Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-03-17
The Liauor Tramc.


rreat emporium, Boston, where all kinds of
villainous compounds are concocted and forced
upon the country, have had time OF jubila-
ton. on account of the recent decision of the
Supreme Court. They brought out their can
non ON Boston Common, Tuesday morning,
and fired S65 guns, one for every day in the
year. We have also noticed indications of
rather immodorate joy in other quarters, at this
decision. We think that the opponents of the
law, will find, to use a trite expression, that
they have been Z" hallooing before they were
out of the woods" and that, they will soon
have occasion to "laugh on the other side of
their faces" The law is not impaired by this
decision, in any Of its provisions, save that
which authorises seizures Of liquor, and the
+ principle even of that provision is sustained.
The defect in it is one of form only, and may
be corrected by the present, or any subsequent
Legislature. But, even without this provis-
ion, at all, the law is one of great stringency
and efficiency, amply sufficient, in a commu-
nifty bent upon enforcing it, to accomplish all,
or nearly all, that was expected from it by its
friends.
We regard the loss of the seizure clause, as
mere triAe, in comparison with the great
fact, that the Interpretation of the law is now
comparatively settled and established, all the
other decisions having been in its favor, and
that tho uncertainty which rested upon it,
paralyzing the action of courts, officers, and
the community, is SO far removed, as to no
longer interpose any serious obstacles to its en-
forcement. Public sentiment, too, is becom-
ing strongly and irreyocably fixed in its favor
The opposition, which, for while, was SO Vi
client, reached its eliminating point during the
session of the Legislature of 1858, and from
the time when the repeal bill was lost in that
body, it has steadily abated in violence and
force. This has been SO apparent, that, some
six weeks since, when Wiggin of Boston was
speaking confidently of effecting repeal
the present session, the Speaker of the House,
well known opponent of the law, said to
the writer of this article, I" the liquor law
not be repealed; you might as well attempt
to repeal the State House, as to repeal that law.
The result of tho vote on Virgins bill for re-
peal, being so only for it, to 1873 against, not
only shews the correctness of the prediction
but demonstrates the increasing strength Of
public opinion in favor Of the law.
There are other reasons than those already
adverted to- which will operate now, in favor
of an efficient enforcement of the law. The
liquor interest in Boston, with the great wealth
at its command, made most determined ress-
lance to the law, at its very outset, and hay
ing control of the city government, were able
to set it at Defiance and for awhile to carry their
measures with high hand, apparently cowing
the friends of the law into submission. Sub
seluent events show that those friends had only
bowed to the first fury of the blast, but were
not Frustrated by it. They have rallied again,
and are now boarding the lion in his den.
The city government, changed in its compost
ton, longer fayors the traffic, but is laboring
earnestly for its suppression. The influence of
Boston extended far and wide through the state
The liquor dealers employed their agents in all
the large plains, and sought by all the applian-
ices in their power to break down the law. They
were partially successful, and perhaps it is
well for the final triumph of the law, that they
Weres lot II mas gwen tAe peOp4e dn oPPO1tu-
nifty to see and to feel the manifold evils, the
RESTITUTION, the misery, and the crime, which
grow out af the traffic. They have seen SO
much that they want no more oft. The evil
has arrived at point which is no longer en-
durable, and thus are determined, if we read
them Alright, to endure it no longer. They will
end it by such means as are necessary for the
purpose. If the officers of the law will, in
good faith, apply themselves to the work, as
their oath of Office requires, the people viii be
satisfied, but if they will not the experiment
IN Boston shows that the people know their
remedy. If the law requires amendment, to
give it efficiency, and one legislature win not
amend it, the people will elect another that
will do it. The law is ga fixed fact because
the people have willed it, and viii sustain it.
In due time it will work cure of the evils
which the traffic has inflicted upon the COM
munity; and then justice will be done to those
brave and earnest men, who initiated the meas
ure and carried it forward to its contamination.