Mr. L. Ames Brown, in “Prohibition and Politics,” published in the North American Review of December, 1915, points to some of the features of the Anti-Saloon League programme, in the nationalization of prohibition—a very interesting and valuable contribution upon the subject. Very accurately—and apparently without any prejudices—Mr. Brown shows the workings of the Prohibitionists in the political.

He calls attention to the Prohibition rider in the District of Columbia Appropriation Bill, “an amendment to the District Bill to foist prohibition upon the people of the District without a referendum,” and continuing, says:

“The Prohibitionists, with one or two exceptions, refused to listen to suggestions that the legislation be submitted to a vote of the District of Columbia, thus disregarding the principle of self-government which they had agitated so vigorously in local option campaigns.”In this attempt to force the people of the District to submit to their dictation, and to keep them from voting upon the measure, the Prohibitionists showed clearly that they were without regard for the sentiment of the people to be affected. This was evidently one of those “distinctively moral” questions upon which the people are not supposed to vote—or at least are not to be allowed to vote, if the Prohibitionists can have their way—but in this act at the seat of government, they have, indeed, given proof of their absolute disregard for the principle of self-government which they prate so much about in local option campaigns. They have shown to what lengths they would go, if they could.

Mr. Brown is authority for the statement that had this District Bill gone to President Wilson without a provision for a referendum, he would have immediately vetoed it.

According to Mr. Brown, the Anti-Saloon League is strongly intrenched at Washington. He says that it “maintains at Washington one of the most powerful lobbies ever seen at the National Capital,” and regarding its influence upon the nation’s law-makers he has this to say:

“Its representatives, backed by an organized influence of public opinion, are enabled to dictate the attitude of a considerable number of Congressmen on a pending question, with the result that Congressmen oftentimes are driven to vote against their own views and their own consciencies in favor of measures advocated by the lobby.”

Mr. Brown gives a very lucid account of the bold and defiant activities of the powerful Anti-Saloon League lobby at Washington—and as to the results, he has this to say:

“The harmful effect of such a lobbying enterprise upon our system of government does not admit of controversy.”

Mr. Brown is convincing to the reader in his conclusions of “Prohibition and Politics” which, to sum up, may be stated as—A GROWING AND INSIDIOUS POWER IN THE POLITICAL REALM, INIMICAL TO THE AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS OF GOVERNMENT. And if a rapidly growing power, which was practically unknown a decade ago, is so great in politics and government today, what may we expect a decade hence!

The Prohibition movement then, unquestionably, is simply a means to an end,—the stepping-stone to political power,—the pathway to the goal of political ambition; and it seems only fair to presume that all the hue and cry over drunkenness and the inability of some men to control their natural appetites is, after all, only a minor matter; but the question of seizing the political power, and filling governmental offices only with “good men” is the major matter. And the real issue, power to rule and to enjoy the emoluments of public office. And the real menace, the overturning of the present system of government wherein the privileges and rights of the individual are safeguarded, and the setting up of a new standard of authority, namely, “the law of God” as interpreted by the Prohibitionists and moral reformers. And it is the interpretation that is to be feared!

The remotest possibility of the success of such an unjust, un-American, illiberal and dangerous form of tyranny in government, should alarm the American people beyond and above every other question, even that of war; and should set them to the task of a close analysis of the subject and trend of Prohibition.

When the true American finds that as a result of the outgrowths of the “monstrous principle,” and under rapidly multiplying laws and regulations, he is forbidden to dispose of his property as he pleases; forbidden to amuse himself as he pleases on holidays; forbidden to read what books he pleases and to look at what pictures he pleases; to dress, think and drink as he pleases, he will set his face like a flint against the tyrannical and inquisitorial demands of the modern Crusaders, and he will attempt to halt their inroads and innovations on the government. The ballot-box is his opportunity. There he may register his disapprobation, and put a curb on the restless, uneasy, political charlatan who, under the guise of moral reform, would seize the machinery of political government and make it an engine of tyranny and oppression.

It must be kept in mind that the clerical politicians of the Prohibition party (no distinction can be made between the Prohibition Party and the Anti-Saloon League: they are one and the same in intent and purpose) are interested not merely in the enactment of prohibitory liquor laws. They want laws prohibiting everything that does not conform to their interpretation of theological dogmas.