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Show H ( IOWA'S RETROGRESSION. ' One Reason Why Her Population Has H ' Fallen Off in the Past Ten Years. Hj BY HORACE BOIES. H (From Western Mont My.) H Grand old Horace Boles, of whom H the Saturday Review three weeks ago H Raid was "the man who dared to face H tho rule of despotism and debauchery Hj in the State of Iowa," is still) posaess- " lng that Intellectual prominence which H I made him iho leador of those who H fought against tho tyranny ofan emo- tlon-mad populace. H In the fight naginst prohfflbitlon in Iowa In the early nluaties, Horace Boies was olected governor, overcom- i lng on overwhelming majority oi" the H year previous. Ho stood on a, plat- H form declaring unequivocally against H i sumptuary legislation, and especially against prohibition. H Ex-Governor Boies Is now hi Cah- H . fornla, from where he writes 'to the H Davenport Democrat and Leader on H tho subject of the startling decrease In H the population of Iowa as shown by H the recent census returns. His letter, H printed in full in the Saturday Review, H follows; H Hemet, Cal. It Is a startling- fact 1 . to learn that of all the states ami ter- 1 1 rltorles of this Union, Iowa alone is Hl j the single commonwealth in which Ij tho population has decreased ' during H the past ten years. B I It is not a pleasant subject to con- H I template, but simple loyalty to the H ' Stato requires its thorough diacussion, J M ' that, if possible, tho causes which have M I ' led to that result may be generally fl I ' understood. j H So far as I have heard an opinion j H expressed, tho single cause assigned , H ) is the high prlco of land In Iowa. To H my mind this is an unsatisfactory H ! reason. The price of land is high bo- J H I ) cause of its exceptionally productive H I qualities. Instead of driving people H I I out of tho State, these qualities ought H ' to attract them to it. H i The price of land is necessarily reg- H ulnted by what its use for the purpose H ' required will produce In cold cash. It H may have a market value for less and H , often does, but not for more. H I That this is not the case is demon- H strated by the fact that In many states H I of the Union where lands are equally M j high, population has highly increased. H This Is notably true of the states of H I Illinois, of Wisconsin, of southern M j Minnesota, and of other states further H Iowa is" possessed of evecy natural H advantage enjoyed in the most fa- H ' vorcd of these states, and ought to Hl hive grown In population as fast as H the best of them. No. It Is not the H i price of land that has set Iowa at the H ' foot of the ladder, lrf a class by "her- H ' self, In this census, where she alono H 1? pointed to as the single state from Hl which more people have moved away H during the past ten years than all who Hj have been born therein combined with H all who have come into the state to H ' live during that time. H Where, then, is the cause to bo H I found? H I I suppose It will shock many good M people to hear anyone express tho M opinion I entertain, but everyone H should speak the truth as he sees it H on this subject. To my mind the one H J controlling cause, more than all oth- H ens combined, Is the extreme and to H many repulsive liquor legislation of H , the State. H That legislation has dried up tho H i . stream of German immigration, which H in tho early years of our history M ' helped so much to Increase our popu- H I lotion and develop our resources, and M the same legislation has driven thou- sands of self-respecting foreign born M , , citizens away from the State. M What is this legislation of which so many complain? M A prohibitory law, which, in em- H I phatic terms, prohibits the manufac- H ture and sale or Intoxicating liquors H us a beverage of evory kind and de- H 'scription, which law is still a statute H i of the State. When it was passed hun- H dreds of thousands of dollars had been fl invested by citizens of the State in M I distilleries and breweries and build-M build-M ings for the manufacture, storage and M sale of these liquors, under laws of M the Stato and conditions therein which M made such property the lawfully ac- H ' quired property of Its owners just as H .,much as the farms of the farmers or H 'the goods of the merchant or manu- H facturer were his lawfully acquired property. H The owners of the property de- H stroyed by law were human beingff. H They know they wore wronged, cruel- i I ly and heartlessly wronged by a ma- Ijorlty of the electors of the State, no one of whom would have dared to ap- ply a torch to the least of this prop- H w crty, but all of whom would as ef- H rfectually destroy tho whole of it with H their votes. m ' They knew there was a perfectly H honorable wa3' for tho State to get rid H ' of their property if It was relieved to M I be injurious to the welfare of the poo- H ' pie, and that was to condemn it and H pay for it with a tax on all property M i of the Stato, Instead of compelling B them to bear the entire loss. The re- H suit of that war was entirely natural. M It divided the peoplo of Iowa into two H bitterly hostile camps. By approxl- M mately one-third of the same the law M was openly and notoriously defied, and by a much larger number secretly vlo- lated wherever and whenever that H could bo done. H With every branch, of the State gov- H ernment in the hands of the political H party that enacted the law, these con- H ( dltlons continued year after year un- H ' til they became intolerable