The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-08-15
NOT ONE REGRET

fOTty-IOur years ago the Kansas
legislature banished John Barley
corn, his heirs and assigns, in the
hrlefest of prohibition acts. The
amendment to the state constitu-
ton, which created a condition of
aridity in Kansas, is wOrded as
follows:
The manufacture and sale of
intoxicating liquor shall for
ever be prohibited in this
state, except for medicinal,
scientific and mechanical pur-
poses.
If prohibition, real effective pro-
hibitiOn. is undesirable it would
seem that Kansas should long ago
have reached such conclusion.
But the kansans have no regrets.
Various Kansas organizations
recently published and distributed
throughout the nation a circular
entitled, "The Victory Message to
the World" 1t is neither boastfuD
nor vainglorious so to denominate
the Kansas accomplishment. Pub
lie sentiment in the sunflower
state has whipped the liquor trade
so thoroughly so finally, that Kan
sans are justified in calling their
accomplishment a victory. For
victory it is, in the fullest sens,
OF the term.
We talk today of the difficulty
of enforcing the prohibition laws.
Of the personal liberty" element
in our national life. of the dissent
ing opinion that inevitably must
attack any law, either openly or
covertly, whether that law be wise
or foolish, just or onerous. But
correctly to comprehend the scope
and exactions of the task tackled
and trimmed by Kansas. you must
cast back for forty years. Truly
those early kansans were pioneers
Of prohibition. Forty years ago
the saloon was. in the saddle. and
saloon, brewery land distillery
were mightN y '4Alitics. Forty
years ago sitrswas Commonly re-
garded as a mans own concern If
he chose shortcut to ruin. Forty.
years ago, and especially in such
country as Kansas-where the
dust of the wagon trains scarcely
had settled every hospitable
home had its full lug. Yet Kan
sas enacted prohibition.
Today" reads the message
from Kansas. more than four
decades after the passage of the
amendment, there is found
throughout the state well-de-
veloped temperance conscience
strong disgust for intemper-
ance. A respect for the law.
which in early years was brought
about by compulsion, now is vol
untarya, Each generation is far
ther removed from an appetite
for poisonous drink"
The Kansans who signed this
statement are not proper targets
for the sneering criticism of anti
pr ohibitionists. Their views are
in nowise puritanical. their noses
are average noses, they do not 60
about in funeral frock coats and
rusty tall hats. nor, do they carry
dubious umbrellas. They are
! average Americans, dwelling in an
average American state. Among
them are Henry ]. Allen, ex-gov-
ernor of Kansas; Governor iona
than M. Davis, Attorney General
c. d. Griffith and William Allen
White.
After ~ years of prohibition
Kansas declares that 1t wishes no
modification or repeal Of the law,
that ease of enforcement grows
with enforcement. that prohibition
! is the states best business asset,
that many crimes common to liq-
uor-selling communities are alb
sent in Kansas, that Kansas chill
dren grow to maturity without the
faint of liquor, that conviction OF
| violators is easier now than ever
before, and that undesirable influ-
, ences were banished from the
state when liquor was banished.
In a word, Kansas proclaims
that prohibition when effectively
administered, accomplishes in
fullest measures all that the
friends of prohibition, ever claim
ed it would Here is a fact for
, the vets to stub their hayward
toes on. And here. as we'll. is a
source of renewed confidence in
the eventual success of national
prohibition - not a partial. but i
, complete. vindication of the great
est social experiment ever at
tempted by any nation. What
Kansas has done America can do
And in honor it can do no less
Portland Oregonian.