OCR Text |
Show fht Water Wcgea Party. Crowded into & corner by what the unthinking editor's consider the more important news, we find the. cheering announcement that Charles B, Jones of , Philadelphia has been-elected chairman of the Na-. tional committee of the Prohibition partj. We do not know '.who Charles B. Jones of Phila- j delphia is, but we are for him just the same. Charles B. will be all" right. - Any member of the party; would do for chairman for every one is pretty certain, cer-tain, to do something to add to the gaiety of nations , if he only gets the chance. 60, we are-confldent Mr. ' Jones may be trusted to rise to the emergency and cut a more or lesa prominent figure on all occasions eare election day. The Prohibitionists are interesting specimens of the flora and fauna of the United States. They are picturesque and industrious. True, they never accomplish ac-complish anything, but we are bound to admire them for their assiduity and everlasting cheerfulness. cheerful-ness. - We have never sneered at or said sarcastic things about the hen that enthusiastically gathers to her bosom a doorknob or a brickbat and endeavors endeav-ors to apply the' process of incubation to those rather unresponsive substances. That hen does nothing of which to be ashamed. , She does the best he knows, and if she doesn't know enough to tell brickbats from eggs, remarks "concerning her conduct con-duct should be made more in sorrow than in anger. So, in a sense, it is with the Prohibitionists. Their intentions and ideas are all right, but tey have selected se-lected the wrong material from which to hatch a nation uncoutaminated by the Demon Rum. The American people have a Great Thirst, which has been great for these many years, and which shows-no shows-no signs of being quenched. . The most sincere and consistent drinkers we know will cheerfully admit that the doctrines advocated ad-vocated by the Prohibition party are right and that the rum power ought to be pulverized, but the concrete con-crete thirst is nearer home than an abstract principle. princi-ple. The drinkers do not vote the Prohibition ticket and the saloons continue in business. There is no reason to believe things will change. We dp not think the Prohibitionists expect a change. The only way the Great Thirst can be vanquished van-quished is to quit making the stuff it craves, and there does not seem to be a strong disposition on the part of the foremost citizens of Milwaukee and Lexington Lex-ington to convert their establishments into ginger ale, factories. But the Prohibitionists are undismayed. undis-mayed. They are going ahead as joyously as if they didn't know they were going to lose. The Prohibitionists have no more hope of getting get-ting into power than a mule has of grandchildren, but we are glad they are keeping up their efforts. The water wagon is a good thing in case of fire. |