The Alaska citizen., 1917-02-19
Phone 262 Phone
TREND OF THE TIMES.

\ot long ago the Chicago IFlDuhe' newspaper which has always stren- uously opposed every move Of Nll- .am Jennings Bryan since first the great commoner" came into prUmi hence. decided that Bryan had come back to life, as 1t were. politically ~peaking. It argued his career from every standpoint. particularly in the matter of proh bition. and ended by admitting that Dryan's influence k again being felt throughout the na ton and predicting that he will be the dominant national figure in the Democratic party during the presl dential campaign of 1920. In fact the Tribune attributes the pTohibi tion wave which is now sweeping the country largely to the influence of William Jennings Bryan.
 The Tribune, of course, does not attribute all of the success of the present prohibition movement to Bryan but il says that he has done q great deal toward helping the pro hibitionists and that he will prob ably do more In support of it's con ,entjora along this line it points out that. while prohibition has been an issue for many years in various localities of the country, il neFe" took the firm hold on the people that il has since Bryan, several years ago. took the prohibition lee ,urp platform and started his pri- yate campaign against liquor and the liquor interests.
 The news dispatches of the past few months up until the present time, in way confirm the opinion of the Tribune, if its contentious are true, although but very little is stat cd relative to Bryan. For it appears that the Tribunes prediction that prohibition will be national issue in the presidential campaign of 1920, will prove to be fact. It was only Thursday that the Judiciary commit zee of the house of representatives reported tavorably on the bill pro yiding for the submission to vote of the people of the various states, Of q prohibition amendment to the con stitution of the United States On the same day both the senate and the house passed an amendment to the postal appropriations bill mak ing it a crime to send liquor adveT Using through the mails in such states as have been voted dry by their people. The senate also passed another amendment to the approprla- tions bill making it crime to i'm port liquor into these states. The senate is not expected to pass upon the national prohibition amendment measure on account of a heavy ac- emulation of other business, but it is thought that the measure will certainly be passed by the house of representatives in the very near flu NP q have united in declaring the District of Colun.b bia, the nome of the Ameri- can government, dry territory.
 What better signs could there be of the seeming general trend of the times than the actions of the national legislative bodies? There is no doubt that the action of tho bodies IS governed by the people who sent the various representatives and sena- tors to congress and there can there fore be but little doubt that the peo- pie of the nation, as a general rule. are in hearty accord with the na- tional prohibition movement.
 At least the cooperation of the people of the country is being claim ed by the prohibition leaders. They claim that half of the states of the country are now dry, or will be so in the near future, and they also claim large areas of the socalled wet states are now operating under local option law. In fact. it was stated In a recent prohibition publi- cation that fully eighty-three per cent of the United States is now, or soon will be. dry territory.
 The fact that most of the large cities Of the country persist in re- maining wet by vote of their peo- pie, is the stumbling block to the campaign of the prohibitionists Only one large city, Baltimore. which voted on the liquor question at the last election went dry. On the other