Wasgatt received the paper and went on.
"'We reaffirm our belief in the principle of the prohibition of the
liquor traffic, and pledge our earnest efforts to promote temperance.'"
Across the corridor revellers were bawling over and over in chorus:
"'Let's take a drink,
Let's take it now,
God only knows how dry I am!'"
"That's a good thing to reaffirm--I don't mean the song they're singing
in that room across there! It's a good thing to pledge ourselves to
promote temperance," said the General, "but that isn't the point at
issue. I have another plank that I've written for our platform."
He drew a second paper from his pocket.
"Gentlemen, some politicians, more than half a century ago, simply to
use a temperance movement for bait in a political campaign, dragged into
our party a moral, social, and economic question that belongs to the
whole people--not merely to us as a party. Let the people, when the
right time comes and they decide the matter differently, make a law that
the majority desires and will stand behind.
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