The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1912-1984, 1917-01-05

In the second place, let me say that
it must be an unseltiSh Democracy me
man who would enlist in this campaign To
make Kentucky dry must be willing 10
serve in the trenches. The Democrat
who would allow his personal ambition 10
hinder or delay the triumph of this rlsnt-
eOUs cause is not worthy to bear us
stainless flag. If we enter the conflict
with this spirit of service in our hearts.
the enemy. powerful as II Is, can not
check our forward march
Watch the Other Fellow.
1T must be a vigilant and discriminat-
ing Democracy. The liquor element Will
not put avOwed wet candidates IN the
field. III many Legislative and Sena- I
tOrial districts, Democrats who have been /,
consistently and persistently wet al
their lives, men who fought the county,
unit law AT every step in It's progress !
stances for adoption. We do not pretend >
/ TO say that some of these sudden CONVEX .
slons might not be genuine, but there Is
| too much at stake to put in positions
/ of responsibility men who have had al
| their training in the enemy's camp, espe-
cially when tried and true veterans are
available.
In keeping. with the conversion of
\ these lifelong enemies of the cause. sim
| ultaneOuS with the announcement OF
! their candidacy for legislative hOnors. is
| the recent hypocritical declaration of the
| leading whisky newspapers of the state
I
another part of the conspiracy to throw
| the temperance Democrats off their guard,
make them believe the fight for submits
| sion is all over and while they are re-
| jOicing over this alleged fact the vets
| hope to elect a General Assembly made
up of their 'promisers,' who would either
! find some excuse to defeat the submission
bin outrigh,, or would pass a palpable
fake. imperative and worthless, and thus
delay the cause for five years.
! This Forward Democracy must be an
llpmOCTaGV
! business arguments with business facts.
To illustrate, the information is easily
Obtainable that the states that have voted
dry are among the most prosperous of
the Union; that their taxes are lower
I and their bank balances larger than in
the wet states; that in our own state
penitentiary, asylum and other state eX-
penses. directly traceable to liquor. are
Overwhelmingly greater than the taxes the
state receives from the liquor business.
In round numbers. the liquor business
pays into the State Treasury in taxes
S65O.000.0O a year, and takes out. in the
expenses to which l have referred,
81, 100, 900 90.
I'VE must meet the 'confiscation' argu-
ment with the plain statement that pro-
hibitiOn is not cOnfiscItiOn, that there
is no purpose to take a penny of any
mans property away from him; that the
Supreme Court has held that no man has
right to manufacture liquor. in the
sense that a man has the right TO till
the soil. but that he merely has a priVi-
lege, granted him by the sovereign peO-
pie under the law. and that the authority
that conferred the privilege has the same
right TO withdraw it at it's pleasure. If
this does not satisfy the contender, We
may simply remind him that he is es-
topped to raise the question. he has
declared his undying loyalty TO the coun-
~ unit law. under which exactly the same
character of alleged cOnfiscatiOn has bee u
going on for dozen years.
1T must be fighting Democracy. And
the fight must begin now. for the Au-
gust primary is but seven months in
front of rs. In my Judgment. one Of the
| hardest fights in front of us is the nonhi-
2 nation of Democratic legislative Candi-
| Gates in the coming August primary who
Will not only vote for the submission of "A
real prohibition Amendment On the final
5 roll call, but will use every honorable
means TO a vance ii to a vote. IL is
going to take some of our time. and in
: mary instances all of our courage. Men
e who have hitherto held alOOf from active
5 work must enter vigorously into the cam
= pai@u. for we may rest assured that not
a man of the enemy will be idle. In de-
z ClolnS just how much time and energy
2 You can give TO this preliminary iIetht.
{ bear in mind that the opposition has al
t almost unlimited corruption fund at its
5 command. They boast that they We
J. one hundred million dollars investe( in
e their Kentucky plants. They have D CT
T listing these plants for taxation at 1ly
e 4 little more than eight miAOnS. so il
{ their boast is correct they have evidently
= been dOdSlnS taxes on the other ninety
d two millions. in order to accumulate d
campaign fund.
n We have the greatest respect for al
X the organizations that have fought 20
- prohibition through the years that are
T. behind us. NJ on" would underestimate
o the great value Of their pioneer work. a..
{, detraCt from the honor that il due them
. I.ut this task Is 50 big that il demands
{ the services Of great political party
e To win the victory. Fortunately. the
n Democratic party in kentucky has wO.
I its right To eSpouSe this cause F,V-ry
/ temperance law on our statute books has
= been written there by the Democratic
: party. We do not mean that there were
= not some dry Republicans who voted fOl
the bills. but the measures were Demo-
/ cratic. and had been promulgated in
Democratic platforms. ! might add in
pGSSir" that every one of these laws, eX-
> c~"' "~""t i" known as the p per cent
amendment (Which was passed later, with
u --... iHCOTseneuJ} was enac-
t-- uauer the leadership Of our dis
= tnguish junior Senator. J. G.. w. Beck
; ham, during his term as Governor.
u Having made this splendid record, the
IL party is now entitled to the honor o.
: leading the fight to finish the task