Cleveland County herald., 1919-01-02
COLD WATER PARTY
 FIFTY YEARS OLD
Was Organized for National Po-
 IiticaI Action in 1869.
FIRST ROLLED 5,6o7 VOTES
John p. St. Johns Stirring Campaign of 1884-Great Work of Miss Will lard and the w. c. T. U. in
 Suppressing lntemperance.

Final triumph for it's cause came to the national Prohibition party almost at the time of it's golden jubilee, It came into existence fifty years ago next September in Farwell hall, Chi cago, by the act of a convention of about 500 delegates representing 19 states.
 For several years the formation of such a party had been discussed be- cause the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties had virtually | ignored the advocates of prohibition. The Good Templars, organized in 1851 as a society of total abstainers, urged such action, and other leaders believed | it necessary. At a state temperance convention held in Pennsylvania in 1 1867 the plan was first publicly broach- i ed, and two years later on May 29, 1869, the call for the Chicago conven- tion was put out by the grand lodge of the Good Templars in session at Os- wego, N. Y. A committee to formulate the plans was named, comprising John Russell, Detroit; J. A. Spencer Cleve- land O.; James Black, Lancaster, Pa. ; John N. Stearns, New York, and Dan iel Wilkins, Bloomington, III. The con- vention called by this committee or ganized the party on September l, adopted a platform and appointed national committee of which John Rus sell was chairman.
 First National Ticket.
 Nearly three years later, on Wash ington's birthday, 1872, the new party met in convention in Columbus, O., to place a national ticket in the field. James Black was nominated for presl- dent and John Russell for vice presi- dent MT. Black was q prominent Good Templar and also was one of the founders of the National Temperance Society and Publication house and Of the Camp Meeting association at Ocean Grove, N. J. MT. Russell, also leader of the Good Templars and Methodist minister, was known as the father of the Prohibition party, for he published a newspaper, the Penlnsular Herald, which led the way in advocat- ing the organization of the party for political action.
 l With all their devotion to the cause, the Prohibition leaders had no hope of success in the election of 1872, and I they were not disappointed. Their ticket received only SCOT votes. This did not discourage them, and four years later they put Green Clay Smith of Kentucky and Gideon T. Stewart on the ticket. These gentlemen re- 1 ceived 9,737 votes. General Neal Dow of Maine who had gained fame as the author of the Maine Prohibition law, was the next presidential candidate, in 1880, with H. A. Thompson in sec ond place on the ticket. They boiled only 10,366 votes.
 St. Johns Hot Campaign.
 When the plans were being laid for the campaign of 1884, Frances E. Will lard and her fellow workers of the w. c. T. U. entered the field. They sent to the Republican convention a great petition asking that consideration be given the pleas of the temperance ad- vocates, but it was ignored and even Miss Willard promptly turned to the Prohibition party. Her help was wei comed and John F. St. John of Kan sas was put at the head of the cold water ticket. Already he was nota- ble figure, for he had fought in the