The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-07-31

preIn.. Court Of New York declared the
Law void License followed. What was
the result The Albany Ior5ling Times.
AN anti-prchibirory paper wrote, The
penitentiary i filling up. The number
Of prisoners i greater than il has been
during the past ! : months" The eXper-
ieuce Of Massachusetts, Connecticut.
Rhode I-Iand. and many Othes States. i
srrikingly cOrrobOrative Of Indiana.
Maine and New York.
We cannot turn to single State in
the Union. but the fact stares Us square
IN the teeth. that where license has OBJ
tanned. the consumption Of intOXicants,
with intemperance and all its attend
ant evils. have increased much faster
than the increase Of population, con
clusively demonstrating, that license, as
a General thing. does not restrain. but
.Ijher facilitates the traffic.
ln England. also. with her restrictive IL
cen-,. law during the 81 years, from 1871
= 1872. the consumption of liquor i'll
creased from E7s. 797. 900 TO tl3l. COL
ign. A. a consequence. the apprehen-
.ionS for drunkenness rose from "a, 145
in ISG3 TO lGi, OSI in 1872. In II years
their poor and police rates increased so
per cent. la 20 years their lunacy in
creased 200 per cent. In u years their
convictions for crime increased % per
cent. In 20 years the mortality among
males increased 62 per cent. What
testimony forsOoth To IL license system,
which the Cincinnati GGzette l. 80 per
sistently advocating, Who can refuse
to recognize such evidence as this:
Can more conclusive evidence be re
quired hv anv unbiased mind TO prove
the great superiority of prohibition over
license. In every instance where prohl-
bition has superseded license. 1t has
never failed 10 check the traffic, and
lessen the fearful evils of intemperance.
While. on the other hand, in every case
where license has supplanted prohibi-
tory law, the traffic has largely increased,
and the public evils resulting therefrom
! have been vastly augmented.
With such facts before Us, there would
really seem to be only one course open
for the true friends of Temperance i'll
Ohio 20 pursue in reference TO the ques-
tion Of license or no license. That course
is clearly and unhesitatingly to vote mo
license"
But the Cincinnati Gdzette says that
voting license does not necessarily mean
the enactment of license law. What
then does il mean. Does it mean pro
hibition. If it does, then indeed Tai
leyrand was correct when he said that
the purpose of language is indeed to dis
guise our thoughts.
If the people OF Ohio vote license
the Legislature will say that they must
enact Il license law. no matter what the
Cincinnati Gazette may say to the con
trary. If, however, the people vote
mo license. " the Legislature will readily
understand that the people want prohi
bition, with such statuary enactments as
will render a prohibitory law effective.
The licensing of saloons for the sale
of liquor, instead of restricting the traf-
fic. is simply a legalized way to establish
places for the education of the people
in the habits of intempernnce. The sa-
loon is just as much an educator of in
temperance and vice as the common
school is an institution for teaching sci
ence history and morals The natural
and inevitable product of licensed sa-
looms is generalization and ruin. Tie
very moment we legaliZe the traffic by
license, that very moment we clothe it
with the shield of protection by law.
Constitute the business respectable in
ordinary parlance, and you put it in a
position to battle our most stringent res
OlutiOns.
In St Louis, few years ago the city
authorities concluded to regulate and
control prostitution by license. But eX-
perience sadly demonstrated that pros
titutiOn increased tenfOld faster under
license than when prohibited by law.
To-day that license is repealed and pro-
hibitiOn has been invoked to stem the
leprOus evil.
So with the liquor traffic We may
seek TO control it by license, but all ex-
perience proves that license is delusion,
that by it we are only warming into Wig
Orous life the serpent that will sooner or
later sting us to the heart. Vain and de-
lusive hope! The only safe way, ;s all
past experience demonstrations, is pro
bibdion, with sufficient penalties to en-
force it. Hence the grand watchword
and railying cry of every lover of Tenn
perance il Ohio should be, vote no IL
,eHSe, no HcenSe'
am, with much respect, thy friend,
WILLIAM BANTER