Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1838-09-14

the controversy in regard to The propileiy {
licensing the sale Of ardent spirits, it has nevt
been attempted, 10 our knowledge, to be prov
ed, that there are any advantages TO the CON
munity groicing out of The traffic. So clearl
and fully has the question been settled ina
there is nothing but unmingled evil in it, tina
no one of all the advocates for the traffic is foe
hardy enough to undertake the task of convinc
ing the public that their interests are promotes
by it. They are obliged TO be content will
standing upon an assumed right to prosecute
the business because they have done so, 81
long" As the community then, as a whole
derive no advantage from the trade, the ques
ton is reduced to this, whether or not because
a feic have so long been allowed to promote
their private interests at the expense of the
public, the community have relinqushed anc
lost the right of protecting themselves against
one of the greatest of all the evils that exist in
our land. According to the arguments of those
who oppose law prohibiting the sale, the re-
tailers have gained the right By possession, on
paying a few dollars per annum, of INJECTING a
tax upon the public for the support of paupers
and of criminal jurisprudence, nearly as great
as all the other taxes which they pay; and to
an amount incalculahe in the shape of ruined
fortunes, blasted domestic happiness, loss OF
health, deterioration OF morals, and all the 9TH
er thousand evils which facts demonstrate, arise
from the sale of intoxicating drinks. 1t has
been clearly proved beyond all dispute, that
from threc-lourths to seven-eighths OF all the
pauperism and crime of our land, (to say moth
ing of sickness and the destruction of life and
domestic happness) arises from the use of ar
dent spirits. Judges, Lawyers, Physicians,
and the records of courts, and poor-houses, all
bear a uniform testimony to this fact. EX-
aminations in this toicn, have also clearly prov
ed the truth of the assertion. Indeed, so clear
is the case that hundreds have from convic-
ton of the truth of it abandoned the traffic; and
it is one of the mavels of the age that any re-
spectacle man can now be found to continue it.
But such there arc and such thero olyoye will
be, until the law in its majesty, speaks forth
and forbids it. That the law will thus speak,
sooner or later in every state in New England
at least, as it has already done in Mass. and
Tenn. there can be no doubt. The constitu-
tonality ola prohibitory law, has already been
settled by the Supreme Court of Mass. and of
this no one can seriously, doubt. If the COM
munity cannot protect itself from such an evil
as the sale of ardent spirit, then our civil or
ganzaton is defective indeed.
As to the advantages to the community aris-
ing from the traffic, the following is plain and
opposite illustration.
The CoNTRAsT. A correspondent ofthe
Peoria (hIk) Register, thus described two
towns both situated on the Illinois uver-of
about three years growth, and each contain. /
ing about three hundred inhabitants in /
the character and conduct of the inhabitants |
they form perfect contrast 10 each other
"One has no grog shop in it; no spirits +
OF intoxicating drinks are sold at any other I
stores; none are 10 be obtained by the glass
within SIX miles Wine is not to be found |
within 20 miles No citizen OF the neigh-
borhood has been seen intoxicated there for
more than year During the past year
they have enjoyed the labors of devoted
Presbyterian minister A church was OIL
ganzed by him ten months since, Of 80 men,
bers il now contains more than one hun
dred there is also hourishing Methods;
church The Sabbath has the delightful n
stiffness and solemnity of that sweet day Of
rest in New-Engl and A young man came
last winter to establish grog shop among
that happy people; they called a public
meeting on the occasion and unanimously
begged that he would not afict them with :
such an iat0ierable nuisance he complied I
with their request I
In the other town, every store has full I
supply of what they call CHOICE SPIRITS '
The taverns and groceries very cheerfully I
deal out the treacbeIous dram, arlfully pre-.
pared 10 suit the taste of every patron. AS
the traveller entered that town from the
north, he saw a spectacle which would move I
the hearts even Of those citizens, but for its
being so common, man dead trunk by the I
side OF the road. In going out Of the town |
at the south end on the same day, he saw
another in the same beastly condition.
There too, the Sabbath is distinguished from
the other days Of the week by the greater
number that are seen stroling with their
fishing rods and their guns, and the greater
amount OF idleness and profanity. There is
no organised church of any name, and the
few who once protested piety ale generally y,
ashamed TO have it known
Who are the most guilty they that license !.
10 sell, they that sell, or they that drink The
poison that turns an Eden into Sodom g.
Conscientious father and mother, in which =
of those two towns would you train your
children You are helping to make your "
own town like one or the other
But if this principle were correct, then no
avs could be enacted for the suppression of y
any euH Of long standing. For instance, the e
sale OF Lottery tickets once universally allowed
and now continued in some Statps So Of Gamh- q,