Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1847-06-11
For the Free Press.
No License in Carroll county.

MESSRS. EDITORS: The subject Of temperance
has now assumed new aspect in our county,
For the first time since its organization, license to
retail spirituous liquor has been withheld from
every applicant and the broad shield Of the law
Withdrawn from this traffic in mans happiness.
Whatever other consequences may grow out Of
the praiseworhy action Of the court upon this
subject, we think it TO be no small advantage 10
US that the traffic in ardent spirits as commonly
carried on among US, is no longer sanctioned by
the laws Of the land. Hitherto the rumseller
has thrown himself behind his license, as if with.
in an impregnable fortress, and has deemed him
self secure against every attack which might be
made upon his unholy avocaton: not only so, but
the business in which he was engaged seemed to
derive kind Of fictitious responsibility from the
fact that it was almost the only one formally re-
cognsed and sanctioned by law,-lhus convert
| ing into a badge Of honor circumstance which
stamps it with deep disgrace. We say the Ii
cense law stamps the business it protects with in
deibe infamy; for most assuredIy that traffic can
be neither honorable nor advantageous to COM
munity, which can only be tolerated when ex-
pressIy sanctioned by law; and is even then sub
iected to so many restraints. But even this secu.
ring responsibility is now taken away from the
rum traffic, and the vender of ardent spirits, so
far at least as Carroll county is concerned, is
now, and we trust forever, placed in the legal
ca tegory Of wrong doers.
But in another respect we have been material
gamers by the action Of the court. Expression
| has been given to the feelings of the people a.
painst this nalfic and this feeling, so loudly Ut
tered, has now in this county all the force Of law.
More than I, 900 persons residing within the coun-
IVA vast multitude composed of the mothers
and sisters, the fathers and sons of our county,
comprising a large proportion Of the intelligence
and virtue Of the community, the court,
as the recognised administrators of the laws Of
our State, TO wipe off this foul blot from the page
of our county's history. We ha d read it there,
until our hearts had grown sick OF reading ii, that
for the paltry sum of two, or five, or ten dollars,
an individual might obtain license-a full and
free permit--to scatter broadcast over our COM
munity, the seeds of present woe and eternal
death. That for this palry sum he might triae
as he pleased with the peace Of families, aluring
the father or the son. the hoary man already
stepping down times decIivity, or the young
man, proud of strength and buoyant in hope,-
enticng alike the lover and the loved one into the
opened laws of the dread king Of terrors. We
read this upon the records OF The court, and we
asked that it might be written there that hence.
forth this county would be partner in no such
transaction. Our request was heard, and our Pc
tition was granted. And, sir, if the friends o
Temperance will now maintain the stand they
have taken, and sustain the lao as ii u.s. until il
can be bettered, the remaining evils of intempe-
rance will soon begin TO disappear from among u.s.
We saw, then, TO the friends of temperance, see
To il that the license is Observed and that no per-
son who may violate it, goes unwhipt of justice
A few heavy fines, or, in default thereof brle
soourn in a certaln building in CarroIton, will
do more to impress these law-loving gentlemen
with sense of the propriety of discontinuin|
their nefarious business than all the arguments Il
which YOU can resort. Indeed any other course
than this would be but giving up all the advanta
ges which might otherwise accrue 10 The temper
ance cause from the Withholding of licenses
Such course as this too, on the part Of temper
ance men, would in short time remove lht
doubts which you and many others seem TO en-
terrain in reference TO the proprety of the actor
of the court. At word the motto Of every
temperance man upon this subject should be, tn
IdloS shall be obSerued.
But it should be borne in mind, that while W.
have gained much by this step, the battle is no
yet fully over. Although our laws as now ad
mnstered in this county, are good as far as the,
: 90, there is, nevertheless, a lamentable defcien
e cy in them. They must be made more strngen
in reference to the whole subject of liquor sell
ing. The quantity forbidden by law to be sold
is now so small that it is in the power of almos
/. any person to go above it, and beyond the prohi
8 btions of law. What, then, shall we do to rem
edy this eviIl Theanswer seasy. Let us SEM
!. up our petitions to the Legislature asking then
10 revise the whole license system Of the State
and so to modify it that it may better accord will
e the advanced spirit of the age. To prohibit b.
the most stringent enactHsnts this accursed ,coul