Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-03-31

be more dangerous to the health. the social
order. and the life of men, than would be
the entire abolition of all those sanitary
laws which every well-regulsted communi-
| " nnds 1t necessary to adopt against the
introduction and the spread of disease. !
believe also, that any such attempt to regu-
| late the sale as is contemplated in the So
called license system is worse, in its effect
upon the community. than the unrestricted
sale because. while the license system prac-
tlcallv puts no bar upon the buyer, and
thus makes itjust as easy TO obtain and
use intoxicating liquorsa as it their sale were
free to everybody. it does not weaken the
force OF the great moral restraint which
ought to control the seller; it does encour-
age him in his business with the nominal
appreciation OF the community ; and worse
than all, it perverts and blinds the moral
vision OF the community itself.
Ii the sale of intoxicating liquors. licens-
ed or unlicensed, tends to the intempersnce,
the Impeachment, the vice and the crime
OF the community,-andth that it does have
this result hold to be so plain that it no
longer needs proof with intelligent men, -
then such sale is clearly wrong. and to
call it right by act OF legislation, or to sup
pose 1t made right by the payment of q sum
wrong just where it was before-does not
change it. essential character in the least
but 1t makes the community party to the
wrong. When any people comes to ieel
that right depends upon statutes, and can
be made or unmade by acts of legislation
or votes of commonwealth, and that what
is wrong can be turned into right by IL
eeuse or anything else, then the vig0r and
purity of that peoples moral life have be-
gun to decay.
hold therefore that prohibition, in this
matter, is wise craftsmanship as well a
true ethics. Laws which are right can be
enforced and maintained. while laws which
are not right will assuredly weaken that
reverence for law, upon which any govern
ment must in the long run rest entirely for
its surest basis and its strongest defense
In Gods great plan We are permitted to
be workers together with Him in bringing
other men into submission to His will. We
can use our own wills, our own personal
power, as legitimate and efficient element
in leading other wills to that pure and holy
state unto which God calls them.
But how shall this be done? | cannot
feel that prohibitory law is our main re-
lance In the temperance reform. | would
have our laws prohibit theft. and arson, and
muruel, Out "ouiu uOt rely upon >ucn
statutes as the chief agency to bring these
crimes to cease. The laws NAV have very
important ends to subserve in les~ening
crime, other means and motives might
prove powerless without these,-the laws
give their strong saretion and support to
every other healthy moral Influence, but if
We undertake to wage war against crime
with the statute book alone. crime will run
riot through the land until having first
disregarded the statute book. it shall de-
strOy 1t.
| would treat the sale of intoxicating
drink any other crime like gamb! ing.
like the sale of lottery tickets or obscene
books. ike anything which works such
Woe u would prohibit it ; would punish
it; but | would not rest content with such
means as these.