The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1918-12-13

" lHc Snu, hS1PiiS III hiiiia thN W.
the House.
Those of you who have kept some
track of events in New York, realize
that the governor OF that state, like
the governor OF most states. has not
been free from political troubles and
turmoil, and that most of these trou-
bes have seemed somehow, to origin
ate with or proceed from that element
in public life which has been continu-
ously willing to do the will of the
organized liquor traffic.
/ 1t was not until | undertook, be-
cause | knew that it was right and
democratic, republican and American
in principle, to obtain, if | could, the
passage of simple measure allowing
the people of the cities of our state
the same opportunity that has been
possessed by the rural towns of de-
termning whether the liquor traffic
shall continue to exist in their midst,
that there was forced upon me real
ization OF the fact that the political
forces which fetter and clog and block
every effort at humanizing progress in
general, are the very same forces
which, year in and year out, block, by
every means within their power, the
efforts of the people to destroy the
beverage liquor traffic.
Nothing has pleased me more than
TO see how the movement which you
championed, ccntcring in a moral is
sue based upon the rallying OF sound
public sentiment has operated, here
and there at least, to eliminate from
public life men who are the foes OF
lall genuine progress and whose pro-
llliaoof attitude ps5lliitiisaIiy- way rneleiy
one indication of their general unfit
ness to serve their fellow men and the
present day.
The past four years have seen some
OF this kind of political change in New
York, and | realize on looking at the
Prohibition map of the country that it
has been going on throughout the ma
ton for the past 25 years. No one
can measure what it has meant in the
publication of the nations thought
and action.
The very elements which for years
sought places of political power that
they might subtly use them for the
benefit of German propaganda, were
welded to the liquor traffic, seemingly
as a part of what is known as
"Deutschtum." The evidence un-
earthed by the investigation conducted
by committee Of the United States
Senate, shows conclusively the rela-
ton between the official organization
of the brewers in this country and the
German-American Alliance, which ur
to the time of the official entry of this
country into the war was a most ac.
tive agency of the Hun propaganda il
| America.
AS we look back upon the uncertain
days of 1916, when whatever of politi
cal potency there was in those element.
was menacing the life of the natior
and the liberties of the world, it i:
easy to believe that when the final rec
ord of those days is made up, it will
be found that the activities of thu
agencies of the moral forces, in man
ner which they did not fully under
stand and to degree which at present
may not be generally admitted, savet
the situation and prevented the de-
ception of the intelligence, the sitting
of the conscience and the lettering oi
the. hands of the nation.
Even with a ratification of the fed.
eral Prohibition amendment in this
country, which now seems assured
even without New York, there will
still be many problems to solve in con-
nection with Prohibition itself. Just
how your League can be of greatest
service in this connection perhaps is
unnecessary to discuss here. A con-
stitutional provision may forbid the
liquor traffic. But it requires great
deal more than a constitutional
amendment to stop the liquor traffic.
Legislation by Congress, perhaps, leg
islation in the individual states, and a
determined public sentiment to en-
force righteous laws-all are necessary
to accomplish the thing that ! believe
is going to be accomplished in this
land of ours, and at no very distant
date.
Enforcement of law involves the
nomination and election of officials
who are honest, conscientious and
fearless in their support by the peo-
pie in their efforts to discharge their
duties. Laws are not self-enforcing.