The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1920-07-21
1--WE Are Still on the Map and
Our Mission is Not Ended"
Says Keynote Speaker
MUST ENFORCE THE LAWS
National Chairman Raps Two
Major Parties for Lack Of
Reference of Liquor
Traffic

still on the map and our mission is
not ended" Aaron S. Watkins, keynote
speaker at the Prohibition Party's
thirteenth presidential convention, told
the delegates at it's opening session
here this morning. "We must place
in the field ticket of real presidential
size and make campaign that will
win the respect of all thinking men
n and women"
Mr.. Watkins said that the prohibi
tion question was not settled and
would not be until the machinery OF
government is attached and the law
breakers surrender Internationally y
"The experiment of even partially
enforced prohibition" he said, has
been so eminently satisfactory and the
demonstrations of moral and industrial
improvements so convincing that mill.
lions of halters between two opinions
have been convinced beyond a shadow
s of doubt"
p" Mr.. Watkins ran on the Prohibition
ticket in 1908 and 1912 as it's candi-
date for the vice-presidency. He is
professor of English in school at
Germantown, Ohio.
Are Celebrating
The delegates prepared to give over
much of the three day and night ses.
sions to jubilation over John Barley
corn
To this end several celebrations
and a dozen or more orators have
prepared speeches felicitating the
party and it's fight against liquor,
n~I I1,, nj, ho non1nnr2fia and
Republican conventions for lack of
definite action of the question.
The opening session found the dele
gates almost unanimously in favor of
William Jennings Bryan as the presi
Dental nominee.
Talks on League
The Prohibition keynote speaker
emphasized the interest OF the Prohl-
bition Party in other questions con
fronting the country. He declared
that "the whole country desires the
league of nations" and that it would
finally be adopted, but he character
lied President Wilson's course in
handling 1t as having "tOo much the
flavor Of autocracy' and said his plan
could not be adopted without radical
revision"
On prohibition, Mr.. Watkins said:
"When we inquire of the leaders of
the two major parties why an iron
clad prohibition plank was omitted
from each of the party platforms, we
are blandly informed that the question
is settled! Years ago when we
pleaded for such a plank, they said
that it never can be settled, or at any
rate, it is too soon to make the fight.
Now it is too late to mention the sub
iect! wonder when would have been
the psychological moment that the
question of prohibition would have
been strictly up to date.
"This is subterfuge Of course.
Merely setting down group of figures
does not solve problem and decala-
ton of war does not conquer a nation:
neither does the passage of a law,
statutory or constitutional, settle any
question Prohibition is not settled
and will not be settled Until the ma
chinery of government is attached and
the lawbreakers surrender uncondi-
tionally.
Every refusal to declare for law
enforcement simply encourages the
wet forces to believe that the present
wave of enthusiasm will recede and
that the people will soon forget. Then
the fight can be renewed with some
hope of success. Hence the silence
of these platforms is wet silence and
will be so interpreted. Neutrality is
now an impossibility. One side or the
other is defeated, and the parties that
permit such result have simply re-
fused to take the oath of allegiance.
Not a Weather.vane
"There is but one party in the field
whose platforms have never been
weather-vanes and whose policy has
always been a constructive one. Our,
doctrines have been the political his
tory of the United States, written pro-
phetically. The steps of progress that
our statesmen demanded as justice
ard predicted as the inevitable, other
parties ignored. ridiculed, opposed and
finally accepted without quotation
marks or the least shadow OF credit
"We have risen above faction, class
or blind partisanship and have been
the champions of the average man, the
party of the whole welfare of the ma
ton We have asked not for cavil but
for information. Who is my neighbor?
And we have seen in every injustice
demand and in every heartbreak call
to service, and we have stood true to
cur convictions though the political
heavens might fall.
"We are still on the map and our
mission is not ended We are hired for
days work. enlisted till the war is
ended, and there remaineth yet much
land to be conquered Our work has
always been a double one: To formu-
late the real political issues and stand
for them till enacted into law, and to
instruct and inspire in the develop
ment of high ideals and sound civic
conscience so that law will be enforced
and matters of. life and character out
side the realm of statutes shall be
made real by the moral forces of the
nation.
1--WE still have great reforms wait
ing for adoption and great twentieth
century problems yet to be solved.
1--WE do not face bold, defiant and
despotic liquor power as in years gone
by. but so long as leading statesmen
sidesten the question of law enforce.