The Commoner
VOL-! 17, NO. 11
2t
k
r
Prohibition Prohibits
in Nebraska
On another page will "bo found a very interest
ing Interview given out by Mayor Dahlman, of
Omaha, and published in the Omaha Daily News.
Mayor Dahlman, like a great many of tho offi
cials in wot cities who opposed prohibition, is
convinced by the facts and ready to admit that
prohibition not only prohibits but improves con
ditions. Such testimony, coming from such a
city as Omaha, ought to have a powerful influ
ence in tho states where some are still misled
by tho fallacious statements and unsound argu
ments circulated by the liquor Interests. Omaha
fought prohibition for years tho brewers,
distillers and saloons furnishing the campaign
funds and many of tho prominent business men
accepting and endorsing their arguments, but Ne
braska went dry in spite of Omaha, and the
legislature enacted, over the opposition of the
liquor representatives, a law honestly carrying
out the verdict of tho people. Up to the last mo
ment Omaha did her best to retain her crime
breeding, poverty-spreading liquor houses, but
she was overwhelmed, and the haunts of vice
were taken from her by force. Now her people
are convinced that they were mistaken in sup
posing the saloons to bo a necessity, and Mayor
Dahlman, her chief executive, with his customary
frankness, declares himself a convert to the new
regime. Prohibition has triumphed, and those
who honestfy opposed it will And real satisfac
tion in the dispelling of their fears. They will
bo the happier because of the opportunity they
now have to support a great moral crusade
which is destined to triumph in' the nation ,and
throughout tho world. Welcome, Mayor Dahl
man, to the ranks of the advocates of prohibi
tion! W. J. BRYAN.
WHAT BIPUDENCE!
vTho International Union of Brewery Work
men of America, through its secretary, is send
ing out literature under the head of "War
Against Liberty." One pamphlet gives the gov
ernment revenues collected but it does not. ex
plain that the money is collected very largely
from those LEAST ABLE TO PAY.
It tells how many workingmen will be thrown
out of employment by the closing of the brew
eries, distilleries and saloons, but it does not
give the number who lose their employment
through drink. It gives the amount invested
In the production and sale, of liquor at one bil
lion five hundred millions, hut it does not add
. that the people have been throwing away more
than that sum on liquor annually in order to
keep the manufacture and sale going.
The food administrator has finally turned his
attention to the millers and the bakers, the men
who make the flour of the nation and the men.
who sell it in commercialized form. He declares
that the excessive profits of the miller must be
eliminated and that the bakers who have been,
trailing along with, equally substantial profits
must dispense with them. After a time it will
sink Into the minds of the predatory business
men that the real test of patriotism Is not a
willingness to deck buildings with flags and call
ing everybody traitor who doesn't yell as loud
as he does, hut in whether he uses the war to
increase his own profits.
MOB LAW INTOLERABLE
Tho horse-whipping of Minister Biglow by
a. Kentucky mob is an offense againBt which,
every - patriotic citizen should protest. There
Cis nor-injaslon of our soil, there is no suspen
r sion of fcourt processes, no marital law.
j TheWatutes of the United States are in full
force, lind government officials are armed with,
power to prosecute all who are guilty of vio
lating them. If Rev. Biglow had been guilty
of any criminal act his accusers could have
brought him before the court and secured con
viction upon sufficient evidence. To take the
punishment into their own hands was a re
flection on, the government or a confession of
the weakness of' the case, besides being an
outrage upon a citizen. The perpetrators should
be arrested and punished,, democracy is not
mob rule, it is a people's government admin
istered according to the constitution and the
laws. W. J. BRYAN.
0
6
PRESIDENT "WILSON'S THANKSGIV
ING PROCLAMATION
President Wilson's proclamation, fix
ing Thursday, November 29, as Thanks
giving day, follows:
"It has long been the honored custom
of our people to turn in the fruitful au
tumn of the year in praise and thanks
giving to Almighty God for his many
blessings ,and mercies to us as a nation.
That custom we can follow now, even in
the midst of the tragedy of a world
shaken by war and immeasurable disas
ter, in the midst of sorrow and great
peril, because even amidst the darkness
that has gathered about us we can see
the great blessings God has bestowed
upon us, blessings that are better than
mere peace of mind and prosperity of
enterprise.
"We have been given the opportunity
to serve mankind as we once served our
selves in the great day of our declaration
of independence by taking up arms
against a tyranny that threatened to
master and debase men everywhere, and
joining with other free peoples in de
manding for all nations of the world
what we then demanded and obtained
for ourselves. In this day of the rev
elation of our duty, not only to defend
our own rights as a nation, but to de
fend also the rights of freemen through
out the world, there has been vouch
safed us in full and inspiring measure
the resolution and spirit of united ac
tion. We have been brought to one
mind and purpose. A new vigor of com
mon counsel and common action has
been revealed in us. We should es
pecially thank God that in such circum
stances, in the midst of the greatest en
terprise the spirits of men have ever
entered upon, we have, if we but observe
a reasonable and practicable economy,
abundance with which to supply the
needs of those associated witb us, as well
as our own. A new light shines about
us. The great duties of a day awaken
a newjmd greater national spirit in us.
