Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1890 — IS A SUCCESSFUL PROHIBITION PARTY POSSIBLE. [ARTICLE]

IS A SUCCESSFUL PROHIBITION PARTY POSSIBLE.

Temparanoe Evangelist Under the caption, “Taking our Bearings” a late number of the Voice says: ■ '• How does Prohibition stead to-day with the voters of Americat Looking at it as coldly and dispassionately as an architect would examine the foundation for a new building, is there strength enough In Prohibition, as a Politioal issue, to form the huts fora successful politioal party! There has been a great deal of agitation in the lest few years, and almost oonstant appeals have been made to the people. Is the response sufficient, judged by the naked facts and figures in the case, to warrant the belief that this Issue will reach the dominating position in politics that we are trying to secure for it? These are stern questions, and we pres sume that there are many loyal Prohibitionists who would prefer, at first sight, to dodge rather than to face them. Do we need to dodge them? Do we still have to hold on by frith alone, as we did years ago and stick to the cause simply because we know it is a righteous one, and ought to prevail? In otherwords. can we face the questions above fairly and fully an.d re. turn them an unequivocal answer in the affirmative and then back up that answer with faots mid figures whose force even cool, calculating reason must acknowledge? We believe that we can do exactly this, and we propose to make the attempt. In the last ten years seventeen elections have been held on constitutional prohibitory amendments. These elections have beea-pretty evenly divided between the East, the West and the South. In these elections the sentiment of the voters in sixteen States was tested. The results are seen in the following table: Then follows a table of the votes cast for prohibition in the sixteen States in which the naked question of prohibition has been directly submitted within the last ten years, and the result is that about 46 per cent, of the votes cast were for prohibition and it then proceeds to argue that with this showing a successful prohibition party is possible. But there are several elements which ought to enter into this calculation, that no account has been taken of. First, in the States that have cast 1,642,912 votes for prohibition there were 4,773,038 votes cast in 1888, and that in fact the votes cast for prohibition are less than 86 per cent, of the votes of those States. There is still another important element which can not be ignored in practice though it may be skipped in cyphering. In the sixteen States which have cast 1,642,912 for prohibition, only 107,162 votes were cast for General Fisk in 1888, which is but a fraction above 2 per cent, of the votes of those States, and less than 7 per cent, of the prohibitionists, as shown by the votes on this question. In other words.after twenty years* labor in forming a Prohibition party, it numbers less than 7 jler cent, of the pros hibitionists of the country. But there is even a more damaging phase of the question than this. That party which in 1886 cast 294,863, cast only 267,243 in 1888, and the elections of 1889 show a continued decrease in nearly every State that held elections that year. Thus, Nebraska gave Fisk 9,424, but only 6,821 in 1889. New York gave Fisk 30,221, but in 1889 gave only 26,616. Kentucky gave Fisk 6,226, but gave only 8,871 in 1889. New Jersey gave Fisk 7,904 in 1888, and 19,808 in 1886, but in 1889 it gave only 6,853. In Oregon the party gave Fisk 1,677, r bufTnTß9o it hid peteFil' out entirely and made no nominations, but fused with other third parties. In a few States there were small gains, butrthe trend of the vote shows that the decline from 1886 to 1888 continues.

These are facts and figures which the Voice should take into account in takiDg its bearings. They may be igs not ed on paper, but they will stubbornly confront us in the field. In twenty years the party commands about 2 per cent, of the voters of the nation, and less than 7 per cent, of the actual prohibitionists of the country. It may be convenient to sneer at the other 93 percent., but among them are found many of the best men of the world, intelligent, sober, earnest, conscientious. Is it not time for this little fragment to fall in line with their equals in intelligence and their superiors in numbers, and make a solid front against the foe? There is not a single fact which authorizes the belief that a prohibition party can ever command a majority of the voters of the nation, or of prohibitionists, even. Is not twenty years and 2 per cent, discouraging?