And where is the father who does not rejoice over this prospect? The man
does not live who is so degraded, so brutal, that he would wish his boy,
or the husband of his daughter, to acquire the drinking habit. Where,
then, is the man who is not willing to give his voice and his vote to
sustain the party which, respecting and obeying the formally expressed
will of the people, proposes to abolish the saloon, and the frightful
crime, poverty, wretchedness and vice of which it is the fruitful
source? Suppose that not another drop of liquor should ever be sold as a
beverage in Kansas, would any human being in the State thereby suffer
harm? If every saloon in Kansas should be closed to-morrow, and never
reopened, would any man, woman or child within the limits of the State
be injured? Has whisky, since the first drop was distilled, ever
benefited any man who drank it, or made the life of any wife, mother or
sister any happier, or brought joy to the heart or smiles to the lips of
a little child? Has any good ever come out of the saloon? Has any human
being been hurt or harmed, in any town or city of this State, by the
closing of the saloons? Not one—not a single one. In hundreds of Kansas
towns whence the saloons have been banished, there are thousands of
homes where wives and children wear better clothes, and sit down every
day to better meals, than they had provided for them before the saloons
were banished. Is there a home anywhere in the State that is less
peaceful, prosperous and happy, or a child that is clothed in rags, or a
wife whose love and happiness have been blighted, because the saloons
have been closed? Not one—not a single one.