| 1918 KANSAS AND KANSANS | Chapter 54 | Part 1 |
CHAPTER LIV
PROHIBITION IN KANSAS
By CLARA FRANCIS, LIBRARIAN, KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Prohibition in Kansas was no sudden uprising of a people against the liquor traffic; no movement of a few fanatics, long haired men and short haired women; nor should it be attributed to a puritanical desire to legislate morals into a state. Rather it was a crystallization of the slowly developed sentiment of a majority of the people in Kansas into an expression on the dramshop laws under which the liquor traffic was operated.
That Kansas should have been the first state to incorporate a prohibitory amendment in her constitution is not unique. She was zealously striving for a better liquor law; she had the benefit of the experience of other states. And furthermore she was young; she had no traditions to violate and few precedents to follow. With her the times were plastic. One of her enemies was the liquor traffic, and with a vision far beyond her years she started out to destroy it.
Between the passage of the prohibitory amendment and the vote upon it, nearly two years elapsed. And they were two years of strife, each faction contending vigorously for its own belief. There was not a household in which prohibition and anti-prohibition were not discussed; there was not a pulpit from which the principles of temperance were not heard; there was not a platform whereon the advocates of one side or the other had not expounded its views. The newspapers argued the question pro and con, sometimes with extreme bitterness, and sometimes with tranquil earnestness and justice, desiring only the "greatest good to the greatest number."
It was the people who were to decide this question, and it was the people who were thinking deeply upon it. The vote was the final word of the people of the whole state, not of any one locality, nor of any one nativity, for it came from a population that had been drawn from nearly every quarter of the United States. And to attribute the result to any one faction or set of people is to make a great mistake. Public opinion is easily traced and to follow it on the temperance movement in Kansas needs no special insight. But to understand its growth one should begin at the very beginning.
The dram-shop law of 1855, taken bodily from the Missouri Statutes, was a local option law, and a reasonably good one even though one of the execrated "Bogus Laws." Because it was the first liquor law, effective in Kansas, through the action of the Territorial Legislature, and because all further action in restraint of dram-shops was based upon it, it is here given in full:
This law was in force for four years, or until 1859, when the general revision did away with these so-called "Bogus Laws." Some scattered communities, however, had not been content with its provisions. Desiring more stringent measures, they had sought to accomplish prohibition by organizing towns wherein the sale of liquor was prohibited, and where a clause inserted in the deeds revoked the title should liquor ever be sold in any building erected on the property. Emporia was one of these towns, Topeka and Baldwin were others.
In casting about for the first glimmerings of prohibition in Kansas there arises for consideration the social movement involved in various lodges and secret societies. During the period between 1855 and 1859 there were such orders organized through the territory and most of them embodied temperance pledges in their constitutions. These lodges were often the only social outlet of remote groups of people, therefore the membership was large and the interest keen. Essentially, their share in fostering temperance sentiment was no inconsiderable one.
The Topeka Legislature, authorized by the Topeka constitution, had temperance brought to its notice immediately upon its assembling. This was the Free-State movement which so long stood in opposition to the cause of the general Government, and which represented the real sentiment of the people of Kansas. The Legislature convened on March 4, 1856, and the next day the House was asked for the use of Constitutional Hall, its place of meeting, for a temperance meeting. This request was granted. On the 11th the following memorial on the subject of prohibition was presented to the House by John Brown, Jr., one of its members. This memorial came from fifty-six women of Topeka, and on motion of Mr. Tuton was accepted, and on motion of Mr. William' Crosby was referred to the committee on "Vice and Immorality."
A second memorial was presented by Mr. Brown on March 12th, from ninety women of Lawrence, "praying the passage of stringent prohibitory laws, in relation to the sale and use of intoxicating liquors." This memorial was likewise referred to the committee on Vice and Immorality. No further action was taken on these petitions, for on March 15th the Legislature took a recess until July 4th, when it convened only to be dispersed immediately after roll call, by Col. Sumner and his command on the order of the Government of the United States.
