Prohibition -- Moral and ethical aspects; Prohibition -- United States
The Prohibition movement then, unquestionably, is simply a means to an
end,--the stepping-stone to political power,--the pathway to the goal of
political ambition; and it seems only fair to presume that all the hue
and cry over drunkenness and the inability of some men to control their
natural appetites is, after all, only a minor matter; but the question
of seizing the political power, and filling governmental offices only
with "good men" is the major matter. And the real issue, power to rule
and to enjoy the emoluments of public office. And the real menace, the
overturning of the present system of government wherein the privileges
and rights of the individual are safeguarded, and the setting up of a
new standard of authority, namely, "the law of God" as =interpreted= by
the Prohibitionists and moral reformers. =And it is the interpretation
that is to be feared!=
The remotest possibility of the success of such an unjust, un-American,
illiberal and dangerous form of tyranny in government, should alarm the
American people beyond and above every other question, even that of war;
and should set them to the task of a close analysis of the subject and
trend of Prohibition.
When the true American finds that as a result of the outgrowths of the
"monstrous principle," and under rapidly multiplying laws and
regulations, he is forbidden to dispose of his property as he pleases;
forbidden to amuse himself as he pleases on holidays; forbidden to read
what books he pleases and to look at what pictures he pleases; to dress,
think and drink as he pleases, he will set his face like a flint against
the tyrannical and inquisitorial demands of the modern Crusaders, and he
will attempt to halt their inroads and innovations on the government.
The ballot-box is his opportunity. There he may register his
disapprobation, and put a curb on the restless, uneasy, political
charlatan who, under the guise of moral reform, would seize the
machinery of political government and make it an engine of tyranny and
oppression.
It must be kept in mind that the clerical politicians of the Prohibition
party (no distinction can be made between the Prohibition Party and the
Anti-Saloon League: they are one and the same in intent and purpose) are
interested not merely in the enactment of prohibitory liquor laws. They
want laws prohibiting everything that does not conform to their
interpretation of theological dogmas.
Prohibition and Sunday Laws
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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