Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1913-06-17
HON. f. v. CHAF|N
IN WEBSTER CITY
Delivers Address at the Court House
Mrs. E.. N. Law Also Speaks
at Meeting.

The second day of the Temperance
institute or crusade being held il
this city was very successful one
in spite of the very warm weather
About hundred people interested
in the temperance cause gathered al
the court house yesterday afternoon
to listen to Eugene w. Chain, au.
thor, statesman and orator, who ran
in the last presidential campaign on
the prohibition ticket.
Mr.. Chain was somewhat delay
ed and the first part of the meeting
was taken charge of by Mrs. E. N.
Law, national w. c. T. U. worker,
who spoke upon the political phase
of the temperance question. The
saving of the drunkard himself and
the relief of his family is, said Mrs.
Law, distinctly moral issue but
the destruction of the liquor traffic
is a political issue because this bust
ness is at present controlled by the
government, its legislative bodies
and their enactmentS and by the Of
ticers of the state and nation. Since
the business is so controlled the
question of its maintenance or de-
struction must be faced at the bal
| lot box. BY the passage of the law
of 1863 the government became a
partner in this liquor business and
| has received a heavy revenue from
it ever since.
Upon the arrival of Mr.. Chain,
Mrs. Law Immediately granted him
the floor, which he took and occu-
pied for the next half hour, enter
tanning and instructing his audience
in a delightfully."- informal manner.
Mr.. Chain has one Of those gen.
| ial personalities which puts him on
friendly footing with his audience
| Immediately. There is nothing con-
troversial in his manner and you
can not help but like the man
whether you agree with him or not.
In his short address he sketched
! in brief and concise form the var
| ious methods which have been en-
ployed thus far by the prohibition
party in their efforts to do away
with the liquor business. He point
ed out just where the weak places
had been in all Of the legislative
measures thus far secured, such as
state wide prohibition laws, prohi-
| bition amendments to state consti-
buttons, high license, etc. The
trouble with these measures, said
Mr.. Chain, is that in almost every
case they got dry legislation but wet
officers to enforce it and so it failed.
The prohibitionists to succeed must
have not only the right kind of leg
islation but they must also have pro-
| hibition officers to enforce this leg
islaton. AS a practical example Of
this sort Of thing he cited the con-
dition in Kansas where for twenty
seven years a prohibition amend
ment had rested upon the statute
books of the state but liquor was
circulated as freely as before its
adoption. But finally there came in
to the governors chair of that state
a man who had the courage and the
will to enforce that law and in a
very short time the door Of every
saloon in the commonwealth had
been closed
The legislative measure now most
! to be desired is, in the estimation Of
Mr.. Chain, a congressional measure
prohibiting the manufacture and
sale Of liquor in this country. This
enforced by a prohibition president
would he thinks, drive the curse
from the land but nothing short Of
this would ever do it.
The matter OF an amendment to
/ TIE CollSliluliolI vi lIlC ohllSu SldlSS
he declared to be utterly impracti-
cal. as it takes a union of both the
majority and minority parties to
adopt such an amendment and this
the prohibitionists could never sue
coed in getting. And If they did get
! 1t, nothing would be done to en-
force it without prohibition eXecu-
| tive.
This year the prohibitionists are
canvassing for a s1,000,O00 cam
paign fund to which Iowa is expect
ed to contribute $4,000 and the
meeting yesterday afternoon closed
with the taking Of subscriptions TO
this fund.
The evening meeting was held in
the Baptist church under the direc-
ton OF Mrs. Law, who was very
agreeably surprised at the size OF