The women not only worked faithfully, but when
election day came they also turned out all over the state and worked all day,
urging up indifferent and negligent voters, and supplying refreshments. They held
prayer meetings in the churches all day, and sang the church songs every hour to
remind the voters that the women were praying for the protection of the homes
and the boys.
In his message to the legislature on January 14, 1879, Governor
John P.
St. John
included a section on temperance. He said in part: "The subject of temperance,
in its relation to the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage has occupied
the attention of the people of Kansas to such an extent I feel it my duty to
call your attention to some of its evils, and suggest, if possible, a remedy
therefore. Much has been said of late years about hard times and extravagant and
useless expenditures of money, and in this connection I desire to call your
attention to the fact that here in Kansas, where our people are at least as
sober and temperate as are found in any of the states in the West, the money
spent annually for intoxicating liquors would defray the entire expenses of the
state government, including the care and maintenance of all the charitable
institutions, agricultural college, normal school, state university and
penitentiary. . . . Could we but dry up this one great evil that consumes
annually so much wealth, and destroys the physical, moral and mental usefulness
of its victims, we would hardly need prisons, poorhouses, or police."
Governor
St.
John was an ardent and powerful champion of the temperance cause
and through his influence, and that of other active and sympathetic temperance
workers, the legislature of 1879 passed and submitted to the people of Kansas a
joint resolution providing an amendment to the constitution, as follows: "The
manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors shall be forever prohibited in this
state, except for medical, scientific and mechanical purposes." The amendment
came before the people at the polls on November 2, 1880, and out of a total vote
of 176,606 it was carried by a majority of 7,998. At the next Republican state
convention Mr. St. John was re-nominated for governor upon "a platform pledging
the party to the policy of
Prohibition of the liquor traffic," and made a fight
on that issue before the people.
In his message to the legislature of
1881 he stated that "This amendment being now a part of the constitution of our
state, it devolves upon you to enact such laws as are necessary for its rigid
enforcement. There are but a few citizens today who will not admit that dramshops
are a curse to any people. More crime, poverty, misery and degradation flow from
them than from all other sources combined. The real difference of opinion
existing in relation to them is not so much as to whether they are an evil or a
blessing, but rather as to what course should be pursued toward them.
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Some have contended that they should be licensed;
but it seems to me that if they are an evil, no government should give them the
sanction of the law. They should be prohibited as we prohibit all other
acknowledged evils. It has been urged as an argument in favor of licensing dramshops, that, under that system, a large revenue is derived. Granting this to
be true, I insist we have no right to consider the question of revenue at a cost
of the sacrifice of principles. All the revenue ever received from such a source
will not compensate for a single tear of a heartbroken mother at the sight of
her drunken son as he reels from the door of a licensed dramshop. . . . The
people of Kansas have spoken upon the whole question in a language that cannot
he misunderstood. By their verdict, the license system as it relates to the sale
of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, has been blotted from the statute books
of the state. We now look to the future, not forgetting that it was here on our
soil where the first blow was given that finally resulted in the emancipation of
a race from slavery. We have now determined upon a second emancipation, which
shall free not only the body but the soul of man. Now, as in the past, the
civilized world watches Kansas, and anxiously awaits the result. No step should
be taken backward. Let it not be said that any evil exists in our midst, the
power of which is greater than the people."
The legislature, representing the temperance element of the state, on Febrary
19, 1881, passed a long act of 24 sections, prohibiting the manufacture and sale
of intoxicating liquors except for medical, scientific and mechanical purposes,
and regulating the manufacture and sale thereof for such excepted purposes.
It also made it unlawful to give away liquor, and for a person to become
intoxicated, the fine was $5 or imprisonment in county jail from one to ten
days. The passage of this strict
Prohibition law started the propagation of the
temperance idea, although its effect upon the liquor traffic was not immediately
recognized. In different parts of the state, vigorous prosecutions were
instituted. The
Prohibition policy had many enemies who believed the
constitutional amendment a mistake. Among these was Governor George W. Glick,
who succeeded Governor St. John in 1883. In his message to the legislature he
dealt with the subject of
Prohibition and the operation of the law. Glick tried
hard to modify the law, but it fell on deaf ears and was not changed. The state
legislatures of later years amended and supplemented the original enactment.
Continued Next Page |
LEGENDS
OF KANSAS