We shall never again be divided or won
der what stuff we aie made of.
"And while we render thanks for these
things let us pray Almighty God that in.
all humbleness of spirit we may look al
ways to Him for guidance; that we may
be kept constant in the spirit and pur
pose of service; that by His grace our
minds may bo directed and our hands
strengthened; and that in His good time
liberty and security and peace and the
comradeship of a common justice -may
be vouchsafed all the nations of the
earth.
"Wher'efor, I, Woodrow Wilson, pres
ident of the United Statej of America,
do hereby designate Thursday, the
twenty-ninth day of November next as
a day of thanksgiving and prayer, and
invite the people throughout the land to
cease upon that day from their ordinary
occupations and In their several homes
and places of worship to render thanks
'
to God, the Great Ruler of nations.
"In witness whereof, I have hereunto
set my hand and caused the seal of the
United States to be affixed.
"Done in the District of Columbia,
this 7th day of November, In the year of
our Lord, one thousand nine hundred
and seventeen and of the independence
of the United States the one hundred and
forty-second,
, WOODROT WILSON.
"By the President: Robert Lansing,
Secretary of State."
ft
000 0
If the matter were Investigated it would prob
ably be found that a. considerable amount of the
criticism that has been hurled at the farmers
because they did notrop all of their necessary
work and hurry their wheat to -market came
from millers who were anxious to pile up their
profits before the food administration got
around to them.
The Result in Ohio
At thte writing th fate of the prohibition
amendment in Ohio is still in doubt, each side
claiming & majority. While The Commoner
earnestly hopes that the final returns will bo on
the side of the amendment, it ventures to extend
Its congratulations to the friends of prohibition
no matter how the election may have gone. De
feat by so small a majority is a triumph for the
cause, and, Bince it foreshadows a certain success
when the question is again tested, it brings more
joy to the hearts of the advocates of prohibition
than to tho friends of the saloon. This is the
third vote that. Ohio has taken within three
years. In 1914 the majority against the pro
posed prohibition amendment was about 84,000
in 1915, when the issue was again presented, the
majority was cut down to about 54,000; now,
two years later, the margin even if the amend
ment is defeated is so narrow that the prohi
bitionists will be able to enter the next campaign
with theflcertainty of victory if another campaign
is made before national prohibition is sub
mitted. The reduction of the wet vote in cities like
Cincinnati and Cleveland Is very encouraging; it
Indicates an awakened civic conscience that gives
promise of advance along moral lines.
Now that it is known that Ohio would ratify
a national amendment if submitted, a new im
petus will be given to the cause of prohibition
in the nation. It is not presuming too much to
say that the result in Ohio practically insures
the submission of national prohibition, and tho
anti-saloon wave has risen so high that the en
dorsement of the amendment by three-fourths of
the states is almost as certain as its submission.
Congratulations to the brave men and women of
Ohio who have come to the help of a great
cause at this critical time!
Nov. 6 will be remembered as a redletter day
in the prohibition fight. Ohio carried the cause
a long stride forward. W. J. BRYAN.
VHT CONTINUE THE WASTE?
The Masonic Observer, published at Minne
apolis, calls attention to the fact that a part of
the potato crop may be lost through freezing
unless cars are furnished to ship them, and it
adds that "thousands of refrigerator cars are
regularly assigned to breweries and in daily use
on the railroads of the United States and loaded
to full capacity, carrying beer for saloons and
blind pigs." It wants to know why millions of
bushels of barley are allowed to be wasted in
the form of beer while the people are denying
themselves wheat in order to economize food.
If we will save the hundred million bushels
of food grains annually converted into beer, it
will be easier to persuade the public to save at
the table. It is inconsistent not to include the
big beer leak and give attention only to the
smaller family leaks.
Uncle Sam has loaned the allies around three
billion dollars since he entered into the partner
ship of war. With that amount of lubricant the
war machines ought to be able to do effective
work.
A NEWSPAPER INACCURACY
"Chandler, Ariz., Nov. 6. William J. Bryan,
former . secretary of state, was saved from a
wild bull by the presence of a mesquite tree
on the desert here yeisterday. Mr. Bryan and
R. A. Hayward, superintendent of the Pima
Indian reservation, were duck bunting when
they were chased by the bull and succeeded in
reaching the mesquite tree. Other members of
the hunting party shot and killed the bull.
"Mr. Bryan was unhurt, but lost part of his
hunting suit in the flight from the animal."
The above press dispatch having been widely
published, Mr. Bryan begs to make the following-
corrections:
1st. The animal was a" steer instead of a
bull.
2nd. The steer was not wild, but simply
vicious.
3rd. The person "treed" was not Mr. Bryan
but another member of the hunting party.
4th. As Mr. Bryan did not see the animal
until after it was killed, it is hardly necessary
to add that he did not lose "a part of his hunt
ing suit in the flight.'- With these corrections
tfie story is substantially true. ivT
W. J. BRYAN.
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