The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-04-28

The temperance people in this and other
states brought this law under inspection,
and discussed its moral qualities, and it dis
turbed their conscience. While it did |
nothing towards breastng the flood gates |
of intemperance, it removed the moral re-
sponsibilty from the conscience of the |
liquor dealer and placed it upon the state.
In their view this feature made 1t cxecra-
bic, and they raised voice of unanimous
remonstrance. 1t was reserved, however,
for the legislature of the state of Maine,
under the leadership of Neal Dow, to solve |
the mystery. Hence the celebrated Maine |
liquor law. whose leading object was not |
revenue, but prohibition. 1t branded the |
sale oil liquors crime, except as they |
were used Tor certain specific purposes, and |
provided for the sale of liquor for these |
purposes by the appointment of an agent |
in every city, ward, and country town. |
This law was hailed as the harbinger of
new era in the temperance enterprise 1t
withdrew from every person in the state
the right to engage in the indscriminate |
sale of liquor, and confided the sale to one
person in each ward and town, and placed !
him under severe restrictions to sell ONLY
for certain objects, thus placing the moral !
responsibility upon the conscience of the
agent. and provided for its vndicaton in a
series Of severe penalties against offenders,
ending in imprisonment. But this law was
cause of cXultation, not only because it
was prohibitorv and placed the respon-
sibility upon the agent, but because
it carried with it the vndicaton
of broad principal of political economy
to wit: That the state should, as far as
possible, remove the cause of evil rather
than punish its effects. 1t was not difficult
to show that nine out of every ten instances
of criminal offences could be traced direct
~ to the sale of liquor, and the question
was raised why punish the offender and
leave the person who caused the oifense to
go trceI That is, why punish the effects
of intemperancc when, by the prohibition
of the sale of liquors, we could remove the
cause Thus reasoning, most of the New
England and some other states adopted as
their own, with certain notifications. the
Maine prohibition law. This victory, for
so it was called, was not effected without
lapse of time and great public agitation.
The position affirmed in the struggle was
that the temperance reform had been car
ricd as far as it could be by the temperance
orator. the press and the pledge, and we
must resort now to the strong arm of the
law to carry it forward. Only now have
| a good law and the work is accomplished
So the present liquor law was enacted and
went into effect. But it was found that al
though there might be in community a
temperance sentiment strong enough to
pass good law, that sentiment was weak
ness itself when called upon to execute it,
And so it has proved in regard to this law
in our own state ana in every other where it
has been passed ! will not say the law has
not done good, but | will say that the
friends of temperance have greatly deceived
themselves in putting confidence in 1t as
having in itself any efficient power. At ITS
best state it could possibly have no more
power as an instrument than its friends
made it possess in their use of it. But. rs
it turned out, not one man out of twenty
who voted for it and gloried over its en-
actment would lift finger in bringing its
violaior to justice Thus law which in
itself is terrorto evil-doers and all that we
can ask a law to be, and able, if used by its
friends, to shut up every grog shop in the
state in less than three months is poor,
weak, useless thing. Idle as a painted ship
upon painted ocean-a very sword of
Michael but allowed to sleep in the
scabbarl of the statute by set of craven
towards. The enactment of this law ought
to have been a buge note rallying the
friends of temperance to an onward
movement. but alas, it proved to be an
opiate, and put them all to sleep. The Ic-
suit is that we are at loss to say whether
the temperance cause has made a whit of
progress in this state for the last quarter of
a century, and the same fear may be cX-
pressed OF all the New England states, and
possibly of the Middle and Western as well.
! - .e'''''' - ."N' INST quarter OF a
century was gradually successful and there
dawned upon the eyes of its friends the
vision of blessed temperance millennium.
nut accounting the appliances hitherto
employed, too weak to cone with the enc.
my and too slow to hasten the glad milleu-
mum, they modified their tactics and re-
sorted to legal measures. They did not ut
terly set aside the old measures. oratorv
the press and the pledge, but they did So
supercede them as to make legal enact
ments theirchicf reliance. Then il was that
the sun that had so auspiciously dawned.
went into an eclipse, AN eclipse that has cast
gloom over the land, an eclipse coeyal
win our reliance upon weapons that carry
IN them the carnality of legal enactments
have no dispute with the man who looks
upon the 1nuiscrlmlnate sale of intoXicat
ing drinks as crime against society. and
obnoxious to penal nfliction, for have no
words of commentator for this traffic.
but do say that il makes all the differ |
ence in the world for the purpose ofreform
whether you go to vender of LIQUOR with
moral appliances, and acts of persuasion. |
ana courteous appeals, treating him as n |
man, or whether you assault him as having |
passed the limits of these gentle methods |
of usage, and treat him as a brute and
criminal, calling him all the hard names TO
be found in the vocabulary of de-
nunclation, when the only real diff
ference between him and the legal
vender is simply one of discrim-
nation, rs TO whom should haye liquors
and who.not, that is, when the difference
between them in selling is one that depends
not upon absolute, but constructive justice.
me latter can be used, but if it is success.
ful 1t is made so by bringing to bear upon
the dealer the law penalty, and requires n
reserve force In all public sentiment in the
community, reserve, which unfortunate
ly, for the temperance course has never
been found to exist in any instance where
The friends OF temperance appealed to legal
measures. Hence, the quarter of a century
draw back which the temperance cause
has suffered, for | verify believe that since
we began to assault the enemies works by
storm, we have done little more than TO
hold our ground, Never was the foe more
powerful and defiant than now. What are
we told. 5000 0O0,0 600 consumed annually
for alcoholic drinks in the United States.
ami If we include beers, 81 sos, 900. 40, or
SAD to the individuals 5000 to each family.
enough to pay the national debt in wear
and half. There are lao, 900 drinking $
saloons in the country against 1913 900 ,
schools and $4,000 churches. There are
100000 manufacturers and sellers of strong I
liquors; twelve times the number of cler.
gymen, four times tho number of teachers. i
Lawyers, physicians and ministers all COM 1
bin'd. These 1000 saloons are frequent i
Ell laily by 5,6OO,O0O customers, one in c
every seven of our population-and of a
lhese, lo0,o0o are annually imprisoned for t
crime, at an expense of 500, 900. 600 ncr /
year; 10000 go down annually TO n d
irunsard's grave, leaving 200 900 beggared a
orph'ns. These figures show us an army n