Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1853-10-19
Grant Co. Temperance League.
To The Voters of Grant County

Grant Co. Temperance League.
To The Voters Of Grant County.
The undersigned having been appoin-
ted by the Grant County League, to pre-
pare an address to the voters of the
county on the expediency of the Maine
Law, with feeling distrust of their a
baility to do the great question justice,
do not feel at liberty to decline the task.
They undertake it without preface or a.
policy. We shall first endeavor to
sketch the history of our territorial and
state legislature, in reference to the
sale Of intoxicating liquors. Every per-
son conversant with our legislation, will
at once be astonished at the amount and
variety Of legislation on this subject
We have had an annual aeluge of Law
on this subject; the last flood sweeping
away all vestiges of previous condi-
ton, as with the violence of Sacrament
to, swollen with mountain SHOWS. Some
object to the Maine Law, because we
have too much law already. Yes, and
your license system has been more pro-
life of law and litigation, than any 9th
err subjects, except the city Of Milwau-
kee and Railroads. We have had with
in few years various acts, more pro-
Xix than the Maine Law and certainly
more mex plicable-and we have struck
these acts out Of existence again. The
intelligence and virtue of the age is res
tive and rebellious under the license
system. Our legislature at one time
yea, the very same act, show spirit of
savage hostility to alcoholic liquors, and
at the same time, the most doting fond
ness. At the very moment the legisla-
ture inf1icts stripes and bonds upon this
petted malefactor, they rub his lips with
sugar, and caress him into quiet. Moth
ing can be more contradictory than our
ever changing policy on this subject,
changeless only in one point, determi-
nation to tolerate the traffic in some
way, as long as there is depravedS ap-
petite to crafty. And O! what vain
attempts to kill and cure at the same
moment, to destroy and propagate to
limit and enlarge. Every license law
admitting in close terms, that alcoholic
drinks ought to be ostracised banished,
and yet like tickle Athenians, our law
makers cringe to these lords of the ap-
petite, invite them back, and give them
la legal commission to depraye and to
destroy.
The Territorial statutes of 1889 en-
brace license law Of the oldest cut
and fashion, of the age when menun-
necked, wore long cues and long stock
ings. See this law on page 1913 of the
old statutes. 1t even enacted that the
county commissioner should not grant
Ia license to a tavern keeper to retail,
unless he was Of good moral charac-
ter. See sec. 4. Those were your
palmy, glorious days, we advocates
Of religion and morals. Then we had
the monopoly Of this gainful traffic. On
the carbuncled dealers of modern days,
shiftless men, who can obtain liyeli-
hood by no other means, the old COM
missioners of Grant would not have
deigned to lay their consecrating hands.
But he that sold rum, must present the
apostolic credentials-he must be the
husband of one wife, courteous, temper
ate, and given to hospitality. This ven
orable act is clear manifestation of the
license scheme. Here the great distinc-
ton is drawn between the wholesaler
and retailer. The latter confined to a
quart cup, while all larger vessels be-
long to his superior. There two clas-
SEES of retailers-the landlord to supply
travellers-,for locomotion cannot exist
without alcoholic steam, then there are
saloons and doggeries for the accommo-
dation of the local devotees of Bacchus.
Thus men in melton and men in the Sc
clusion of home are each and all visited
by alcoholic blessing. The guileful flu
id salutes the traveller in the highway,
"mine host" always kept something to
drink, it tells the exhausted laborer to
drink, and draw new life and strength
from tfis fountain of rejuvenescence.-
In monarchies, many an ignoble serf
lives and dies without e sight of the
higher races that govern him. But al
coholic drinks are cosmopolitic /; in high
or low DISCUSSES, they visit tie meanest
howell; they are the pillow Of fire that
guides the rude pioneer. Our old IL
cense law was conduit pipe, convey
ing liquor to all like gass establishments
in city. The fountains Of this fiery
Croton burst up and.played in every vii
lage-along the highway, in the rural
district. At the same time, this old law,
the model of all license schemes, shows
clearly that the legislature did not con-
slider that ,lcoholic drinks were more
fit to be sold for such purpose, than a
qua-fortis, or laudanum. A fine of TWEEN
ty dollars was inflicted on any person,
selling intoxicating liquors to any mi
ner or apprentice under the age Of l8
years, without consent Of his parent or
guardian. And why did the legislature
think it expedient to put intoxicating
drinks in niche too high for the rising
generation to meet; on shelf, out Of