The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-10-19

4 Asov' a~F' H. IA. KIT, WT!tlhE III ,ht
current issue of the Religious Herald,
under the title. THE True Objective,
says:
year or two ago the Religious
Heraio frighte-ed few of its over
anxious friends with the statement
tnat the passage of a law forb.dding
the sale or fntoxicants as a beverage
ought not to be regarded as the true
objective OF temperance refor,ners: but
that we must keep steadily in mind
the creation and cultivation of such
pubic sentiment o.. this matter as
would make legislation unnecessary
we believe II is worth while a, the
present 1uncture to repeat and to EN-
phasize TINS cautionary word The
careful student OF reform movements
wherein the law is invoked rannot
fail 10 notice that quite obyious
source of weakness is found In the
assumption by the friends OF the re-
form that the enactment OF restrictive
or prohibitive laws Is all tina. Is neces-
sary. OF course, much OF the talk
about the failure of prohibition to
prohibit is wild and foolish and has
little or no basis In fact Such basis
as it has Is due in no small degree tn
Ithe mistake which we are now uo,n-.
ing out
The enactment of reform meas
ure into law has a real value 1t ia
worth while TO make husines So which
is immoral and injurious infamous in
the eyes Of the law The express
statute gives TO the friends of moral
reform a perfec',y concrete rallyins
point. The effort TO procure such leg
islation is highly educatiye and useful
Let no one underestimate for a mo-
ment the permanent importance and
significance of such action az the SOW
ereign State of Virginia has just taken
Granting all this claiming IT, in
deed. and repoicing in it. we yet be-
iieve it necessary to warn our PEG
pie that We have only taken the arst
ssep. We must, see clearly that our
true objective lies ahead, of us. Wo
are headed in the right direction and
we have made gratifying progress, hu.
the goal liz still distant. We must
grid our loins and press toward il
In the first place. the law inst
passed does not furnish, does not pre-
tend to furnish. complete program
of legislation. 1t simply registers in
a striking and unmistakable way the
will of the people of this state. /.
remains for the Legislature to make
this will effective by the passage of
suitable laws We have found among
cur friends who voted against State-e3
wide prohibition quite a plumber who
are sincerely and honestly IN favor
of executing the will of the people
and of enforcing whatever laws may
be passed. All honor to them. But
we have found also not few who
voted against Statewide prohibition
who are now evidently superZealous in
demanding the most rigid LEGISLATION
possible. We are not inclined TO be
suspicious, but this sort of zeal in
evitably suggests an Interrogation
point. 1t looks very much like the
zeal of a man with his tongue in his
cheek, One cannot completely extin-
! guish a rising suspicion that If the
! temperance leaders. In the flush OF n
great triumph, insist upon legislation
so radical and unreasonable as to in
sure popular disapproval and bring a
strong reaction these Jealous gentle
men would lose no sleep on that ac-
count. There Is danger here. we
have had striking example OF it In
Alabama. Temperance leaders there
sought the adoption of constIru
/ tional amendment. 1t was dereat-o
by an overwhelming majority, only
six counties in the entire State giving
majorities for It. Yet there is little
doubt that II the question had been
submitted to Alabama people in the
form in which it was submitted II,
Virginia, the State would have given
a good majority in favor of proniva-
! ton. The overzealous temperance
folk played into the hands of their
enemies by writing into the proposed |
amendment what was known as the
search and seizure provision. which
gave to any petty officer the right,
upon bare suspicion or alleged sus
picion ON his part. to enter and search
any house in Alabama. We do not
think any Anglo-Saxon community /
with full understanding of the signi-
ficance of such a measure would ever
approve 1t.
We can safely trust the men who /
have been in the leadership OF our
/ temperance movement to ask at the /
hands of the Legislature only sucn |
Hesitation as in their judgment meets /
the wishes of our people al This time ]
| Our leaders have been thoughtful and 7
conservative and they will continue /
to be so. They are not likely TO lose
their heads even under the influence I
of SO tremendous a victory.
I'VE must keep distinctly in mind I
that so far as legislation is concerned |
It takes a better informed and more +
substantial and sustained public SEN I
timent 10 secure the enforcement Of a /
law OF this kind than it does to secure /
its enactment In the light of this /
important consideration we must re-
new and continue steadily the process /
u euuGdiloH on tnlS WHote matter Oh I
the dangerous and destructive charac- |
ter of strong drink All the legisia-
ton that We have secured is the pro-
duct of these educational processes. I
and these processes must go on, II we
are to gather any sound fruit from our
great and long-continued campaign. |
We have been working for years to
get rid Of the external appeals to the /
appetite of strong drink. That is only +!
8SnGCt. though o.
pect. Of this reform. We need now
to be reminded of a yet more impor-
tant aspect of 1t. We must seek /
through information. through appeals
to the highest and best in the people
whom we can reach. through constant
and sympathetic teaching. teaching