature?"
General Atkinson paid high trib-
ute to the Log Cabin Democrat for
having refused the whiskey men space
for their campaign. He declared that
the citizens of Conway ought to build
an endearing monument to a man who
conducted his paper upon so high a
plane of honor.
Following the speech of General At
kinson, Prosecuting Attorney G. w.
Clark was called. He declared that his
experience as a public officer had con-
vinced him of the necessity of state
wide prohibition. He cited numerous
facts that had arisen in the prosecu-
(Cnnf; al ~, pouo C.vl