Litchfield enquirer., 1878-11-28
Thursday Nov. 28, 1878.
The Punishment of Liquor Selling Not
 Impracticable.

1mpracticable.
 An important case was disposed of in the Superior Court, last week, showing the pre- gress that has been made towards enforcing restrictions upon the sales of intoxicating liauor in this county A Thomaston liquor seller, who had been prosecuted last July and had paid up his fine, was again complained of by Prosecuting Agent Kilborn for still keeping up place of resort in which it is reported that intoxicating liquors are sold. The prisoner denied that his place now had any such reputation as that which had occasioned his former conviction. Then again, the only liquor which he was proved to have been sell ing was something called ''hop beer" A Bridgeport dealer who claimedto be the largest wholesaler In the state, swore that this beer was not intoxicating. The usual tricks of such defence were practiced, and several of the witnesses fer the prosecution, though blue rib- bon men. were inveigled into drunkenness af- ter they had reached this place. The argument was signalized by sharp passage at arms be- tween the States Attorney and the senior coun- sel for the prisoner, in which the Heading wholesaler" received very severe castigation from the former. A verdict of "Guilty" was returned. fs9
 This was, we hear, the only liquor case re- mainlng on the docket of the Superior Court Lawyers who have had much recent experi- ence in defending liquor sellers now say that men accused of that crime are convicted on weaker evidence than will satisfy juries in other cases. There has been mar velous change in public opinion during the past twenty years. In the evil days when the Maine Law rested, dead letter, on our statute book. there was no such thing known as the conviction of rum-seller before Litchfield County jury. Every now and then spas modic effort would be made in Winchester, Thomaston, or some other community in which there was strong Temperance sentiment A batch of prosecutions would come up to the Superior Court on appeal, and result in &C., qulttals, or in disagreements of the jury. Even the seizure process-the most effective of the remedies known to the old law-gener- ally failed. ..-a.s
 The recent Temperance Revival will pro- duce a great effect on the public opinion of the future It has hardly made itself felt in the jury box as yet There can be no doubt, however, of the superiority of Local Option over Prohibition as a practical temperance measure. The very fact that local interest is aroused by Local Option law is of serious importance. In the first place local officers feel that vote of ''No License" is sure test of local feeling, and they are much influenced by that consideration. Moreover, communi- ty which has pushed that issue to public vote in full town meeting, and have won a victory at the ballot box, feel natural interest in car rying their action to it's logical conclusion They are further disposed to look upon diso- bedience of the decree of the community as disrespect the community ought to resent.
 Aside, however, from the superior effective ness of Local Opt ien, as a practical measure, there can be ne doubt that there has been a slow improvement in public opinion regarding the proprietY of legislation restricting the sale spirituous liquors When the Maine Law first took it's place on our statute book, it was far in advance ot existing opinion. A large mi nority of the people believed such legislation an unconstitutional interference with the right of the citizen. A large fraction of the majori- ty believed in restricting other peoples indul- gence, but had no intention of restricting their own. A jury could not then have been sum- moned which did not have some members SO bitterly hostile to the law that they would give no fair hearing to the evidence of witnesses, or to the instructions of the court. Happily there is now but little unreasoning prejudice to overcome. The present law, if odious to anybody, is odious only to the Temperance extremist. The constitutionality of the severe oppressive provisions of the law has been set tied by repeated decisions Twenty years ago, people hated the law. Now they are learning slowly to hate the traffic, and to look with favor on legal measures for its restrc. tion.
 AnInteresting article in last weeks New York Observer on the result of twenty seven years of Prohibition in Maine shows how hostility to that statute has gradually given place to assent among all political parties, and with all shades of reputable public opinien. In April last, the British House of Lords Committee on Intem- perance sent over to this country to obtain tes- timony regarding the practical working of Prohibition here. In a letter written to that Committee, and signed by all the Representa- lives and Senators of Maine in Congress, those gentlemen say: H
 For the first ten years of it's 1.-the law's] ex- istence there were many difficulties and seri- ous obstacles. A great variety of questions of practice, evidence and pleading was presented to the courts of law for adjudication, and very frequently jurors, overcome by their preju- dices, failed to agree upon yerdicts; but the courts finally determined all points of law raised, or that could be, and public opinion re formed all perverse juries: so that during the last fifteen years the enforcement of the pro visions of the law has been constant, genera and successful. The result has been that the traffic in intoxicating liquors, crime by stat. ute, has become cr1me in the opinion of q large majority of our citizens, the buyer as we'll as the seller being regarded as Q moral participant in the crime The use of liquors as beverage is unpopular, and the sale of it very limited. In majority of the towns in the State none can be obtained, except as pro- vided by law. The propriety of the law hay ing been early made political issue, one of our two great parties has until within two or three years been hostile to it, and evidenced it's hostility in it's platform. Last year, at it's State Convention, when the usual resolution against prohibition was offered for considera- tion, it was voted down by good majority, with considerable enthusiasm. The law is now as easily and as thoroughly enforced as that for the prevention and punishment of any other and similar crimes, and we can sincerely affirm that 1t is a success. a't
 Much having been said about the alleged failure of the law in Portland, the editor o the Christian Mirror, published in that city sends letters from the peace officers of tha community to the Observer, in which they de clare that, ''the quantity of Intoxicating liquor now sold in Maine is but a small fraction oi what was formly sold freely throughout thu State before the enactment of the Maine law ' that ''there is no open bar or rum-shop in tn,