Letters From The People

To the Editor op Tuk Corana: It seems desirable tliat all lovers of good moráis without reference to party ghould vote for the proposed prohibitory amend ment to the constitution of our state. There are some temperanre men who are hesitating over the matter for fear Unit if we get a prohibitory law t cannot be carried out; and thcy point to Kansas mid Iowa and say, "Is not the law a failure there ? " It happens thit uiy public duties as Superintundeiit of tho Unitiirian ECome Missionary and Church Exten!Ín Work for the West, during the two years that I have recently been absent from Ann Arbor, have taken me much into both the states nanied, and given me excellent and extended oppoitunltie for lenrniiiK the facts as to the working of the prohibitiou Iaw8 thcrein; and as the result of my otservatlon and nquiries I mn entirely vinceil thiit prohibition in both States is nm Icss but more successful tlian tbe more intelligent portiou of the temperunce people wlien they enacted it expectcd. Indeed, I confesa to my own srreat surprise to find the law so generally carried out : for like so raany otbers I had been hoodwinked by the false reports that have been so industrlously ciiculated in the interese of the liquor tratHc, until I Itippoesd that prohibition was practically a tallare, líut I became undeceived. I found the best men of all sections forti fying that the law against liquor manu. facture and sale is carried out as well as the law against almost any other crime. So far from its belng a fuilure it is a most gratifying success. But, Mr. Editor, I did not begin this letter so much to give my own testlniony, as to ask you kindly to print the ing coniiiHinicHtion froni a resident of Kansas- Uev. T. M. Osmond, pastor of the l'resbyterian cliurcli in Lawrence' This testiinony will be of especial iuterest to tlio people of Ann Arbor, because Luwrence is not ouly about the size of our city (perhaps a little larer), but is tlie seat of the State University of Kansas, as Anti Arbor is of the State University of Michigan. The letter was written to Hev. Geo. F. Huntingtoii, D. Ü., of the Presbyteriau eliurch, of Kalamazoo. Very Kespectfully, J. T. SUNOEKLAND. Ann AitBOR, Maich 17, '87. DB. OSMOND"S LKTTSB. La wuk.m-k, Ka., Marcli 5, 1897. Kkv. üeo. F. Huntinqton, D. D.: Dêar Broiher-AB to the general worklng of our l'rohlbltlon Amendmeiit throughoul the late of Kangas, Oov. Martln's testiraouy - whlch I euclose- Is the hlgheHt authority that i'ould begiven. It is clenr and decisivo. So íar as I know, no attempts llave been made io mi it a.side. My observatlon has been mainly restrioted to the city of Lawrenoe, the seat of state unlverslty, wlth a populatlon of about 12.0U0 ÜOIllS. I have reslded here for the past elgut years. lst. The open saloon has utterly dlsappeared. There were :ö or 40 of these abomluatioiiK before Prohlbltion went Intooperution ïhey were conspiouous olijetts iu our business streetN. Hut, thank Uod, tli places that kuew thein know them uo more. Ifliquors siresold here at all, It Is ouly under the name necesslty for conceaimeut, the saine danger and dread of exposure that are coinmon to all other criminal aud banned operations. Is It uot a galu worlh all It inay cost to have sln stripped of lts robes of outward respectablllly, and made to bear tbe brand of lts owu shame? 2d. The saloon power 1b broken toshivers. Iifl'ore the era of prohtbltlon, aud for som years afterwards, it was formldably lnfluentlal. Business men and polltlclans were airaiil of glvlng lt offense. Now, '-none o poor as to do lt revereiice." ld. Drunkenuegs, wlth the disorders and crimes arlsingfrom lt, Is now acaroely known among us. Formerly there was hardly an Issue of the dally newspaper that dld not chronlcle cases of arrest fine or iraprlsonment for lntoxicatton. Now, iiiouUih pass without a single report of the kind. Lat Foartb of July our city wltnessed one of the largestthrougsof peopleevergathered wlthln lts bounds, but perfect order aud sobrlety prevalled. Not a dranken man was to be been lu all that vast multltude ¦"¦li. I'ublic sentiment in iavor of the enforcement of tbe law hus steadlly advuiuid r'or three or four years aller 1U punjan e lt was exceedlngly dlfflcult to secure convlc tlons, ïHimwf. would prevarícale. Jurors would disregard thelr oaths A.1I thls Is whully clianged. Vlolators of the law now know so well that they have nothlng to hope lor that they have etther absconded Irom tincity or pleud guilty and throw theinselves on tnemercy ol tne oourt, Untll receutly the owner (il our only brewery Insolently defled the law and encourageii others to do so, vwhumum uu ui unuuciai suimiiti auu backed uy uu uufortunale decisión of one of i the Jutland of the supreme court of our stuto. Hut at the lust senslou of onr district court before which he was arraigned, lie so lost I huurt aml liope Unit he suddeuly left tlie couutry, forfelllng lils bail, and is now a fugltive and a vagabond. 6th. The only serew etlll loose Is the drug store legislatlou of two years ugo. All that, however, is to be corrected by the present leglslature whlch will modlfy the law so that doubtless hereafter the way of all lts transgrc'ssors wlll be hard Indeed. God gran t that your noble átate may speedlly una elteetally be redeemed from lüe saloon nuleance and curse, and that the vlctory may come to you wlth lens ol long and hard nghtlug than has been ueceïsary for KliliSUM. Xruly and fraternolly, 8. M. OSMOND. [How people differ. For instance, a buó.ness man of Luwrence, a stricl temppranct' m:iD, too, whosu U'stiinony was prtnted last week, and whois well-known to iniiuy of our citizens - Milford N. Wflls- frives quite u (Jiilertiic view of the liquor question in Luwrence. He says llüit though the open saloon uiay be closed, that driiikn; is not lessened; that "drug stores " have more than doubled; that "clubs" flourish; and that joaan men lnive secret haunts that ruin more of them tliau the open saloou did, for they have too much pride to be seen in saloons, vvhile the private "clubs'1 are supposed to hide all their debauchery. Furthermore he says were he la gan thia spring he should vute agaiust the auicndtiient utiii for the tax law as being the best tempéranos ineasure. All thls leads us to reiuark that perbaps ministers are not always the best people to testify in regard to intemperance and evll. Tliey do not testify falsely, but they do not know. They are seldorn, if ever, tlirowu in contact with intemperance and wrong doing, and are not the ones from whoni to secure evidence. Who would think of applying to a literary professor in our scliools to diagnose the case of a lick man f And that Is just about wliat our ministers are attenipting. Tliey kuow liquor diiuking to be wrong and strike at it at random without stopping to enquire as to the most practicable uiethods of Uealing with