The daily progressive-miner., 1917-07-13
PREAMBLE TO THE CONS TITUTI0N OF
 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

We. the People of the United States l in order to form more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic tran guilty, provide for the common de- l fensa. promote the general Walfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America
 The above is the rock upon which the Constitution of our country anf' institutions are planted for the pur- poses therein stated we are now talk ing part in the bloodiest war of all his tory which will determine whether or not we can secure the Blessings of ty" We have thrown open the na- tion's treasury and our resources in men and things to the Entente Allies in Europe. who have been making the most devoted and heroic stand and hu- man sacrifices in blood and suffering in the annals of mankind to secure such blessings to their posterity and ours Our young men are crossing continent and an ocean infested with murderous submarines leaving behind them. mothers, fathers, young wives and little children. brothers sisters, or sweethearts. as the case may be, to offer up their youth. their hopes. their all they have" to keep and make men free and ito secure for all time the blessings of liberty" to the dear ones left behind them and to their posterity; and those who stay behind have also duties to perform. Every man whose mind and heart and soul is permeated with the spirit of the noble founders of this government, of Florence Nighten- gale. and Clara Barton, and the thous- tnds who have won their spurs in the ranks of the Red Cross, the illustrious characters in peace and war whose names adorn the history of our coun- try, and the unknown and un-recorded dead who. have given up their lives for the preservation of liberty, justice, hu- manity and righteousness, have the wisdom to know their duty and the courage to do
 Someone under the name of VOTER in an article published in the Ketchi- kan Progressive Miner on July 12th un- dertook to tell the men and women of Ketchikan their duty as voters at next Tuesdays election, which will be to vote to grant or not to grant liquor dealers the lawful privilege of continu- ing their traffic during the next six months
 It is frequently stated that Congress has legalized the liquor traffic in Al aska. Such statements are false. Con- gress has never legalized the sale of intoxicating liquor in any town or con- munity in this territory; all that Con- gress has done is to allow a majority of the white male anG female citizens over the age of twenty-one years of agee within two miles of the place where intoxicating liquors are to be sold, to legalize such selling; therefore if the sale of intoxicating liquors is to be legalized during the next six months the said citizens of ketchikan and vic unity will have to do it by their votes next Tuesday; the aforesaid writer says that to vote dry now would be to work hardship on liquor dealers. the slave holders set up the same claim. every class of man who wants to do wrong makes the same contention. that any law which stops them works q hardship. Every seller of intoxicat- ing liquors in Ketchikan knew that the said citizens of Ketchikan if they per form their duty would put them out or business on the 1st day of this month, and if they have stocks of in toXicating liquors on hand now they took their chances when they purchas- ed such stocks on the men and women or ketchlkan not performing their duty at the polling place as citizens of this country. MT. VOTER further says it is not fair, ''the voters of this territory have virtually agreed, by the terms of the ballot that the saloons be permit ted to run until the end of this year.; no such inference can be drawn from
 the vote of the people at the last cleo ton. The ballot gave them no op- portunity to fix the time when whisky
 selling must stop. All they could vote
 on was whether it should be stopped
 at the end of this year or continue. If they had been accorded the right to
 vote on stopping it's sale on the 3Oth
 day of June there can be no doubt bu
 that the vote would have been pract