His partisans applauded.
"You won't stop and listen to what may be for the actual best interests
of our State, then?"
"I'll not license crime nor compound felonies with criminals."
"Mr. Prouty, as Governor I signed the first prohibition law passed in
this State. It was on trial. I was liberal enough to bend my own
personal views to give it that trial. When I'm thinking of my State I
don't insist that _my_ way is the _only_ way. Now, sir, if you knew
that, as citizens, not mere partisans, we could all get together and
frame something better than a law that has bred evils of political
corruption through all the years without altering the appetites of the
people--if you knew that, wouldn't you remould some of your opinions and
help us bring about the best good for the whole of us?"
"I'll not abate my loyalty to prohibition one jot or tittle!"
"In your case and in the case of the kind of fanatics who train with
you," declared the General, with disgust in tone and mien, "that word
'prohibition' is simply a fetish--a rally-call for a fight.
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