ORIGIN AND ANIMUS. 21 



ORIGIN AND ANIMUS OF PROHIBITION. 



Having now canvassed the outward eft'ect of prohibition, lei 

 us examine its inward imi^ulse. We must first recognize that pro- 

 hibition is not, primarily, a temperance question. There are many 

 people opposed to prohibition who have practised total abstinence 

 all their lives. Such men as Dr. Dio Lewis, Howard Crosby, Ex 

 Gov. Robinson and Henry Ward Beecher are not all drunkards, and 

 take no stock in prohibition. On the other hand, many might be 

 named, who, while holding that proliibition is the best policj' for 

 the State to pursue, still, in private, think it perfectly pi'oper to fol- 

 low Paul's advice to Timoth}-. Many saloon keepers in Kansas are 

 Prohibitionists. So that the dispute over the subject arises not so 

 much as to whether people shall be temperate, but how. The matte?' 

 is not in dispute, but the manner. It is not a question of morals, but 

 of methods, not whether it is best for one to drinK, but whether it is 

 the function of the State to deter him. In brief, it is not a temper- 

 ance question, but one concernino- the science of government. 



Now since the function of the State is to suppress crime, not 

 to enforce morals, it foUows that, if drinking and selling liquor are 

 not crimes, then the attempt to suppress it is a crime. The very 

 thing for which the State is properly constituted to defend, it vio- 

 lates. And because the perpetrators are deluded, they ai"e exempt 

 from arrest. But as between a fool and a knave, for a pilot on a 

 dark night, give us the one who can steer clear of Niagara, though 

 the other would shove us over with the best of intentions. A mis- 

 take in government always results in a crime. Those administering 

 it may be as sincere and respectable as Cotton Mather, when he 

 himg Quakers and drowned witches, but the nature of tlieir acts is 

 all the same. It may be an open question which is tlie most dan- 

 gerous member of society, one who has an intense, but benighted 

 conscience, or one who has enlightenment without a conscience. 



If then prohibition is, at bottom, but persecution, whence did it 

 originate ? Prominent among the bearers of this ark of the Covenant 

 is the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. The reason given 

 for this departure in temperance is specially in the interest of "the 

 home." "The Home vs. tiie Saloon," is their banner. But the 

 homes of the country are a subject of very broad and varied im- 

 port. It is dillicult to s<!e how the saloon can enter the houseiiold 

 without some member of the household first enters the saloon. But 

 it is not an impossible tiling to conceive how sucli a member can 

 be induced to leave an unattractive home to iro to a saloon. It 

 takes a competence, culture, and donu^stic fclicily to maki- a home. 