Women, however, were not the only early temperance workers, nor was all the strength of the movement found in petitions. There were men who were willing to go some lengths to keep the liquor traffic in bounds. In the spring of 1856 a Missourian opened a saloon in Big Springs. The few inhabitants protested in vain. He continued his business apparently secure in the protection of his friends. Finally, failing to dislodge him by more peaceful means, forty men went to his establishment, took out three barrels of whiskey and burned them. The agitation on the question of temperance had had its effect on this little community of Douglas county. From this time on the destruction of liquor by an exasperated community was not of infrequent occurrence. In this instance the man's nativity doubtless militated strongly against him.
"Topeka, a little later, was likewise the scene of a whisky riot." in spite of a provision made by the Topeka Association against the sale of intoxicating liquors, saloons had opened in the town, but had been quickly put out of business. In the spring of 1857 a liquor establishment of some pretensions was opened on Kansas Avenue. Because of the capital invested in stock and equipment a good deal of uneasiness was felt, and there was some hesitation manifested as to the wisdom of attempting to deal with it as its forerunners had been dealt with. However an altercation brought matters to a climax. One of the patrons in a half drunken rage began the smashing. No sooner had the sound of the fray traveled through the open windows and doors than assistance rallied to him. Bottles and glasses went through the windows, while kegs and barrels were rolled into the street, the heads knocked in and the contents emptied into the gutters.
When everything had been destroyed the raiders went on to another place where beer was known to be stored and poured that into the street. Uncontrollably excited they pursued their quest through the town, visiting every place where the slightest suspicion could rest. Blood was spilled as well as liquor, and lawsuits grew out of this wholesale destruction. It was said that over $1,500 worth of property was smashed and poured out.
Upon the revision of the laws in 1859 the dram shop law was much changed and became more difficult of enforcement as will be noted by a careful reading of its provisions.
The exemption of all incorporated towns of 1,000 or more inhabitants did not meet with unqualified approval, and other provisions of the law failed to entirely satisfy the temperance people. There was a strong sentiment among them for a law so stringent that prohibition of the liquor traffic would result.
In the meantime the constitutional convention was soon to meet at Wyandotte and some expression of the already strong temperance sentiment in the territory was looked for there. Without disappointment it came on July 11, 1859, when Mr. John Ritchey, a delegate from Shawnee county, introduced the following resolution:
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Resolved, That the constitution of the State of Kansas shall confer power on the legislature, to prohibit the introduction, manufacture, or sale of spiritous liquors within the State. |
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Sec. __. The legislature shall have power to regulate or prohibit the sale of alcoholic liquors, except for mechanical and medicinal purposes. |
A motion was made to table the section, but it failed to carry, and a warm discussion followed. Solon O. Thacher, of Lawrence, was opposed to the section. He held that it would be a grievous mistake to load special legislation on the constitution, believing that it would fend to defeat it before the people. And that if eventually a prohibitory law was demanded by the people the legislature could, and should, pass such an act but that enemies of the constitution could be only too glad to seize upon a provision of that kind. He closed his argument with an appeal:
One of those strongly in favor of the sections was William Hutchinson, the newspaper correspondent, and a delegate to the convention from Shawnee county. Among other things he said:
Another delegate opposed to the section was J. G. Blunt, of Leavenworth. He objected to voting down the constitution by loading it with extraneous issues, and maintained that the history of the temperance cause in the United States had proved that little good ever resulted from attempting to legislate upon it in this way. "The legislature has jurisdiction over this matter, and has authority to pass stringent laws upon the subject." Mr. J. M. Winchell, the president of the convention, was likewise opposed to it, believing the section to be unnecessary.
Mr. Preston objected to Mr. Thacher's arguments and in defense of the section said:
Mr. Stinson of Leavenworth made the statement "that in Maine, where there is no constitutional provision, a law has been declared constitutional more stringent than any you will get here."
After some further argument Mr. Preston withdrew the section, and the discussion of the subject of temperance legislation was dropped in the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention.
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A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans , written and compiled by William E. Connelley, transcribed by Carolyn Ward, 1998.
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