Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1915-02-17
IOWA TO BE "DRY."

/
| (From Dubuque Telegraph-Herald.)
i The state of Iowa will be dry.
Nothing short Of miracle can pre-
vent it and the day of miracles, 1t is
safe to assume, is passed. What
the state Senate did Friday, when II
voted to submit the question or a
prohibition amendment to the people
and in passing the Clarkson bill for
the repeal Of the mulct law,the house
also will do. This apparently is just
as certain as it is that the House
membership when the measures COM
up will be constituted as 1t is now.
| The repeal of the mulct law means
that statutory prohibition will again
be in force. 1t means the state, SO
far as legalized liquor traffic is
concerned, will be "dry" from Du-
buuue to Council Bluffs and from
Allamakee county to Keokuk. 1t
means that the city of Dubuque, new
er before dry" in it's history. will
be without saloons.
If the Head amendment to the
Clarkson bill also is accepted by the
House, it means that the legalized
liquor traffic in Iowa will end on
January /, 1916. It is possible the
! House will insist upon an earlier re-
peal and it would not be surprising
were July to witness the change.
The mulct law is a makesh1ft. 1t
was accepted as a compromise be-
tween prohibition and local option.
The prohibitory law is in effect to-
day as it has been for years. The
mulct law only provides a means by
which the enforcement Of the prohib-
| itory law is prevented. The saloon
man, by showing the required sigma
lures to consent petition are secured,
that he has but one entrance to his
place Of business, that he has no
screen in door or windows, that his
place is closed between certain hours
and on certain days, that he has not
jsold to minors or inebriates, etc., Is
afforded under the mulct law bar
to prosecution under the prOhibitory
law. The repeal of the mu1ct law re.
turns the prohibitory law into full
force and effect in Iowa.
Without discussing the merits OF
the case; without going into the fail
ure which prohibition represented in
the old days in Iowa; without discuss
ing the phase of the right Of people
in one section of the state to dictate
what shall be eaten or drunk by peo-
pie in another section; without list
ing the property, revenue and en-
ployment loss it may be observed
that the demand for temperance has
been growing steadily over the nation
for ten years past. Iowa simply has
fallen in line or has been swept a.
long by the wave. Whether proh1-
bition will improve the matter Of
temperance, condition which in Du-
buque at least is concededly good. is
a question.
The first evidence of the general
result will be manifest during the
next few weeks in Des Moines, the
saloons in which city, by action OF
the council were closed, presumably
for good, yesterday. It may be OBJ
served in passing that Waterloo, as
a dry town, is not generally con-;
ceded a success. It is stated that
prohibition so far from prohibiting,
has resulted in even more drinking,
much of the stuff Of villainous
character and from which traffic
there is not cent Of revenue de-
rived.
The large fact is, however. that if
the people of the state of Iowa do
not like their laws, the remedy lies
with them