The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1915-07-10
NO OPTION ELECTION
Marquette County Leaders Prefer TO
work for State Wide Prohibition

what Is going 70 take place IN the
wet" and dry" circles OF this pen
insula next year II has been on the
cards right along that Marquette
county intends to vote on the question
but the Mining Journal in Thursdays
issue. claims the opposite, The Jour
nails authority is one Of the leading
movers in the dly ranks. The Journal
says:
While IL was unoffcially stated
some weeks ago that an effort would
be made next spring TO make Mar
quette county dry under the local
option law. II now appears that the
plan has been given up by the drys,
and that their effort next year will be
centered on piling up goodly dry
vote in the county when statewide
prohibition is voted on In the fall
"A Marquette clergyman questioned
about the plans of the drys said yes
terday that while no Official announce
ment had been made to that effect, he
believed that no local option campaign
would be undertaken. 'If such cam
paign was contemplated Z would have
to be underway now he asserted
NATURALLY the burden OF II would fall
on the clergymen, and the clergymen
are about to enter on their vacations.
They will be absent from the county
for some weeks, and during that time
nothing could be done about circulat-
ing petitions. These petitions. II should
be remembered. would have to be be
fore the October meeting of the super
yisors II would be no small task to
obtain the required number of sigma
lures. and from the fact that the work
has not been taken up as yet. it can.
/ should say, fairly be inferred that
there will be no vote on county pro-
hibition i'm the spring election.
Rather Il is the purpose OF the
men interested in the dry movement
to center their effort, on polling a
large vote in Marquette county in the
fall election, when the issue of state
wide prohibition will be up. The cir
culation of petitions for the submis-
sion OF the issue in the state at large
will soon be undertaken. and II is ex-
pected that Marquette county's full
proportion Of the required signatures
will be obtained The drys will make
vigorous campaign in this county as
part of the statewide fight, but fur
ther than that they do not propose to
go
One OF the factors in the decision not
to have a local option election i'm the
county in the spring was, II is said, the
difficulty that would be experienced in
financing two campaigns IN one year
The drys find that to have a chance
to win they must be able TO spend
money with great freedom for public
ity. for defraying the expenses rof
meetings and for purposes ofprganiza-
ton Last fall after IL was decided TO
circulate local option petitions for
Marquette county and when. after
some signatures had actually been lsc-
cured, the campaign was given. up,
one Of the reasons for fhe eleventh
hour decision was the reports from
clergymen in all parts of the county
that there would be considerable diff
Guilty securing the necessary financial
support for the movement, owing to
depressed business conditions. And
business IN the county In the interval
has not shown any Improvement. II
anything. II is slower and money is
tighter than was the case last sum
mer. This condition. coupled with the
desire Of the drys 10 be able TO make
the best showing in the statewide
election. in the opinion Of their leaders
makes county election in the spring
inadvisable. although the state ofli-
clals or the Anti-saloon league have
professed Willingness 10 give their
fullest cooperation n It should BE-
decided TO undertake campaign.
while this Is the situation with re-
gard to Marquette county. there will be
local option contests In other upper
peninsula counties. though the drys
will as rule. center their energies
In the larger counties on the fall eec.
tion Delta may be the conspicuous ex
ception to this condition. There the
drys are circulating petitions for q
county election. and apparently mean
TO 20 ahead with one II the necessary
signatures can be obtained. They are
being actively opposed in this plan
however. by the business interests
which assert that the situation IN the
county should be permitted TO hinge
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