Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1874-07-23
From the Cincinnati Gazette.l
'sSOme Light on the License AFti-
Gle of the New Constitution
To the Editor Of the Cincinnati Gazstts:

ministers of the Gospel could see
matters as you seem to see them,
suppose the ''license clause would
meet with greater sympathy from this
class of workers in the temperance
reformation. We propose to give you
some reasons why one minister" at
least, can not support ''license' at the
polls in August.
1. We do not see that the license
cause, if adopted, leaves the Legisla-
ture so free as you represent. You
declare that the adoption of the H.
cense clause will simply leave to the
people, through the General Assembly
to prohibit the trade, to lay a special
tax on it in the form of a license, or
to leave it free Now is this a true
representation of the effect of the
adoption of the license clause? We
think not We propose to give a few
reasons for our dissent from your po-
sition. The license clause is as fol-
lows: "License to traffic in spurious,
vinous, or malt liquors, under such
regulations and limitations as shall be
prescribed by law, may be granted
| yet this section shall not prevent the
General Assembly from passing laws
to restrict such traffic, and to compen-
safe injuries resulting therefrom. %
Now, under this clause, what are the
powers of the Legislature
| l. The Legislature may license the
traffic under such regulations and linn
itations-that is fix the price and 9th
conditions of license-as shall be pre-
cribed by law.
g. The General Assembly may re-
strict mot prohibit) such traffic.
8. The General Assembly may re-
quire compensation to the injured by
such traffic.
4 The General Assembly may.
leave the traffic free.
The principle Of prohibition" is
n OF acknowledged at all. We think it
is plain that the adoption of this
clause precludes ''prohibition. If
not, why was it not named as one of
the things the General Assembly
might do, as it is in the ''no license
clause ?''
The effect of its adoption will be to
close the door to legal prohibition for
the next twenty years. This is rea-
son No. why we cannot vote for it.
H. To vote for this clause is to in.
dorse a dangerous principle It is to
say that what is known to be an evil
to society may be licensed under
certain conditions, or may be permit
ted legal existence by the payment of
a certain sum to the State
The principle you. advocate with
such zeal is entirely Inconsistent with
your opposition to the licensing of
.'houses of ill-fame" in your city
From their number and influence, you
cannot hope for their speedy. eradiea-
ton from your city limits. Why not
impose upon them stringent Ii
cense % Of course you need not de
galize prostitution" by such license,
but only collect especial tax'' from
every old ''hag" or despoiler of virtue
that your city is cursed with.
Again, your objection that prohibi-
ton can not be enforced very thor
oughly is point which the prohibi-
tionists appreciate as thoroughly as
? yourself. 1 have not yet seen that ig-
norant fellow to whom you refer, who
thinks the effect of the adoption OF
the Esno license clause" will be total
prohibition at once. That is not the
ground assumed by clergymen even,
ignorant as they may be as a class
No, the effect will be to leave the Gen.
eral Assembly free to prohibit when
public demands it, and will guard oul
honor from the disgrace Of legalizing
an acknowledged wrong.
Your objection that prohibition car
not be enforced holds with'equal force
against all laws of prohibitory ma
ture Because such horrors as the
LaWrenceburg murder will occur every
- day or two, shall we, therefore, blot
from our statutes the laws which
"prohibit'' murder, and adopt ''strin
gent license law p We legislate tC
prohibit dishonesty, yet the land il
filled with men who have filed thei
Golfers dishonesty. Shall we, there
fore, try license? No; we. can sue
ceed with prohibitery measures agains
all ether crimes. We can not vote t.
legalize one crime while we vote t.
:, prohibit all others.
III. We can not vote for licens
because we can not see that even
s'stringent license" enacted by tn,
General Assembly. will reduce to an
appreciable extent the number of sa
looms. 4t..-s
We have in our town "Teutonic'
brewer who supplies a number of pet
i ty saloons with his Teutonic slop.-
Now, this man knows his interest to,
we'll to allow any of these sssleI
shops to go under, as the result Q
license. 1t would be money in hi
pocket to assist them to procure Ii
cense The effect would most certain
ly be the elevation of these places o
filth to the position of respectable 'sli
eenttate'
st Nv. We cannot vote for a princi
pie which is claimed to favor a ''mo
, nOpoly." II the principle of licens
y operates as it's friends claim, it's mel
its will be those of propagator Q
y whisky monopolies. We have hear
of railroad monopolies, of land mo
@ nopolies, ETC., but who can contribut
y to the production of the ''whisky me
nopoly p Some of the reasons offel
=, ed to our ladies while visiting our So
looms to pray and plead with the pre-
prietors why they (the saloonists
were found in the business were these
Loss of health so as to unfit them fo
hard labor, or poverty of means t
$, engage in any other calling. On
man called attention to his four c
five orphan children that he must sur
er port, and, as he was poor, and short
means, selling beer was the mo-
available method of supporting then
he Now. if there is any valid excuse fC
any one engaging in the saloon bus
ness, it is to be found among the vel
= class of saloonists that you propo,
', by a stringent license law" to dri,
- from the business. From your oW
,os standpoint, this license system is
2lS snecies of class lenislation which