American Issue Prohibition Newspaper

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Vol«iii«  XXVI
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A Saloonless Nation and a Stainless Flag
WESTERVILLE, OHIO. JANUARY 25. 19!9
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Resolution Gave P This Act, With State a
in a Little Less Than Thirteen of Seven Years for the CompI le Exception of New Jersey.      I gues Now Give Earnest Attentio
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itates more T: I Ones Expect litiai Step in
Legislaf"
the Reciiiired Three-Fourths. to Join Their Sister States in 1-Wide Drive for Prohibition.
AOI IN HK^^UlMt
Celerity   With   Which   States   Ratified   Gives   Indication   of   the
Popularity of This  Great  Reform;  Also  Seen in Big
Majority of Approving Votes of Legislators
TOTAL VOTE "FOR" ON DAY ACT APPROVEB, 3,876
WITH TOTAL OF 822 VOTES AGAINST MEASURE
leeward of Twenty-Five Years Faithful Work According to Anti- Sa:loon League Plans and Methods by the Temperance- Loving Citizens of the Nation
FitlST 36 RATIFYING STATES HAVE TOTAL PIPULATION OF 62,033,939
This With 7,848,868 Population of Additional States Ratifying To
Date Gives a Total of 69,882,807 Who, Through Their
Legislatures, Have Declared for a Dry Nation
smashed the Hindenburg line as indi-| cated by the vote of the new Senate : on this question which shows but one; dissenting voice. ¦
Traffic  Doomed  When  League  Was; i^'onned ;
The   licjuor   traffic   in   the   United; States was doomed the da}' Dr. How-1 ard  H.  Russell founded the Anti-Sa-; loon   League   twentj'-five   years   ago. | It  is  no  disparagement  to   other or~' ganizations that were in the field priori to the founding of the League to say | that not until the practical omni-parti- j san League methods were applied did the boo?e power show any evidences of weakening.    These other organiza¬ tions through agitation and educati'Mi had aroused the people to a sense (vf realization   of  the  harmful  effects   of beverage alcohol and the baneful influ¬ ence of the traffic in politics.
First Amendment Resolution        ]
, -As    early    as    1876   a    Prohibition I amendment   had   been   introduced   in: the   House  of the  National  Congress \ by , Hon.    Henry   W. "Blair   of   New! Hampshire.    The  Good Templars al-1 most fifty years ago had declared for ! a prohibition amendment to the. Con- ; stitbtion..   The     Woman's     Christian I Temperance  Union, had  done  valiant scryice for almost fifty 3'ears and the I'rohibition   party   kept   the   question before the people.
Practical Methods Won
The League devised and put into execution the practical method of di¬ recting these people in delivering the moft effective blows against the traffic. Steady inroads were made upon the liquor interests' domains by means   of   municipal,    township   and
county local option until finally' whole I states j)egau to outlaw the traffic by; direct vote of the people.
Sentiment   crystallized   so    rapidly that the National Anti-Saloon League In   November,   191.3,   in   tv.-cuticiu   an¬ nual  convention  assembled,  launched ; the fight for National Proliibition con- • stitutiona! amendment.    In 1914 a res- , olution passed the House of the 6ord Congress    by   a    ma.iority   vote,    l)ut , failed   to   receive   the  necessary   two-: thirds vote.    CJn  August   1.   1917, the ^ United States Senate of the 6.5th Con¬ gress  passed   by   the   neccssar}'   two- thirds vote the resohjtion.  submitting : the   dr}'- amendment to  the  .state  for; ratification    or   rejection.     .\    similar i amendment passed the House on De-* cember 17, 1917, and on December 19, \ 1917,   the   Senate   conctsrred   and   the ¦ (Continued on Page 2) .      i
HIS NEW   MOUNT
The long fought-for, prayed-for, looked-for day is here! It takes its place on the calendar as January 16, 1919 and its place in American history as a day second to none in importance as an epoch marker in progress of moral reform. On this day the Prohibition amendment w^as written into the Constitution of the United States when Nebraska House of Representatives ratified by a vote of 98 to 0, following favorable action by the Senate, and thus completing the required number of thirty-six approving states.
The liquor interests are dumbfounded at the speed Avith which the states have approved the amendment and the drys themselves can scarcely realize that the long battle to vote the United States dr\' is won. There was a veritable hurdle jumping contest between states since the first of the year to have the honor of being counted among the first thirty-six. The evening of January 15 found the thirty-fifth state, New Hampshire, in line. The honor of becoming- number thirty-six, the state to cast the determining vote, could easily have gone to any one of four or five states. There was a hot scram¬ ble for this honor. Nebraska appears to have had a little advantage inasmuch as the Senate had already ratified by a vote of 31 to 1 on January 13. Her House acted at 10:15 on the morning of January 16 by a unanimous vote and thereby nosed Missouri out of the thirty- sixth place by less than an hour. Wyoming was right after Mis¬ souri and took her place as number thirt3'-eight, but distinguished lerself as becoming the sixth state in the Union to indorse the imendment unanimously in both branches.
ing majority, refused to consider the resolution, should be given the op- portunitj' to deliver the blow that knocked the last expiring breath from old John Barleycorn,-because, as was proven by documentary evidence pre¬ sented by the Nebraska State Journal, the Senators dissenting were merely standing true to the gang who elected them, namely, the German-American Alliance. It speaks well for the citi¬ zenship    of    that    state    that    they \
A Well Won Honor
No state will begrudge Nebraska the honor of casting the determining vote. The state of the Great Com¬ moner, William Jennings Bryan, cer¬ tainly deserves a place among the first thirty-six. It is a sort of poetic jus¬ tice that this state whose Senate last year at a special session, after the House had ratified by an overwhelm-
*Top o' the World to You!"
FACTS    YOU'D    LIKE    TO KNOW    ABOUT    RATL
FICATION
The thirty-sixth state ratified January 16, 1919.
Dry amcmiment will become effective January  15,  1920.
The fight for nation-wide Prohibition by constitutional amendment was launched at the twentieth convention of the Anti-Saloon Leagiic of America held in Columbus, Ohio, No¬ vember  10-13,  1913.
The House of the 63rd Con¬ gress on December 22, 1914, gave a majority vote but lacked a two-thirds vote on a National Prohibition amendment resolu¬ tion.
United States Senate of the 6.?th Congress on Wednesday, August 1, 1917, voted to submit the National Prohibition amend¬ ment by a vote of 65 to 20, more than the required two-thirds.
December 17, 1917, the House by a vote of 282 to 128 passed the National Prohibition amend¬ ment resoltion adopted by the Sena?te on August 17, but with slight amendments. These amendments were con- ciired in by the United States Senate on Tuesday, December 19.
Fifteen states ratified in 1918, six at regular session and nine' in special session.
Twenty-three states ratified the first sixteen days of the new year, all at regular session of their respective Legislatures,
Mis.sissippi was the first state to ratify, acting on January ^, 1918.
Forty states ratified within thirteen months, from the time the resolution was submitted by the United States Congress.
No state to date has defeated ratification on a straight issue, with the exception of Louisiana in 1918 where the resolution lost by a tie vote in the Senate, one dry seat being vacant. A special election was called, this seat was filled and the Governor called a special session of the Legislature and the Senate promptly ratified.
Six states, up to January 17, have ratified unanimously, South Dakota, Washington, Idaho, Kansas, Utah and Wy¬ oming.
The first thirty-six states rati¬ fying ihave a total population of (1910) 62,033,939.
The first thirty-six states rati¬ fying gave a total of 3,976 votes for the amendment to 822 votes against the amend- ment.