The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-06-14

ignorance or prejudice, or both in its
criticisms.
In the first it displayed ignorance
by asserting that when congress was
considering prohibition measures, Il
was not "devoting its time to work
directly connected with the war
This writer has been in personal
touch with the ranking generals of
the army and the admirals Of the
navy, and has discussed with General
Pershing. Admiral Sims, and such
men, the relation Of the prohibition
Of intoXicants and the suppression of
vice to the winning of the war. With
one strong, clear. emphatic voice
every general and every admiral has
declared that the passage of the law
by congress, at the request of the
prohibitionists considered by the
Times Dispatch to be pestlferous)
protecting the soldiers and sailors
from the liquor and vice traffics has
wrought a revolution in the discipline
and efficiency in the army. and has
been of inCalculahle benefit The
Times-Dispatch may display its ignor-
ance and its prejudice by declaring
that such moral measures are not
directly connected with the war
but the military authorities do not
agree with the Times Dispatch
DO the people OF Virginia agree
with the Times Dispatch? If they do
not then they should thunder a pro
| test against the attitude of that pa
per that will be so loud that even the
most ardent friend of the liquor traf-
tic in the Times Dispatch office will
feel the personal impact of that pro-
test.
The next day. following the sheer
ing allusion quoted above. the Times
Dispatch in a leading editorial de-
nounced the national prohibition
workers as Legislative raiders" The
mes-Dispatch fiagrantly m srepre-
sented President Wilson, and asserted
that the president had been com
PEELED to Openly oppose mischievous
anti-liquor legislation" twice within
less than a year, The editor of the
Times Dispatch actually had the au-
dacity to try to line up President VIII
| son as occupying the same unpatri-
otto position as that occupied by the
/ Tfmes-Dispatch editor. And the edi-
tor actually went so far as to pre-
sumo that the readers Of that paper
would not he we'll informed, and he
endeavored 10 buttress his misrepre-
sensations by referring TO letter
written by the president on June 20,
! f"it, w lEtt ulluETSlG0bU, declaring
| that In that letter the president
Offered objections to the banishment
, OF beer and light wines" that could
not be overcome.
| It Ia shame TO the people of Vir-
sinia that the paper which claims TO
| be the representative newspaper OF
| the capital city should thus attempt
| TO misrepresent what there was no
excuse for incorporating for the
letter Of the president to the under
signed was a public document print
| ed IN full IN the newspapers.
But this attitude of the Times Dis
| patch ia entirely consistent with all
its past record It has bitterly fought
every movement for moral legislation
IN the state Of Virginia, or in the con-
gress of the United States What
| wonder is II that tho city of Rich
| mond stands disgraced today before
the whole country? The oldest morn
Ing newspaper of the city stands fdr
just the things which have now dis
graced the city II bitterly fought a
sufficient appropriation by the legis-
iature to enforce the prohibition laws
hoping that violations would be so
Migrant that there would be clamor
for repeal of the law. In the edi-
torials of the present week referred
to above, lax public officials are given
to understand that the Times Dis
patch has no sympathy with prohi-
bition
What wonder that the city admin
istration has felt comparatively secure
In its failure to enforce the law,
knowing that every day or so the law
would be ridiculed and criticized by
leading paper read by many citizens
OF Richmond and of the state at
large. The citizens of Virginia should
not tolerate the attitude of this news
paper any longer. They should pro-
test against 1t as totally misrepre-
senting the ideals of the Virginia peo-
pie, and as largely responsible for the
disgrace which has come upon the
city and the state.
VIII the people enter their pro-
testo
In reference to the misrepresenta-
ton made by the Times Dispatch on
the attitude of President Wilson, and
OF the national prohibition workers,
the undersigned wrote to the editor
OF the Times Dispatch on Juuo-I IL. =