New-York tribune., 1919-01-17
Prohibition i'm the United States
Neal Do,U Began Fight for
Prohibition q Years Ago
Made Maine s'Dry,'' After Which Rum Forces
Used Wedge of Local Option Until World War
Added Needed Force to Existing Momentum

The prohibition movement which cul-
minated yesterday in the ratification
OF the Federal Constitutional amend
ment by two-thirds of the states in
the Union is one which has been grow
ing Tor nearly three-quarters of a cen
sury and had its inception in this coun-
Try. Since the war its advance had
oeen rapid, owing to the addition to
The momentum already acquired of the
extension of the suffrage to women in
many states and to the quickened
moral perceptions of the nation.
This country is the first to legislate
the liquor traffic completely out of
business, as it was the first in which
the possibility of such action was de-
monstrated. The father of prohibition
then called "temperancc" = in this
pioneer prohibition nation was Neal
Dow, the Maine leader, whose Quaker
uporinging did Tot prevent him from
nsnting throughout the Civil War.
Dow's First State Campaign
Dow started his campaign to forbid
the sale of liquor in an etntire state
IN 1896, and in 1851 the Neal Dow pro
hioitory law became effective through
ouC Name, later to be Incorporated in
the state constitution. In 1889, seven
years befors Neal Dow began his fyht
IN earnest, Connecticut had adon3e6
the principle of local option. but Dow
was the father of the statewide probi-
nltlon which now has grown to a
nation wide probject.
rom the passage Of the Neal Dow
law on the cumulative effect of minor
victories had been appreciated and util-
ized to the utmost by the prohibition
ists. Inc example set by Maine in 1851
was followed III 1852 hy Massachusetts
Knode Island and Vermont, and al
lhough all three of the states later re-
pealed the laws. the followers of Neal
DOW and his doctrines had learned their
Thereafter the introduction of local
option became their preliminary re-
connalssance of hostile territory. Some
ol thelr most bitter enemies. they
.new, would favor local option, if onlv
for the opportunity it would afford to
teach the temperance gam, q thing
or two" But the "temperance gang"
was not an apt pupil. 1t never learned
10 know when it was beaten
Local Option Spreads
Again and again the question, "Wet
or Dry!' was put to the voters and
hnally, through sheer perversity on the
part OF the voters or through sheer
persistence on the part of the item
perance gang" according to the view
ship or city or even the county would
vote itself dry. Then the prohibition
lists had base of operations whence
they directed their campaign through
out the state
lime and again this. strategy was
justified as, after years of patient cam
state after state in one or
another section of the country would
hasten to follow the example set bv
a neighbor. Thus from 1880 to 1900
a prohibition wave swept the Middle
west, leaving anti-liquor laws in Kan
sas, Iowa and North and South Dakota.
Some Of these states, like Iowa, were
lost lost to the .prohibitionists later, but,
IKE Iowa: which in 1915 substituted
dry law for its high license law, thev
were retaken. Arkansas. Oklahoma.
Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Montana fell
IN line and the advance was taken up
on both fronts, the prohibition forces
marching eastward through Indiana to
Ohio, which fell last fall, enveloping
Michigan, which also capitulated, and
turning also to the Pacific coast.
California battle-ground
Washington and Oregon went dry
and California, vineyard state, be-
came terrific battle-ground for the
forces of prohibition and liquor. The
former adopted the old infiltration
tactics. getting foothold now in
township, again in city and here and