The Lexington progress. (Lexington, Tenn.) 1884-current, 1913-10-17
n. r. Patterson on
Law Enforcement
Continued from first page.)

have not the falntest idea OF
what the splendid trnths of De.
mocracy mean. Their ideas of
Democracy begin at the brewery
and distillery and end with the.
dive keeper, the brothel and the
gambling hell.
They have raised the red flag
against order, and the hand of
every honest citizen should be
against them"
TO assert organized lawless
ness to the states mandates is
not to assert any principle of free
government or human liberty,
but it is to assert a principle of
anarchy, of disease and death to
the body politics, he declared.
THE city Bosses" he continu-
ed, do not want the prohibition
law repealed--they do not want
it enforced. They want to re.
tain, unmolested, their tyranni-
cal power and crack the lash ov.
er the backs of their slaves"
Regarding liquor itself, he de-
clared: Liquor poisons every.
thing it touches. 1t is q public
enemy, and as such it should be
treated"
Regarding his own position,
Governor Patterson said:
When / sent in my message
to the Legislature on the prohi-
bition question, and afterwards
vetoed the bill, l was honest
and sincere with the people as |
knew how to be, and absolutely
true to my platform pledges.
"Since then l have tried to
discover whether the law itself
was responsible for the evils or
its enforcement, and l have
been irresistably led, as if by
the hand of an unseen power, to
the belief that our trouble was
not in the law--not altogether in
the non-enforcement of the law
but in the accursed thing it,
self.
"You who have followed me in
the past and rallied around my
flag when the smoke was thickest
and the fighting fiercest, will
ask, is this the man we once
knew2' And | answer, Yes;
the only difference is that ! have
cast off the she'll of my environ
ment, cut the cord which bound
me, and entered upon a new,
and, ! hope, happier and better
life.
II know that every man in
Tennessee who has been my real
friend will never find it in his
heart to censure. There are 9th
ers who will charge me with in
consistency; those who have u.s.
ed me to their advantage, and
those who wish to be unmolest-
ed while they coin money from
the walls of children, the tears
and heartaches of women and
the degradation of men.
ITO those who charge incon,
sistency, my reply shall be an
admission to the fact. | am in
consistent-my views now are
not what they were-I am glad |
am inconsistent. How has this
change come about? 1t did not
come through me or by me. |
have felt, my countrymen, Xix .
one cropping in the dark.
II know suffering aud sorrow,
and | have pitied it in Others, |
have felt my weakness and inse
curity and need of help. | could
not find it in cold logic and rea
son. | looked for it in my own
mind and conscience and could
not discover it.
II then cast aside all pride of
opinion, all thought of what the
world would think or say, and
bowed my head before the
throne Of Almighty God and ask
ed for strength and light. At
last | found it there-my doubts
are dispelled-the curtain of the
night has parted and the way is
clear.
From now as long as life lasts
l am the uncompromising foe of
the liquor traffic. It's ugly and
venomous head should be struck
wherever it is raised.
Failures have been recorded
and failures will be recorded in
the attempt by the state alone
to control or destroy this evil.
The great battle to be fought
is to dissolve the connection of
the United States government
with the manufacture and sale
of liquor and interdict it by a
constitutional amendment. This
and this alone will strike the
last and decisive blow for re-
demption.