The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-07-23

The License Question.
From the Cincinnati Gazette 81 al -.
So far as we can judge, three-fourths
of the saloonists in this city willIvote
mo license at the approaching con-
stituional election. We infer that the
majority of the active temperance
workers will vote the same away.
Thus the remarkable spectacle will be
presented of liquor dealers and radi-
cal temperance people walking to the
polls shoulder TO shoulder and depos-
iting in the ballot box the same ballot.
Extremes, we know, often meet, bat
such meeting as this wiliF be- rarely
happens. sm aE a1n1sF sAEsm na3i +
1t is worth while for our temper-
ance friends who talk so freely about
prohibiting the liquor traffic, and who
have little charity for those who favor
tax upon the business, TO ask what
this meanes. The saloon keepers
know very well what this Ineans,8 be-
cause the ''ehiIdfen of the world are
wiser in their generation than the
children of the light" They know
that under the 'tnO license" clause in
the present constitution they have abb
soluIe tree trade in beer and wine,
and virtual free trade in distilled liq-
uors. 1t is true that there are laws
upon the statue books prohibiting the
retail traffic in distilled liquors, bat
these are seldom enforced in large
cities; but our present law does not
interfere with the traffic in wine aud
beer. The liquor dealers are sensible,
then, looking at the matter from their
standpoint, in voting for : no license =
They know what this means. 1t has
stood side. by side with bprohibitory
laws for twenty odd years. and all
that time there has been absolute free
trade in wine and beer and virtual
free trade in whisky. They do not
care to take any risk by giving tine
Legislature the privilege OF licensing
the traffic so as TO lay heavy tax on
one hand, or prohibiting absolutely.
on the other. The saloonists can give
far stronger reason for maintaining
the present status. than the temper-
anee people. Indeed, we are not able
to see either the wisdom or the policy
in the course adopted by the anti-liq-
nor party in opposition to- the affirm
alive proposition. a restricted and
regulated traffic is certainly not as bad
as free trade. Z ct under the no H.
cense clause of the present c0nstltu-
ton we have free trade in all the large
cities, aud so much of il in Cincinnati
that the saloonists have taken posses
sion of eieity government lin all ats
branches, and it has almost come to
pass that auti-temperances workers
have no rights that saloonists are
bound to respect. asdt baAa isolss
We hope our temperance friends
will stop and ask themselves the .ques-
tion why they are, walking shoulder
to shoulder with the lowest class of
saloonist, in opposition to the pro-
posed feature of the constitution, that
would enable the Legislature to pass a
stringent excise law, coupled with To-
cal option that would prohibit where
the majority favored prohibition, and
regulate where the majority would
not prohibit. SAB 81 ssa
It would, in our humble opinion, be
q blessed thing for this saloon ridden
city if we had an excise system that
would close every saloon at a reason
able hour in the evenings and close
them all night on the first day of the
week, commonly called Sunday
Would not something practical in this
way be infinitely better than theoreti-
cal prohibition? ? It is very easy to
talk about stamping the heel into the
head of the monster, and crushing it
ont. We beard Gen. Carey talk that
way in 1850; but under the policy then
advocated by him and now supported
by our most active temperance work
ers, the monster has gro Wns far more
rapidly than the population of the
country, and is already too big for the
| safety of society.a3 ~ ,sseu6l fsrf
Life is too short to try another ex-
pertinent of twenty years with no liz
eense theory. we want a change. If
1.-THE saloonists and teinperaDee people
by their united votes, pnttNo license'
] into the new Constitution, we want it
known of all men that the Gazette
will shoulder no part of The responsi--
bility, and we now warn the people Of
Ohio that if they tie the hands of the
Legislature on this subject, they win
tie their own hands also, and place
the liquor traffic beyond their control.