Show THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC THIM THE question as to the effectiveness of a prohibitory law has been greatly discussed of late years but never so much before as since kansas kangas enacted a stringent one and enforced it rigidly and it almost seemed cruelly at times senator ingalls of that state president of the united states senate has recently contributed a paper on the subject spoken of to the forum it is written in his usual trenchant and incisive style and has attracted a great deal of ef attention more particularly ticul arly from the fact that his ground is somewhat in advance of that of francis murphy the great temperance apostles apostle w bo prohibition does not prohibit while the senator endeavors to show that it does prohibit both base their conclusions on accomplished facts and thus make the situation more confusing mr ingalls refers of cour course seto to his own state as an exemplar mr murphy to pennsylvania the former says that kansas having abolished the saloon the open dram shop traffic is of course extinct A drunkard is a phenomenon he affirms in language which at this distance must sound more parabolic than exact especially w when hen later on he admits that absolute drought does not prevail and 11 social irrigation has not entirely disappeared clit it seems incredible he says that among a population of people extend extending in g from the mis bourl river biver to colorado and from nebraska to oklahoma there Is not a place which the thirdly wayfarer can enter and laying down a dime demand a glass of beer 21 but he has partially destroyed the force of an argument based on this condition of things by the prece proceeding eding admission for the evil goes on in secret however as he says it may be a and nd we hope is true that the habit of drinking is dying out temptation being removed from the young and the infirm inform they have been redeemed the liquor seller being proscribed p is an outlaw and his vocation disreputable drinking being stigmatized is out of fashion and the consumption of intoxicants has enormously decreased intelligent and conservative observers estimate the reduction at nine to per cent it cannot be less than seventy five n the senator concludes that prohibition is a success the prediction of its opponents has boa not been verified immigration has not been repelled nor has capital been diverted from the state the period has been one of unexampled growth and development mr murphy while agreeing with the main features of mr ingalls logic is equally as positive that prohibition hibi tion is a failure in that drinking to some extent still goes on while men become hypocritical and sneaking who would otherwise not debauch their manhood in that way way at least neither does he consider W the defeat of a prohibitory amendment in pennsylvania a verdict iu in favor of the liquor traffic it will be remembered that the people of that state rejected the amendment Z by an overwhelming majority me he believes it a verdict in favor of practical christian effort and a declaration on the part of the people that they refuse to surrender the control y that they now have and take the chances of prohibition he believes that the traffic in liquor will continue to be regulated by the people in the laws of the state regardless of party sect or creed he regards as the principal cause of defeat the fact that prohibition does not prohibit it is a continual war a continual storehouse of mallee malice envy and of hatred and has broken in pieces the unity of spirit and the bonds of peace the use of it has proven beyond do doubt abt that men cannot be made sober or virtuous or truthful or manly or noble X aft bif ar liht by legislative enactment it is time for the church to pause and cease running to the legislature to save them from their sins the brooks high license law in pennsylvania he says has enabled the people to close more than half the saloons in philadelphia and other large centres bentres cen tres it has been effective everywhere in the state by placing in the hands of the people the power to control the saloon according to the public sentiment both senator ingalls and francis mu murphy arphy are men whose opinions an on such subjects are entitled to great consideration and respect the fact that they differ so widely should be understood as a difference regarding the means employed being thoroughly in accord as to the end desired the curtailment of the rum habit to its lowest possible proportions the better classes of every community are and must continue to be in consonance with them on the main proposition while each has and will continue to have his partisans the high license plan prevails in utah and while it has not accomplished all that we could wish in that some of the water from the surging tide beyond has often dashed across the dyke it has still nevertheless stood between the people and the flood it has its ite weakness and almost auy any law or arrangement designed to hold bold a monstrous but still largely lecog nihed and patronized evil must have As for example in maine kansas and iowa where absolute prohibition prevails instances of the laws enforcement have occurred the details of which have read like chap from the blue laws in the first named a section provides that any person suspected of having liquor on his or her person may be thoroughly searched their baggage opened etc in some cases with unscrupulous officers this might lead to infamous results in iowa one of the courts recently decided that under the law a man could not manufacture cider for his own use I 1 I 1 in n kansas a few years ago a druggists clerk was sentenced to eighteen years imprisonment and fined a large fortune for putting a small quantity of liquor into preparations when parties had asked for it these are the extremes that come of fanaticism and in making and enforcing laws not noi fanatical z zeal ea I 1 but a disposition to secure and maintain justice should be the policy adopted |