Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-06-01
WHAT HARDING DID AND CAN DO.

The Sioux City Journal says that Mr..
Harding is not committed to the return
of the saloon and insists that il is
false issue to question his attitude.
Another asks what Harding could do
to bring back the saloon as against an
Iowa legislature
Let's analyze this between ourselves
briefly. Now the men in Iowa who see
no other business for themselves but
the liquor traffic, who desire no other
business and the brewers and distillers
who seek a market for their goods
don't as a matter Of fact care greatly
they have the trade nor does the
brewery worry greatly over whether its
product is blind pisged or salooned 50
long as the demand continues and the
Wholesale price stays up. The onry
reason saloonist pays for the privilege
of selling booze is because the law
Of liquor sellers in Iowa would be per-
fectly satisfied if permitted to sell with
on. a license.
There is not the slightest doubt n
the minds of those who know him and
his legislative record that Mr.. Harding
is in favor of the return of the saloon
to Iowa. He would not be able prob
ably in his administration to induce a
legislature to pass a high license law.
But he'd do it if he could. See his
legislative record.
Mr. Harding seems presently to be in
favor Of the unlicensed saloon, the un-
mulcted drinking place. He calls the
prohibitory laws foolish and non
enforcible" He is very much opposed
TO any interference by the state officials
with the town and local officers who
are charged with enforcement Of the
statutes.
What does that mean? In most cities
and towns Il means lax enforcement
Of law. In many cities and towns it
means wide open blind pigs and boot
leggers with free hand? 1t means a
return to political control of the vicious
! hidden gambling house. of the assigna-
ton house, of the dangers that the
! farmers hoped had been removed from
their sons when "the boys went 10
/ town" and from the daily paths Of the
boy in town. It means renewed bidding
by unworthy candidates for the vote
! that goes to the wide open town. It
means that each town with a weak city
administration shall locally repeal the
Cosson laws. 1t means a return to the
conditions Of nom enforcement that fol-
lowed the prohibitory law thirty years
ago. It is the hope of the saloon ad-
vocates that non enforcement will bring
the return of the saloons in time. It
is the same old game over.
| Now contrast the two men, Harding
and Cosson. Cosson Is the author and
has been the enforcer Of the Cosson
laws. When the Cosson red light law
went into effect the Burlington and
Davenport papers described the hegira
! of prostitutes and nimps ac-css the
river to Illinois the day before the
! law became effective in Iowa. When
the white slave law was before the
Iowa legislature in the Thirty-thrd as
sennhlv Harding is marked "ahsec. ~
not voting" When the Hammond red
light injunction law came before that
same legislature Harding is marked
absent or not voting" The records
are in black and white. There is no
avoiding or explaining the records.
When the five mile limit law came
before the neyt legislature Harding
voted no" That law was to put the
saloons five miles away from the state
university. But Harding voted to keep
Ethem under the noses OF the students
flor whose welfare fathers and mothers