The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-03-15

4 TIE MOPFEIT REGIsTER-TH SUCCESS OF
TIE SYsTEM-IMPRoVEMENT IN THE MACH1NE
4 The Senate passed and sent to the House or
i wv ednesday number of amendments to The
4 Mofett liquor Law, intended to increase its
deficiency and to prevent evasions and VIC
1aGons, but they reached the House too late.
i Dr. Moffett was compelled to consent that
they be, laid on the table, and there they
died, with o number or other bills and reso-
iutions which failed for the, want OF time.
i During the discussion, however, enc0ur-
aging reports from nearly all sections Of the
country were given with regard 70 the sue
cess OF theregister., s., &.
| A year ago, when the system was frst pro
posed, the members Of the Legislature we're
divided into two nearly equal and bitterly
hostile parties. The opposition was not
only active, it was violent and implacable.
In the; elections OF November last the peo-
pie in choosing their representatives sus-
! tanned the law with unexpected unanimity.
In Richmond the distinct issue was made,
and the five delegates elected, it will not be
forgotten, were all nntspoken advocates Of
the law. Here and there, there were men
chosen to the General Assembly opposed to
the system, but they were SO few as never
to have become during the session dignffied
by the name Of faction, muck less OF party.
IS The General ASSEMBLY has now ad-
iourned, leaving the law unchanged. Seye-
raj Of those who spoke against the amend
ments mentioned said that the law is now
working very satisfactorily, and that there
was no reason to alter it.
The Auditor Of Public Accounts, in the
estimate made by him and presented to the
General Assembly q few weeks ago, indi-
Gated his belief that the register would real
20 hot frya n
six hundred thousand dollars, or three or
four times the amount brought into the
treasury by the old license law.
AS q substitute for the MofFett law, a
committee representing the liquor-dealers
OF the State, at the beginning OF the session,
offered to the Legislature plan of special
| license-taxes which they said would GER
tainly produce $41O, 1000 per annum. 1t was,
however, never pushed. The liquor-deal-
ers themselves never seemed to take any
great interest in its fate, aud when finally it
was offered in the Senate as substitute for
the amendments itreceived only q few votes,
while In the House it was dismissed with
out division. The testimony OF members
OF the General Assembly is generally that
the register is popular with the people, and
| that the .liquor-dealers, patriotically con-
ceding the good that it will do in helping
the State pay her debt, have, except in oc-
casional instances, ceased their enmity to it.
| There are propositions pending in the
States Of Pennsylvania, New York, Ken
lucky, Maryland, Illinois, Louisiana, Ten
nessee, and before Congress, looking to the
adoption of the system.
In the opinion OF the State officials. the
register being sustained by popular sem
timent and nearly all the newspapers Of the
State, it only remains with the police au-
thorities to vigorously enforce the penalties
for evasions and violations TO make the re-
gister the great lever to raise the State out of
her financial difficulties.
The inventors (Messrs. Moffett and Dean)
and the manufacturer CAIr. T. ID. johnson,
OF Culpeper) have improved and perfected
the register, and it may now be considered
nearly free from objections. 1t performs with
greater accuracy the work required by the
law, and it is barely possible to tamper or in
terfere with its operation. The case in
which the machine IS enclosed has been also
perfected.