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Show Prohibition's Surrender at Des Moines. ..The dismissal of a large number of suits against liquor dealers in the prohibition prohib-ition city of Des Moines, Iowa, because the temperance leaders could not raise the moriey necessary to prosecute them, indicates that the movement in that State is not in as healthy a condition as a reform which is. destined to be a success suc-cess should be. This failure to secure funds with which to carry on the struggle may be accepted also as a proof of the fact, discovered sooner or later in almost every community where the Iowa experiment experi-ment has been tried, that it is impossible to enforce a law which does not commend com-mend itself to the people as just, efficacious effica-cious and salutary. Prohibition does not prohibit, and even the most enthusiastic promoters of the idea weary at last expending ex-pending time and money in a contest which is never settled. So long as liquor is to be had under any pretext it will toe in the possession of any man who wants it, no matter what laws may be passed restricting its sale. The surrender of the temperance workers of Des Moines to the saloon keepers is .but a repetition of the experience of the same element elsewhere else-where It is easy to enforce a law where the majority of the people favor it, but in towns like Des Moines, where the majority major-ity are against it, the fitful efforts of its friends to make it effective only emphasize empha-size and render conspicious its failure.,. |