The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-10-28

mountable. obstacles that Kansas
faced in her fight to maintain her
| freedom, the people grew more and
more established in the constitutional
strength of their position This does
not mean that IS the years went on
and the fight svayed back and forth
there were no violations, or even that
lawlessness was beaten back, or that
| the law vas perfectly administered
and obeyed. There are plenty of peo-
pie now who are ready to declare that
| the law never has been obeyed and
that more liquor is sold and consumed
in Kansas thai in the old saloon days.
Ask the liquor men. They know all
] about it. Ask the transient visitors
who pass thru the state and get their
| drinks by hook or by the crooks. OF
course to them the law is a failure.
But to read a nations or a states
history one needs the perspective of
comparison, and that is something
the foes of prohibition have never
had and never can get.
1t is of cQurse true that during the
entire forty-two years of Kansas pro-
brutal violations of the law. Mayors
and county attorneys were ousted
from office for non-e reinforcement.
Joints operated openly in the river
towns and even in law-abiding CEN
ters Kansas City witnessed the dra-
1
| joints by. an official who risked
| threatened ASA ssihatioh to do it
When Carrie Nation swept thru the
state with her Ratchet, prohibition
had been a par of the constitution
for more than twenty-five years.
Good people did get tired of the con-
| slant war. Officials did grow lax
Apathy and indifference did have
their turn.
And still there it stood, majestic
81
constitution that had never been re-
pealed. And Carrie Nations shatter-
| ing blows on the bottles and the bars
of the joints were heard by the
churches and the press and the law
abiding citizens. and the brewer and
soil and they will never again come
back with exuitant banners.
The Kansas Situation.
| Note now some facts that are true
of the situation in Kansas as com
pared with forty-two years ago:
| % In spite of all predictions of
economic disaster Kansas has be-
| come, under prohibition, one of the
richest states il per capita wealth.
The figures vary, but year after year
the sum amounts to more than $4,000.
| (2), All great and established in
situations in the state support the law
and believe In it, as they believe in
/
mon welfare. The church, the press
. association, the Bankers. the school
| teachers, the political parties of all
shades, the lawyers association, the
chambers of commerce, the farmers
bureaus-aIl understand the benefits
of the law and accept 1t as funda-
mental to the life of the state. If
questioned about it; probably nearly
all these bodies would say that the
prohibitory issue is accepted just as
the law against murder and theft.
(3) Every legislative enactment
which Kansas has passed to strength
en- it's prohibitory law has been sus-
| tanned by the highest courts and by
| the supreme court. The bone-dry
| law with ali it's radical features has
| been declared constitutional. The
law which declares that dealers in in
toxicating drink are in the same cate
CORY with horse-thieves and burglars
and forgers is based on the principle
! that those who deal in a commodity
| which imperils the public welfare are
according to law. The highest court
| of the land lpholds this principle
which Kansas insisted on in 1881.
| (1 The change Of attitude In
Kansas concerning the use of alcohol
as medicine has been revolutionary.
= thought necessary to insert a clause
allowing alcohol to be sold as fnedi-
cine. The repeal of that clause was
a declaration ola the part of the peo=
pie that alcohol is not a necessary
medicine and the great majority of
doctors IN the state no longer pre-
scribe it.
| (5) Instead of existing in sea of
whisky 1900 miles from water, KAN
sas now has for company all the rest
of the United States. She is no long
er fighting Missouri brewers as she
| or ha nd
| clear to Maine across the same kind
| of tea-table that she herself set
up forty-two long years ago. This
| fact in itself is one of the most ire
mendous historical facts that an en-
tire nation has to contemplate.
CD And in addition to the COM
partnership of the states which Kan
sas now enjoys she knows that back
of the -prohibitory law is the power
of the United States. Kansas is no
| longer lonesome, neither is she any
longer with her back to the wall, but
the wall of protection is around her
| in the person of Uncle Sam who
speaks thru the president himself
who on the last Fourth of July in his
own town of Marion told the law
breakers that they we're in a minority
and that the Eighteenth amendment
was the law IF the land and must be
obeyed.
There SENS to be much fear in
some Quarters that the liquor people
will succeed IN eleeting enough vets
this fall to amend the volstead act
and get light wine and beer back on
the map for the thirsty. I. for one,
do not share that fear. | believe that
the history of any real advance of the
human race for its welfare does not
record any backwash in the long run;
that Is worth considering. I also be-
lieve that most of the polls and pop-
ular Votes taken to find out popular
opinions on the prohibition issue are
superficial in their character and do
not take account ofShe deep and un-
DERIVING convictions of the people as
a whole.
Reproduce Fight in Kansas.
The history of Kansas in it's fight
4 with the liquor interests is being re-
produced in the national conflict al
most step by step. The difference
consists in the tremendous advantage
that Uncle Sam has over the single
state that stood for SO many years