Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-03-06


from the use ofintoxicating liquors publicly
sold-that, rs nearly as can be computed,
not less than fifty thousand persons die an
nually of drunkenneSs-and that 1t Is a
serious question whether the sixty millions
of dollars annually raised by the internal
revenue and by the tariff on inpOrtatlons oil
liquors do not cost the country two or three
hundred millions in the consequences OF the
use OF liquors. it is clear that the question
will not be settled by calling the temper
ancc movement Puritanic, or by vehement
rhetoric about regulating eating ana drink
ing by law. Mr. j \. Stearns, in his remarks
before the Judiciary Committee of the
| House of Representatives upon the petition
for the appointment of n national commits
sion of inquiry concerning the liquor traffic,
said that the country Is only upon the
| threshold of the question. During the last
| last year twenty-onc States have
been legi,lating upon it, and more
Governors OF States have called atten-
ton to the subject than ever before.
| Mississippi and Indiana have passed very
restrictive license laws, and Indiana has
| closed 800 grog-shops under law pro-
pronounced constitutional by the Supreme
| Court. In Ohio the women, who, As wives,
daughters, mothers, and sisters, are the
drunkenness, have begun to 20 in bands to
the drinking shops to pray and demonstrate !;
and in Boston the State Police have clean
ed out" the wine cellars of the fremont
! House and Noung'S Hotel. two Of the most
noted hotels in the city.
just ut this time, also, comes Heneral
| Harvey testimony that the chief difficulty
in our relations with the Indians l. whiskey,
ana that the remedy Is for the nearest OH
Ger to hang every whiskey dealer. Most OPP
portunely. also. Mr. Meyer Stern, one of
| the New York Commissioners of Charities
and Correction. has lately made report
upon the lcgal treatment of habtual drunk
ards. showing that during the last three
wears sixteen times a. many women a. men
! had been committed for drunkenness;
and that while of five hundred men one
was rc-arrestcd a hundred times for the
same offence. of nine thousand female
drunkard- Jwenty-nine were rc-arrested a
hundred times. Mr.. Stern very truly says
that the present law fosters rather than
prevents drunkenness. The casual offender
who Is not hahitual drunkard i sent to
the work-h0usc for ten days. In the case
of every woman this Is final and absolute
ruin Ten days association with the worst
of their sex under the ban Of the law de-
~t4NN- ltll anu 44Nlfi. anu sA4H fNfFA 'ANfA
tures sink into desperation. \ reprimand
or a fine would be punishment enough.
But the confirmed drunkard, II he Is to be
imprisoned at all, should be secluded long
enough to give him a chance OF reform, and
therefore should not be committed with
common criminals.
These facts all show the activity of the
public interest in the subjects. The point
which must now be settled Is the actual
effect of prohibit0ry laws. That they are
eyadei. and that drinking continues in
spite of them. Is not denied. Bat that Is
not the question. Theft continues despite
the laws, and the laws against theft encour-
age secreSy and deceit in thieving. The
question is whether, upon the whole, pro-
hibtOry laws have n good effect in diminish
ing drinking and promoting order. Is the
peace more cheaply preserved in prohibl-
tory communities? Are the jails and poor
houses emptier than elsewhere Is the
average Of welfare higher? Such are the
questions that should be answered.
Yet it J. now impossible to reply satisiac-
torily, because of the want of authentic
statistics The New York Trii1me says that
the most trustworthy testimony shows that
after twenty years experience, prohibition
in Massachusetts l. failure in the cities
anu - AbhllN- tlAA iPAAANA tAiAA
he thinks liquor i not sold in the majority
of towns in Massachusetts. Mr.. \. NJ.
Powell, in his remarks to the Judiciary
Committee. says that in n prohibitory
county in Maine, of twenty or twenty-five
thousand Inhabitants he found an empty
jail, without prisoner for year, and the
last inmate woman imprisoned for selling
liquor Illegally. Governor Pcrham told
him that in his county of Oxford. in Maine,
with a population OF thirty or thirty-iive
thousand. he could show him an empty Jail,
which had been empty two-third- Of the
time daring six years. In Nineland, q pro-
hihitory town in New jersey, a. Mr.. Lands
stated before a committee of the Legislature,
there j. 4 population of ten thousand five
hundred, and last year the police expenses
were twenty-five dollars; and in 1872 the
poor rates, among miscellaneous p0pula-
ton were three hundred and fifty dollars.
Mr.. William +. Dodge stated before the
committee that last year about seven
hundred thousand dollars were col
lected by the Excise Commission in the city
of New York, and that police officer had
told him that if the liquor shops were alb
sOlutely closed at ten o'clock at night. -
that no liquor could be sold, it would re-
duce the police force by one-half. Now, he
says, there are about |, 100 policemen. who |
are paid about 81 200 year each, and by
the reduction tine whole sum received by |
the Excise Commission would thus be re-
ceiyeG back, and with it all the further ex-
penseS Of dealing with the crime that |
springs from midnight drinking.
There are probably 5000, 600 of voters in |
the United States who favor some kind of |
prohbitory law. They are resolute and |
earnest In the present want of accurate
and trusty information they can not be an
swered. Their facts are as cogent as the |
counter facts; their assertions a. conclusive
as opposing assertions. Nothing can be
more reasonable than their request for Il
national commission of inquiry, that we
may all have an official and authentic body
of statistics to which to appeal. We trust
that the Judiciary Committee will report
lavorably and soon, for there is no subject
more vital to the happiness Of this country,
and none upon which accurate information,
not rhetoric and ohiurgation. is more i'm
nediately desirablc.-Harper's Weekly.