El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-08-10
IS
DEAD ISSUE FOR
NEXT FOUR YEARS
Ferguson Declares He Will
Veto Liquor Legislation
of All Kinds.


Austin. Tex, Aug. lot is now
quite certain that an end has been put
70 the agitation for state Wlae pr
niblIlon in Texas at least for the mex mex
Tour years. In 1910 the Democrats
o. IeXas voted favOrably on the pEopo
sltion OF submitting proposed 49, ste
vide prohibition amendment 10 me
constitution to the people Of the slaLes
INC majority which it received oelns
ze'OlS. The legislature carried Guy
the VIII Of the party in the matt al- -,
Ine Sutfraglsts Of Texas were given an
opportunity TO say at the polls WheLner
the whole state should be dry me
election was held in 1911 and resulted
IN the defeat Of the proposed anlen4-
ment by a majority Of 6.2S7 votes. II
was claimed by Prohibition leaders
mat the amendment was carried, Dut
the Iuu count in favor OF II was NOT
maze IN some of the Texas counuesS
DHt no steps were taken to subStanIl-
ate the claim Of fraud The only otner
election on the state wide pronloluon
question IN Texas was in 1881 Wnsn u
was defeated by a majority OF SltSzf-
Democrats Tire Of the Issue.
That the Democrats Of the state are
tired Of the issue is shown by an an
alysls Of the vote in the recent prl-
maries in what was formerly regarded
as the almost solid Prohibition dis
tricts, particularly in north and central
Texas. Counties that were expected
to give an overwhelming majority IN
favor of submitting the proposed state
wide prohibition constitutional amend
ment to the people gave maJorities
against IT. The defeat OF submission
in the whole state by more than 15,ggO
majority is considered to be decisive
enough to dispose Of the question for
several years to come.
Democrats Change Attitude.
It was this change in attitude on the
prohibition question on the part OF
many thousands Of Democrats that
Thomas H. Ball for governor and the
nomination OF James E Ferguson for
that office in the late primaries. Nj.
Balls campaign managers were eN-
pecting to obtain the principal sup
port of their candidate in the sO-called
blackland counties, but in this
they were disappointed. It is also
certain that there will be no legisla-
ton affecting the saloon or liquor in
terests put into effect during the ad-
ministration OF Mr.. Ferguson He
made the announcement many times
during the recent campaign that
should he be elected governor he
would veto every piece Of prohibition
and liquor legislation that came TO
him With this declaration Of Mr..
Ferguson confronting the Prohibition
lists it matters little whether the legis-
lature is wet" or dry" in its mem
bership. The indications. however.
point to a wet" majority in the SEN
ate and a bare dry" majority in the
house Mr.. Ferguson takes the posi-
ton that the business interests OF
Texas have been upset long enough
by the agitation OF the prohibition
question and that there are other and
more important matters which demand
the attention Of the legislature. He
has pledged himself TO give the people
a business administration" and while
one Of the chief issues that he origi-
mated and advocated during his cam
paign for the office was the enact
ment Of a law regulating the amount
OF crop rent a farm tenant shall re-
ceiye il is claimed by his friends that
he will not attempt anything IN the
way Of the spectacular and that his
administration will be characterized
by conservatism.
VIII Not Adopt COIquitt's Policies.
Another thing which is quite appar-
ent is that Mr. Ferguson will not fol-
low the policies laid down by governor
o. B. COlquitt with respect 10 the sd-
ministration Of the affairs OF the edu-
catiOnal and eleemosynary institu-
tons as well as the penitentiary sys-
TEN. He has promised liberal treat
ment in the way OF appropriations for
the University Of Texas and the cause
Of education generally. He also
pledges himself to bring the peniten-
tiary system out OF the financial en-