The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-08-06
THE W1Y IfCENSE W0RKS.

Many people have worked themselves
into considerable fervor on the license
question. They seem to think license
would prove curse for all the evils Of
intemperance and regulate the traffic in
the happiest manner possible. 9. gU o.
The people of Ohio tried license for
some fifty years and then, in 1851, voted
against license, prefering regulation by
law, and the traffic open as other busi-
ness. Should license again be tried, we
doubt not that few years hence a
change would be demanded.
Other States, besides Ohio, have been
and are experimenting on the liquor
question. some have tried the prohibitory
law without suppressing the traffic or
stopping intemperance. Itmay be claim
ed that all attempts to so regulate the
traffic as to suppress evil results have
failed. So, in fact, of all other legal en-
actments for the suppression of vice and
crime. These evils still continue; but
no good citizen would blame the law
A few statistics may show what license
has done in New York and Massachu-
sets. Facts are all important in such
matters. Men are so apt to be governed
by self-interesti in their opinions, that we
generally ignore the facts.
New York city has a license law which,
during the first year of its operation, col
lected an average fee Of one hundred and
fifty dollars. This sum has steadily d.
minished under the political influence of
the liquor interests, while the number Of
the saloons have steadily increased, un-
til in New York city and Brooklyn alone
they number nearly twelve thousand
more than in all the State of Ohio. In
1872 New York had one saloon to every
I3o inhabitants in 1873 one to every
I33, and in 1874 one to every 1871, In
Massachusetts for ten years previous to
1867 prohibitory law was in force that
year license law was passed. The
county Of Suffolk, which includes the
city Of Boston, had goo saloons selling
liquor secretly many Of them, and in one
year, within the same territory, under Ii.
cense these saloons increased to 1900,
nearly three hundred per cent. On North
street in Boston under prohibition but
two saloons could be found, and in less
than one year under license one hundred
and sixteen saloons were in full blast on
this street.
Governor Clanin, in his inaugural ad-
dress January Ist, 1869, said: "a moral
aad Christian people cannot remain in
active when they see such results as are
following and are sure to follow the sale
of intoxicating drinks to the extent that
now prevails ia our hitherto quiet and
orderly State. The increase of drunk
enness and crime during the last six
months, as compared with the same pc
riod in 1867, is very marked and deci-
sive as to the operation of the law. The
State prison, jails and houses Of couec-
ton are being rapidly filled and will soon
require enlarged accommodations if the
commitments continue to increase as they
have since the present law went into
force" He then shows that the com
mitments for the higher crimes hnd more
thun doubled. The Chief Constable of
the same State at the same time says
that drunkenness is on the increase to
a melancholy extent. The rapid increase
of crimes and violence during the past
year over former years is without prece-
dent in the history of criminal expert
ence." Now, in the light of such facts
as these, and they can be multiplied, is
there an honest temperance loving, law
abiding citizen who can give his vote fol
license