Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-08-25

OPEN FORUM
The Wave of Radicalism.

-"-~N~~N-~~-e~%~'
Editor Capital Journal:-I see by
your paper that meeting was held at
the city library, presided over by Rev.
Dr. Doney of Willamette university, to
make Oregon absolutely dry. 1t seems
to me we have had pretty nearly enough
of radicalism in Oregon. But like the
French revolution, the only remedy
known to radicals is more radicalism.
HASN'T our state gone far enough on
these lines to satisfy the most puritan
ical! Hasn't enough injury been done
to the city we live in and to the state
at large9 Read this from today's AL
bany Herald one of the most consis-
tent prohibition papers in the state,
over the name of DR.. J. j. Hill:
Empty houses, little trade in once
busy streets, refusal of large per-
centage of our citizens to patronize
the Chautauqua, and forcing it, through
personal animosities of one class against
the other, to face bankruptcy unless a
truce can be had with the belligerent
factions, are some of the trials that are
confronting us today. The sins of the
guilty unfortunately visit the innocent
The majority of the leaders that
brought about the city's wreckage, fol-
lowed in the wake of their ruin. instead
or remaining to act as pail bearers OF
the corpses they made, left the "dead
to bury the dead" Look over the list
of those who were foremost in the fight
and you will find few of the despoilers
here today and the few who are here,
are now showing ga tendency toward
mnra libaro ia on1 con,p ennea ~
community
DR.. Hill is an oldtimer and large
property owner. He is not transient
agitator with no real responsibility to
the community. What he says of Al.
bany is true of nearly every town in
western Oregon. 1t should be remem-
bered that the same radicals who pro
pose now to make the state what they
call absolutely dry" enacted the pres
ent law in all its terms and are re-
sponsible for all its demoralizing influ-
ences upon our communities. 1 have
asked manv business men in our city
whether they are making money. The
almost universal answer is no, we are
losing money. The showing of the
banks is pretty good index, and I
would like to see the radicals take the
bank statements for the past three
years and see how much satisfaction
they get out of them. | should like to
have them take any block in the city
and see what property was renting for
three years ago and compare it with the
present deadly effect of their work.
Their only answer is, there are not
so many people in Jail. and the attend
ance at the penitentiary has fallen off
There are not as many in the iails and
penitentiary as should be there and
there is not as much business of any
kind. 1t cannot be said that this is
due to the European war or to the
democratic administrations in the past
20 years and our city never went so
flat. These same radicals are backing
a Sunday Blue Law that aims to stop
all labor on the Sabbath day, or at least
they complain that 10000 persons work
in Oregon on Sunday, not counting the
preachers. These 10000 earn about two
million dollars year in wages, and that
is to be stopped. The radical party
will not stop at this, but if they are
given the power will not only stop all
amusements on Sunday, close theatres,
stop dancing and card playing, and even
games of children and young people.
Their present excuse for radicalism
is that the Oregon brewers are to be
allowed to manufacture and sell on the
same terms as brewers in other states.
Would that be crime? It would be
justice. But what care they for thati
Justice does not enter into the scheme
of Puritanism. A Portland woman Wis.
itin0 at Salem recently had haort foil,
ure, and needed a spoonful of whiskey,
her lifelong remedy No physician could
prescribe it. No druggist could sell
it. What is the effect of driving peo.
pie to use drugs2 1t is to fill the mad.
houses and cemeteries. This is what we
call moral reform. Isn't it time to
call halt on craze that leaves its
victims in worse condition than it finds
them1
f. HOFER.