Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-02-16

A few years since, certain provisions were
made by the city government of st. Louis,
for the legal regulation of the social evil.
The better class OF citizens of this country,
especially in the East, were justly indignant (;
very strong moral influence was brought
TO bear against this iniquitous procedure
and all the people who valued our civiliza-
ton, who cared for the purity of our morals,
said amen.
Why should not men be indignant when
great state, whose name is connected with
all the grand enterprises of the age, whose
history strs the pride of all her citizens,
whose illustrious past is certain to be
eclipsed by n more ilustrious future, stoops
so low as TO pass a law entitled, An act TO
regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors 2"
Is it possible that any man Of intelligence
can be found who will not admit the sale of
intoxicating liquors to be an evil Most
certainly it is an evil, possibly the greatest
evil, whether measured by quality or guam
tity. The dram-shop is the most prolific
source of crime, the immediate cause of I'M
told misery and sorrow. Indeed, there is no
redeomng feature whatever to the sale and
use, as a beverage Of intoxicating liquors.
Dram-drinking and its mediate and imme-
date effects are admitted and pronounced
by all the wise and the good, to be unmiti-
gated evils.
Under what possible plea should great
state professedly in the vanguard on all
questions of social science, give its sanction
to the nefarious business of making men
drunkards ? To the best Of my knowledge,
/ the avowed, outspoken plea is, in substance
/ this lntemperance is an evil it should
be suppressed, or kept under the closest
possible restraint prohibition is an utter
| failure, the cause is retrograding under the
lead of the prohibitionists stringent IL
cense law, thoroughly enforced, will result
in greater good to the cause than prohibi-
| tory law that is violated with impunity of
| two necessary evils, it is wiser and better to
choose the less
need not stop to point out the weakness
Of this argument. II has been stated fairly
it breaks down Of its own weight. For the
| principle involved is certainly the licensuro
Of evil. Shall a community, a common
wealth, lend its sanction to evil with the
weight of sacred law? Rightminded men
should start back aghast at the mere an-
nouncemsnt Of so monstrous principle.
why not sanction murder, arson. burglary,
and the nameless crimes that spring from
lust2 Why not prevent theft, robbery OF
any other of the catalogued crimes, under
certain restrictions Who would not saw
4" IIouiblel" And yet the great state Of
Massachusetts has, in effect, done this very
thing in sanctioning the sale of intoxicating
liquors.
But the law has been passed, and, though
foul blot, stands to-day upon the statute
books Of the state, and the best men sa,
rightly, " Give the law fair trial" Law
abiding citizens can hardly do otherwise
though they reap the harvest of this noxiou.
evil in their own homes. While, then, We
wait 10 see what will be the results OF
this licensure of this eXecrabe evil, let "a,
note some of the practical workings of the
law in one of our great cities.
Lowell, a city of fifty thousand inhabi
tauts, has granted licenses to more than three
hundred applicants one license to every on,
hundred aud sixty inhabitants, or one Ii
cense for every twenty-five voters Scarcely
single application for license has been re
fused, so that. practically, every one can sci
liquors that is willing to pay the fee Nearl,
every street of importance is lined witt
places where the young and the weak ma,
walk straight down to ruin and the cit,
directly or indirectly encourages its own cit
liens to go forward in the way of destruc
ton. What need is there of statistics
They only tell of outbreaking crimes, of pub
lie debauchery, of the grosser and more opel
forms of wickedness. Who shall humble
the tears and reckon the signs aud count tn
graves : Who shall measure the sorrow
the misery, the agony which statistics can
not reach-who, unless God in heaven ?
There is only one way. The licensure o
an evil is wholly and irredeemably bad Tn
battle must be fought on different ground
or the victory will never be won. Com
promise with crime is monstrous in princi
pie, and monstfous in its outcome. Let II
set the whole weight of our moral influence
against this iniquitous business, even though
it wear the specious disguise Of reform G
movement
Lowell, Massachusetts,, November 2l