Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1837-04-26

That 1t is discretionary with the Board of
Excise to grant or to refuse licenses-and
this opinion has the sanction of high au-
thority and respectable names. This may
be sound as legal opinion. We pre-
tend not to decide. We suspect, however,
that it had its origin in the desire to &C
complish that indirectly, which we seek
to effect directly. On one point we pro-
nounce confidently and advisedly. In
practice, there is no such Discretion
Boards of Excise, generally, cannot dare
not, exercise any such discretion. The
Statute has clothed them with powers to
be used, and they must use them or lose
them. We, therefore, humby and ear
nestIy pray your honorable body, to dis
solve these "boards of exercise" and to
repeal the excise law. AS measures of
regulation and restraint, they are a dead
letter. Their penalties are seldom enforc-
ed, and never but for sinister purposes.
With or without license everybody retaiis
alcohol who chooses. A license when
askcd is seldom withheld, and the min
lmum price is generally charged for it.
AS a source Of revenue for the poor, it is
too inconS;derable to justify the parade and
expense and self-dcgradation of colIec-
ton. There is now unlimited freedom of
trade in alcohol, as well as unrest raincd
consumption. Let the statute undergo
purgation. Let 1t be reformed, and con-
form in its enactments to the principles
and opinions of the day-of that portion
OF the community, we mean, who have
any. We do not ask the legislature to
run in advance of public opinion. We
know it would be useless if not mischey-
Gus to do so. But we are persuaded that
the public opinion Of the wise and good
of the pious and the benevolent even now
demands the suppression Of the taverns
! and groceries Of the state, so far as the
consumption of alcohol is concerned
We have been taught to believe, and do
/ believe, that nine-tenths or three fourhs of
the wretchedress and crimes of clviiza-
ton, are produ ced by incompetence Our
statutes abound in pains and penalties
against them, and em60dy the best possible
scheme for multiplying and perpetuotimg
hem We would set these statutes at unity
with themselves. Like the exploded reli
gious custom Of former times, their re-
straining and penal enactments are neu-
tralized and nullified by the sale of induI-
gencies and licenses. They busy them
selves with pIucking out and pruning off
the bitter fruit and extreme branches Of
the great "UPAs" of moral end physical
evil, which are instantly and prrpetualIy
Reproduced; and instead Of cutting down
the tree, or tearing it out by the roots, as
: little plain practical good sense would
most obvlousI y dictate, they cherish it and
t cultivate it, and dig about it, and invigor
ate it. UnmindfuI, on this subject of the
? power and force Of circumstances, our Ie-
gislation has wasted its wisdom and solicit
lude upon effects, and seems never to have
t thought Of causes. In this respect, the
: Legislation of the day has not kcpt pace
; with the intelligence Of the age, nor with
} its own intelligence in another department.
: Our criminal Jurisprudence has learned
the true secret Of punishment, by apply
r ing it to the moral instead Of the physical
: man. AS soon asst came to consider the
| convict as social and moral being instead
: OF mere animal, it threw aside the
. scourge and the torture, and instead OF
h decorating the body, applied the steel and
: the cord to the svmpathies and affections
d of the heart We consider this a great
:, point gained in the condition of the hu-
= man family. If it be a refinement in the
1t crueI lily OF punishment, it avoids the bru,
Y talizlng and demoralizing influence Of
1t public ignominious and corporal punish
= ment But if the best mode of punish
( ing crime be discovery of so great i'm
l. Portance, of how much greater would b.
). tie discovery Of the best method of pre-.
: venting it; and most asSuredIy, one Of
S these methods Off not the best) is the re.
), moval OF the incentives to crime Wise
S Legislation would act upon the causes O.
/ CRIME as we'll as upon the cline itself
n otherwise 1t must always be Furnishing
l. without reforming. Considering man a.
% the creature Of circumstances it shoul~
Y be careful to remove temptations instead
! Of hesetting him with them.
l. Should any great statesman present &c
- your honorable body practical scheme
ID tor feeling and clothing (and instructin9
e too) nIne-tenths of the poor-for healing
4 or removing nine -teuths of the diseases
lr incident TO our Condition-and for pre-
( venting or suppressing nine-tenths Of the
II vices and crimes that poIute the land and
1t degrade our state, at the same cost Of the
ct outlay upon our state prisons, you wouIc
n not only listen to him but cheerfully anc
It. speedily adopt his recommendations. Blu
g without assuming to be great statesmen
&c we propose to accomplish all this, not only
Y! without expense, but with the saving o
ut tens of millions annually to the nation
IS, Like the prescription Of the prophet 1T
y, wash in Jordan" our remedy may appea
ce too simple. Try it. Its execution we feaI
M would be found sufficiently difficult. ]"
IN. NAV soon, IN ,,roro;sa too yoDoh from 8