The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-09-14
THE STAR HIGHLY ENDORSED


editorial referring to some of the
evil consequences of the liquor traffic,
and the inevitable trouble it brought
on those implicated in it. DIR. Collins
Of the Baptist church commended the
article to his congregation at its next
prayer meeting, and sent a copy OF
the Star to the Manufacturers Re-
cord, from which he received the fol-
lowing reply:
Baltimore, Md, Sept. 10.
Rev. C. L. Collins, Ocala, Fla:
My dear Sir: thank you for your
kindness in sending me the clippings
in regard to the bank failure in
Jacksonville, which, however, had
already learned of through other
papers.
/ am in full sympathy with the edi-
te rial position taken by the Ocala
Evening Star, and enclose herewith
copy of an editorial which / wrote
last winter criticizing large num-
Der of leading Baltimore men, some
of whom were my close personal
friends in business, because of their
effort to discredit prohibition.
Prohibition is law of the land. 1t
is part of our constitution. The
man who winks at its violation is a
criminal, it matters not how high he
may stand socially or IN business. The
man who breaks the law or upholds
others in breaking it, is sowing the
seed of moral rottenness and moral
decay, in individual and national life.
Whether man believes in the pro-
hibition law or not, it is his solemn
duty as citizen to uphold its en-
forcement; and if he winks at its
violation, or participates directly or
Indirectly in its violation, he is to the
utmost extent of his power giving
aid and encouragement to the GRIM
inal element of the country, and in
doing SO is to that extent breaking
down all law and order.
While in Florida last winter at
tended a bankers convention in
which a suggestion was made that the
next meeting should be held in Miami
because of its accessibility to the ISL
and where whisky can be so freely
had; and many of the bankers in that
room smiled their approval of that
suggestion. In doing so they were
conniving at the violation of the law,
and when men do that they have no
right to expect integrity in their own
family or in their business. No
banker has right to protest against
tliievery by his clerks, or by burglars,
if he has in any way whatever con-
nived at or condoned the violation of
the prohibition law.
The prohibition law demands, by
virtue of the fact that it is part of
our constitution, exactly the seme
obedience in letter and in spirit as any
other part of our constitution. If
ore man can set at naught one law,
another man can set at naught some
other law; and the result would be
that lawlessness would prevail every
where.
Indeed, / am sure that much of the
lawlessness which exists in this coun-
try today is due to the utter disre-
gard of law and to the willingness of
men in high position to shut their
eyes to the violation of law, and in
doing this they have given to the ex-
tent of their influence encouragement
to the criminal element of the coun-
try, which now finds expression in
bank robberies, in holdups, in muir
der, and in almost every other crime
against property and persons.
The country must awaken to
realization of the fact that the out4
right violator of law, the bank burg
lar. for instance, is not more guilty
and does not more greatly deserve
punishment than the banker, or the
business man, or the lawyer who vio
lstes the prohibition law, because the
responsibility of the intelligent bust
ness man for the maintenance of all
law is vastly greater than that of the
criminal element, since the former
has had greater opportunities, and,
therefore, larger responsibilities than
have the men who comprise our dis
tinctly criminal class.
Sincerely yours,
Richard H Edmonds,