The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-09-10

the RuSSsAub were COMING. heLo AhN
there an Irish colony settled and CAP
'tured some town, and a French colony
nestled on the south slope OF some
warm hillside: but chiefly the popu-
ton was from the Middle western
States. Men ana women came from
Ohio. fro., Indiana, from Illinois. the
blood of Kansas was the blood OF
New England uttered through the pio-
neer stock Of the Middle West. II
was good blood; but It was young
blood. In It were dreams and visions.
Away back In 1857 the land on
which the town Of EmporiA stands
was bound against the saloon: every
lot decided by tho town company con-
tanned a clause which prohibited the
sale OF liquor on that lot under pen
atty Of reversion OF the title to the
town company. u
Kansas sent more soldiers to the
civil war in proportion to her popu-
lation than eny other Northern State.
In Kaneas the Grange hourished
and the Greenbacker rose and waited
strong. So when the prohibition
movement swept the country in the
first emotional phases of the temper.
lance cause.-the movement which gave
us Ten Nights in q Barroom, Francis
Murphy and John B. Cough. the Hor-
ribie Examples. and the Rum Fiend
coined prohibition as a long-lost
brother. Kansas swore off with a
mighty oath.
1t was . grand day, that day when
Kansas took the pledge; and there
was rejoicing and praying and exhort-
ing, and great emotional high links
In every countryside. village and
farm. And then, of course. came the
reaction. There were breweries and
let
and Wholesale houses. and property
rights OF many kinds to be adjusted.
And there were the Germans and the
Russians and the French and the
Irish, who had come to the land OF
the free and did not propose to give
up their personal liberty.
And then, separated from the rights
of property and from those who OBJ :.
jected to any curtailment Of their per-
senai liberty. there were those high
spirited young blades of the cowcamp,
direct descendants Of Robin Hood.
who regarded life as q frolic and any
death short OF granddaughter as a
humiliation. They were to be found
In every community.
Sometimes the members Of this
gentry were gamblers and held ex-
allied station In the imagination Of
the population: sometimes they Were
towns sacred honor in the ever-preva-
lent connty-seat fight OF a frontier
State. and sometimes they were horse
thieves resting from their loved eYn-
ploy in difference to- the puitanical
notions OF a vigilance committee.
THIS section Of the community. which
lis the evidence OF youth In any State,
held the prohibitory law in low es-
teem To beat the law became =
- nv uErstfnO n.
time. and its observance was regard
ed as a servile trucking to those low
elements in a community that only
paid its taxes and filled its churches.
How n Long, Hard Fight Was Won.
Naturally the adoption OF the pro-
hib.tory law In Kansas . third OF
century ago had the effect OF prohibit
ing the sale OF liquor In towns where
public sentiment already had 6iscred-
tied liquor: but in other communities
the prohibitory law started a twenty
years war. The law put the burden
Of defense on the seller OF liquor: II
gave the citizen who desired to get
out into the open and fight the sale
Of liquor this advantage:
The taxpayers paid for his law
suits: but that was about all. at first
During the nrst ten years OF the
struggle juries refused to convict vio-
,ators of the law In communities
where there was a majority In favor
Of violation: public ofifcers were lax
In their duty. business men frowneo
on prosecutions because the prosecu-
tons ran up taxes. The brave spirits
who insisted on obedience to the law,
who swore out complaints against OF.
tenders, who organized the friends OF
law and order. were treated as cranks
and fanaticai disturbers Of the peace
To these cranks to the fearless,
high minded. patriotic men and wo-
men who kept UP the fight Tor en-
forcement OF the prohibitory law In
the eighties and nineties In every
community: who. enduring insults ana
often personal violence. day after DAY.
year after year. aggressiveiy attacked
the Illegal saloon in all It's phases
the open bar. the drug store Joint. the
back alley dive. the livery stable. re-
sort--and who kept hghting relentless
Is until they won inch by incn
complete victory over the organised
forces of the liquor tranic: to these
cranks and patriots Kansas owes
whatever social and economic gain the
enforcement Of the prchibitory law
has given to the State
Without such An element In COM
munity the prohibitory law is dead
letter and worse than no law. These
men and women Of the crusadtnE type
correspond to the forces OF Will that
rescue an individual from the nico-
hol habit Unless a man has these
qualities OF soul his resolutions come
to nothing. Unless q State has them
whatever emotional heights register
uuence In dealing with the whiskey
problem. Nothing in American poll
tics is so discouraging. 90 dieillusion-
ing. 80 tragic, ~ the epecsAcl0 OF a