The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-06-03
W. c. |. j. DEPARTMENT.
Mrs. z. Van Hood, Editor

lot the following me article. WIZ
every conscientious, manly, thinking
man in Marion county please read
it?)
Hon. John Dawson. attorney gen
eral of Kansas. delivered an address
al Chicago, April 1912, on What
Prohibition Has Done for Kansas. =
The constitutional amendment pro-
hibiting the manufacture and sale in
the state. of intoxicating liquor ex-
.cept for medical. scientific. and me-
chanical purposes was adopted in
November. 1880. In has therefore
been in operation long enough 10 at
ford a reasonable test Of the effects
OF statewide prohibition. Mr.. Daw-
son acknowledges that for quite a
number of years the law was openly
defed in many OF the larger towns
and cities. 1t took long and bitter
| fight for the people Of Kansas to
/ convince the law-defying liquor in
/ terests that they were really in
earnest about banishing the infa-
nous traffic from their state But
they are convinced at last and for
some time the prohibition laws of
the state have been as consistently
enforced as those against other COM
mon forms of criminal conduct In
estimating the results Of prohibition
I however, allowance must be made
for the delay occasiOned by this pro-
tracted battle against anarchy, and
Iyet, in spite of this. these results, as
summed up by the attorney general,
are thoroughly convincing. Here are
few of the more important of them:
/. Illiteracy has been reduced
from 40 per cent to less than per
cent and this is confined almost en-
tireIy to the foreign element in the
southeastern portion of the state.
, Eighty-seven of the one hun
dred and five counties of the state
have no insane. fifty-four have no
IfeebIe-minded. and ninety-six have
no inebriates. There is only one
Ipauper in every three thousand pop
.ulation. Thirty-eight poor farms
have no inmates. In July, 1911.
fifty-three county jails were empty
and sixty-fve counties had no pris-
oners serving sentence; some coun-
ties have not called a jury to try a
criminal case in ten years, and a
grand jury is so uncommon that half
the people would not know what it is
4. In 1880 the bank savings de-
today they are $500, 100000. The
state is now the richest per capita in
the Union, the average wealth being
i$1,7O0, whereas the average for the
nation is only $1,000. Missouri
: which adjoins Kansas and is rich in
natural resources, has an average OF
less than $500. During the panic Of
: 1897 Kansas sent $5O,0O0,0O0 tc
New York to relieve the money mar
ket, while Missouri sent nothing.
4. In 1880 the death rate il
: Michigan, Wisconsin and Kansas was
: practically the same, seventeen tC
= the thousand. Since then the death
} rate of Kansas has gradually falleT
( till it is now only seven and one-half
| while that Of other states has slight
: ly increased.
l >. The per capita cost of intoXi
: eating liquors in Missouri is $24; il
Kansas it is $1.0S.
6. 1t has demonstrated that the
! saloon is not a business, but a par
, asite on business.
Z. 1t has taken politics out of The
= saloons and the saloons out of poll
tics. Every political party in Kan
sas now stands for prohibition, anC
keeping joints and brothels out O.
cities is as much the business polio!
of the average city as keeping The
streets clean, water pure and the
public parks attractive.
In answer to the question as t
> the relative value Of prohibition anC
high license as a means Of abolish
ing the evils Of intoxicating liquors
Mr. Dawson says: There is no rel
ative value High license is not {
means of abolishing the evils of in
toxicating liquors. The only solu-
ton OF the liquor problem is its total
suppression High license is first
OF all a confession that the liquor
business is a bad business; and a
tax upon a bad business, a cruel
vicious and wicked business means
that the state says TO the rum seller:
You are corrupting the morals Of my
people. you are undermining the
manhood of my young men, you are
.robbing the cheeks OF my young wo-
men Of their bloom, YOU are poison
mig the blood of my babes. YOU are
wrecking my homes, filling my jails
and furnishing spawn for the
fbrotheI. You are at the back Of all
the villianies OF the age. and turn
Iirg my people into drunkards. luna
tics and suicides. and YOU make a
very large amount Of money out of
this infamous business. and l shall
require YOU TO stand and deliver to
me a considerable portion Of this
dirty money which YOU are making
lin this vilIanous fashion.
Does prohibition prohibit? "Of