Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-03-19
An Engllshman's View OF Prohibition.
DINON's VISIT To ST. JOHNS
BUEl.

An Engllshman's View OF Prohibition.
HEPwORTH DiNON's VISIT To ST. JOHNS
BUIY.
". Hepworth Dixon, 4 popular Eng
lish writer and lecturer. visited ST. Johns
bnrv last November and wrote To an
English paper Il very interesting letter
II seems that this was the first time he
ever Witnessed the effects OF pr0hibitory
policy, and it is curious to see how ii i'm
pressed one who had been accustomed TO
see liquor everywhere. and whose coun-
trymen seem To regard it ~ one OF the .
necessare, of lie The letter i, quite
long, but We make room for extracts
which embrace most Of his IDEAS
ST. JoHNsEUlN. VT. Nov. 1874.
What are the secrets OF this artisans
| paradise? Why is the place SO clean, the
people so well housed and ted? Why are
the little folks 50 hale in face. so smart in
person, and so neat in dress? All voices
| reply to me that their desirable condition
springs from a strict enforcement of the
law prohibiting the sale of intoxicating
drink
The men of Vermont. Ike those OF other
nothern States, have adopted that public
act which is known to English testers and
| good fellows under the OppTobriOus title
OF the Maine Liquor Law. which is carried
out in parts Of the New England States
with the unilinching rigor of an arctic
| frost.
So far as | can see In St. Johnsbury not
a mug of beer or glass OF wine can be
purchased openly by 4 guest to whom wine
| and beer are portions OF his daily food.
No citizen is allowed 10 vend intoXica-
| ting drink on any pretcXt or to any per-
| son.
No bar, no dramshop, no saloon detiles
| the place Nor is there. | am told. 4 sin
! Gle gaming-hell or house of i'll repute. So
far rs meets the eye this boast is true. In
| toxicating drinks are clasSed with poisons.
such rs laudauum and arsenic; but ss
| poiSOus may be needed in 4 civilized cOun-
! trv. under 4 scientific system OF medicine.
/ laudanum and arsenic are permitted to be
sold in every civilized Stale. Such is here
/ the case with brandy, beer and wine.
/ The town lays in a stock of brandy, beer.
and wine. which i carefully registered in
/ books and kept under lock and key. These
/ poi,ons are doled out. at the discretion OF
IN officer. in small quantities, very much
a, deadly night-shade and nux vOmica are
/ d0led out by L London druggist. Can
| not YOU get a bottle of cOguac for your
private use ~ | ask Colonel Fairbanks,
E. | can send my ORDER" he replies, ''for
Il pint OF cO9nac; il will be sent To me OF
course; but my order iur it will be filed.
[ and the delivery entered on the public
books for every one to see" - y GU find
| that system rather inquisltorlal, do you
not - well. 10; it Is intended for the
| common good. and every one submits to
vha. IS ior the good of all. We freely
vote for the law. and freely keep the law
/ But for mvself the rule i dead letter.
since no intoxicating drink enters my
/ house.
In going through the mills. noticed
| the several classes of artiZans. Five hun
/ dred men are toiling in the various rooms.
| The work is mostly hard; in some depart
ments verv hard. The heat is very
great. From seven o'clock until twelve.
| from one o'clock until siX-ten hours each
| dav-the mea are at their posts. The
RANGE of heat and cold Is trying, for the
] summer heat is fierce, the winter frost Is
| keen. Your ordinary citizen cannot live
| through the summer heats without trip
| tn Lake Champlain and the Adirondack
mountains. But the men engaged in
| these manufactures of scales are said to
| drink no beer. no whi>key and M gin.
/ Drinking and smoking are not allowed on
the premises Such orders might be only
meant for discipline, but | am told that
these five hundred workmen really never
ta ,te a drop OF either beer or gin. Their
drink Is water. their delight Is tea let
! everyone assures me that they work well.
! enjoy good health, and live as long a.
persons of their class employed on farms.
''These men, / ask, who rake the
| furnaces, who carry the burning metals.
and who stand about the crucibles-csn
they 20 on all day without their beer ,"
They never taste drop, and never ask to
have 4 drop. There is Il can of water
near them; they like the taste of water
better than the fumes of ale. and do their
work more steadily without such fumes"
In tact. | End that these intelligent
craftsmen are the warmest advocates OF
the prohibitiye liquor law They voted
for it in the outset; they have voted tor 1T
ever since. Each wear of trial makes
Q
the act came into force new clauses have
been added by the State Legislature.
Party questions are often turned on the
LIQUOR law, and those intelligent workmen
ALWAYS vote for those who promise to eS-
tend its operations. They have gladly
crushed the sale of intoxicating liquors
once for all. and am led to the fancy
that some OF them would not hesitate to
make the sale L capital offence.
E. You see said Col Fairbanks, I'VE
are a nervous and vehement race. Our
air is drv and quick our lite an eager and
unsleepinS chase. When we work, we
work hard When we drink, we drink
deep. 1t is natural that when we abstain.
we should abstain with rigor."
Are there no protests?' None. or
next to none; rs year and Year goes By
more persons come to see the benefits oil
our rule. The men who formally drank
most, are now the staunchest friends OF
our reform These men who used to dres,
in rags. are growing rich. Many OF them
live in their own houses. They attend
their churches. and their children 60 to
school,
The facts are not to be- suppressed by
shrugs and sneers. 1t is an easy thing to
sneer, and some unconscious comedy
turns up at every corner to provoke u
laugh.
Should lipsy stranger be taken IN the
street. he is seized Ike a stray donkey.
run into ponud. and kept apart until he
has slept away the fumes OF his dram An
officer then inquiries where he got his
drink. On telling, he is set free, and the
person who sold the liquor is arrested.
. tried, and punished The vendor not the
! buyer is responsible for this breach oil
moral order 1t Is lust the same. whether
the person supplying the liquor sells 1t Or
gives it away.
What then remains The workman 5
paradise remains; village which has all
the aspect Of garden; 4 village in which
many of the workmer are owners OF real
estate; a village OF nearly five thousand
inhabitants. in which the moral order
is even more conspicuous than the mate
+ rial prosperity; village in which every
, man accounts it his highest duty and MS
personal interest TO observe :he law No
authority is visible in St. .johnsbury. No
policeman walks the streets-on ordinary
, days there is nothing for a policeman to
do. Six constables are enrolled for duty
! but the men are all at work in the scale
! manufactures, and only don their UNIFORM
: on special DAYS to make little SHOW. On
: looking up and down the streets, so lovely
8 in the moonlight, and on weighing All me
visible results against my lack Of soda.
: water, I sip my broken ice. and 90 to pea
? with q more kindly feeling toward sss
Vermont Liquor Law. W. II. D.