Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1877-09-27
A Sentence Worth Pond ring.

Three saloon keepers in Chicago wert
found guilty Of selling liquor to minors
The address of the Justice when they
were sentenced, as reported in the.Chicaet
Tribune, is original and eminently whole
some. The evils of the liquor traffic, and
What license involves. are rarely set Out
in a clearer light than in the following at.
dress by Judge Reading:
'By the law you may sell to men and
women, if they will buy. You have given
your bond. and paitf ytnr license to sell to
them, and no one has Alright to molest you
In your legal business. No matter what
the consequences may be; no matter what
poverty and destitution are produced by
yonr shlling according to- law, you have
paid your money tor this privilege, and
you are licensed to pursue your calling.
NO matter what families are distracted or
rendered miserable; no matter what wives
are treated with violence; what children
stirVe or mourn over the degradation of a
parent. your business is legalzed, and no
one may interfere with you in it. No mat
ICY W''at mother may agonize over the loss
OF a son, Or sister blush at the shame of n
brother. you have right to disregard
them al, and pursue your legal calling
you are licensed! You may fit up your
lawful place of business in the most entic-
ing and captivating form: YOU NAV fur
hish II with the most costly and elegant
equipments for your lawful trade: Won
may fill it With the allurements of amuse-
ment; You may use all your arts to induce
visitors; you may skillfillly arrange and
expose to view your choicest wines and
most captivating beverages; you may then
induce thirst by all contrivances to produce
a raging appetite for..drink, and then you
may supply that appetite to the full. be
cause it Is lawful; you have paid for it
you have a license.
~ on may allow boys. almost children,
to frequent your saloon; they may witness
the apparent~-satisflction with which their
seniors qnaf the sparkling glass; you may
be schooling and ..training them for the
period OF twcnty-one, when they, too, can
participate, for all this is lawful. You
may hold the..cup to their very lips. but
you must not let them drink-tliat is un
lawful. But, While you have all these
privileges for money you pay. this 1,bor
privilege of selling to children is deiled
you. Here parents have the right to say,
Leave my son to me until tie law gives
you Il right to destroy him. Do not antic-
lrate that terrible momen, when can as
scrt for him no further rights of protection.
That will be soon enough for ine, for his
mother, for his sister, for his friends. and
for the community to see him take his
road to death. Give him to us. in his
childhood at least. Let us have few years
OF his youth. in which we can nnioy his
innocence. to repay Us in some small de-
gree for the care and love we have layshed
upon him. This is something you who
now stand prisoners at the bar have not
paid for; this is not embraced Iii your
license.
''For this otrense the court sentences YOU
to ten days imprisonment in the county
Jail, and that you pay Il fine of seventy-tive
dollars and costs; and that you stand COM
mitted until the tine and costs of this pros
ecution arr paid.''