to the mn- fl ' jority of our people. In two successive B State elections this law wns rcpudl- M ated by a clear majority of the electors 1 cf the State, who declared in favor of H local option high Ucenso law in its j r place. Hl That measure if enacted into law in "HJ tho form in which It was advocated Hi would have settled the liquor question H ! ' as a State issuo in Iowa It was abso- Hj ! lutely fair to every section of tho H v Slate. Under it not ono drop of intoxl- ' eating liquor could have been sold le- H I gaily as a beverage in any community H i of tho State where a majority of one H. was opposed to it, and on tho other 1 r iiand, uo minority could compel anc-th- er community to submit to an unlawful unlaw-ful and unregulated sale of such liquor against the will of the majority Simple Sim-ple loyalty to the fundamental principles princi-ples upon which this government Is founded in State and Nation alike, demand de-mand of each of the legislatures that followed these elections the enactment of a law In accord with the majority vote of the people, but In each case this wns refused by a majority of the members of such legislatures Instead of this a secret compact was entered Into by self-appointed leaders of the opposing factions in the Republican Repub-lican party, by which it was agreed that the Republicans who had voted with the Democrats on these elections should return to tnelr party and that party whon restored into unlimited power in the State should In some manner yield to their wishes. I do not pretend to know the details de-tails of that compact, but I do know Its effect. Through it tho Republican party was restored to unquestioned predominating power in tho State,' and that was the solo purpose' In View when it was made. What followed was tho enactment of our present mulct law. I What is that law? I A hybrid in legislation without a parallel In the world. A law that defies de-fies another law and bribes the Stato that made it to condone the offense of Its law breakers. A law that requires i another law for Its enforcement, which In turn violates a fundamental principle princi-ple of our government in State and ! Nation alike, the right of our people at all times and under all circumstan- ces to select by majority vote their own officials and be governed by ! them. A law that withholds from tho i cities of the State the right to control I .in their own way tho most difficult problem with which all cities have to ! deal, and turns the control of that problem over to the rural voters of tho State, who havo no interest in It, and know little or nothing about It. A law that has done more, that 1b doing do-ing more today, to divide the people ' of our cities into warring factions, arraigning ar-raigning neighbor against neighbor, and friend against friend, than all other oth-er laws combined to be found in the statutes of our State; a law purposely designed to prevent a free and fair exprossion of the will of the majority in any city of the State upon a subject sub-ject most vital to Its welfare; and worst of all, a law aimed directly at tho foreign born residents of the State who come to us with habits of their own so widely in conflict with the provisions of such a law that It could not fall to meot their almost universal uni-versal disapproval and consequent open opposition. With such laws openly violated In some sections wherever that can bo done, secretly violated in all sections as often as possible by a great faction of the whole population of the State; with our courts crowded with prosecutions prose-cutions for their violation, Is It surprising sur-prising that Iowa, the very garden of this Nation, in its agricultural resources, re-sources, with a healthful climate, with natural advantages In evory particular unsurpassed by any State of this Union, Un-ion, with schools and churches of the best order on every hand, with her great lines of railroads, of telegraphs and telephones touching every city nnd almost every village within her borders, with a long, loud cry for manual man-ual laborers from her great farms and factories all over the Stato, and wages as good as are found anywhere In this Union, should bo tho only State In the whole sisterhood 'of States in this Nation Na-tion from which more people have moved away than all who have been born therein, combined with all who have moved into the State in the last ten years? Let no one misunderstand me. I am not now and I never have been an advocate forthe non-enforcement of the law. ' What I am trying to do, what I havo often tried to do before, Is to point out the folly, nay, more than this, the absolute ab-solute orlmo, of enacting laws which everyone knows are In conflict with the conscientious belief of nearly half the peoplo of the State, and which for that reason are certain to be violated as often and as openly by everyone who entertains that belief When Iowa Is ready to recognize by her laws the personal right of every man to control his own habits as long as such habltB do not conflict with the personal rights of another, she will at-tract at-tract thousands to her borders where now she drives as many away When she abandons her efforts to instill temperance into the hearts of her people with fines and imprisonments imprison-ments and gets back to the old-faBh-loned temperance society, with its pledge of total abstinence that appealed appeal-ed to the reason Instond of the fea4 ot man. she will save ten from a drunkard's grave where now she saves one. HORACE BOIES. no |