16 PROHIBITION. 



withstand force, to put it at rest, not to set it in motion. Action 

 and reaction being equal, an equilibrium is produced and peace 

 obtained. It differs from paternalism as to the source of its author- 

 ity. It does not come from God, nor any person, however good. 

 It is not the government of any man over man. It arises from the 

 necessity of reciprocity in harmonious, human relationship. 



This kind of government never suppresses an action because it 

 is bad, nor assists one because it is good. It knows nothing about 

 the "i^ublic welfare." It does not aim to make you pure, or chaste, 

 or wise, or religious, or learned, or moral, or good. It only aims 

 to keep the peace, to prevent tresjjassing, to award damages. 



In its use of force, it is to preserve equal liberty It is the be- 

 ginning and end, the only thing for which it exists. When this is 

 accomplished, law and order are the result ; but in seeking law and 

 order first, libcT-ty is violated and disorder ensues. A defensive 

 government, therefore, is the only kind that is legitimate, effica- 

 cious, definable, subject to law, or stops when it gets through.* 



PROHIBITION CANNOT PROHIBIT. 



Having disposed of the jurisdiction of prohibition, showing that 

 it has no right to pi'ohibit, we now come to show how it could not, 

 if it would. Do not all know that knowledge is not administered 

 by proxy, that all wisdom comes from expo'ience, and that outside 

 imposition never can raise the moral standard higher than the in- 

 ward development ? Prohibitionists might as well advocate pro- 

 ducing a vacuum by legislation, as to make character by it. It is 

 an utter impossibility. To be sure, an artificial obstruction has an , 

 influence, but how? In exciting the drinking habit to renewed ac- 

 tivity. And, in the use of force, the exei'cise of the character is 

 changed from the higher to the lower faculties. You mav not see 

 the accustomed expre.s.sion of the habit, but, depend upon it, it is 

 tliere, it has been driven in. A disease had mucli better be on the 



* Herbert Spencer's "Social Statics" was one of his first books, written over 25 

 years ago. "Man and the State" is one of his last. In the first, he showed the in- 

 elHcacioiiB working of all State interferences with banking, with cdncation, sanitary 

 aflairs, iVrc. In the last, he denominates class legislation in favor of labor as 'The 

 Coming Slavery." Tnder "I'roliibition," we have endeavored to show another in- 

 stance of like character. Cannot the reader now perceive the laiv of inefllcacy 

 which applies to all paternalism t Hardly, for that would imply that the govern- 

 mcutal mind was imbued with an idea of nalurul caumtlon. Until then, let it be 

 understood that God and government are the rmly two lawless objects in the Uni- 

 veise 1 But the moment tin- mind recognizes that these two objects aan be tamed, 

 let it be remembered that tliere can no more be parties in government, than in botany 

 or chemistry. 



