Litchfield enquirer., 1879-01-23
WHOLE NO. 2747

obtain liquor. The poor wretch who on Sat
 urday night could get drunk and squander his
 weeks earnings can find no one to sell him
 rum, because no sooner does he venture in the
 streets in drunken condition than he is arrest
 ed and forced to testify against those who sold
 him the liquor. That class of excessive drink
 CTS IS then benefited by the law and it is to bring this about that the moderate drinkers
 suffer annoyance and strangers total deprlva- tion.
 Again the houses where gambling and oth- CT vices flourish complain of the new law. It seems odd at the hrst blush that they should be afraid to break one law i'll establishments
 which depend for their existence upon the ln- fringement of another, but it will be seen that if their customers become intoxicated they
 would be the means of calling attention to the
 places where the liquorrwas obtained, and that
 would lead to the latter being closed. Cider is about the only drink to be found in such l places, and as a consequence they are less ire 1 quented than formerly. There is nothing to over stimulate thenerves or fire the blood in a l glass of acid New England apple juice-quite the contrary, indeed, is it's effect. New iIa-
 ven has voted to abolish the licensing of the liquor traffic by majority of 1 1000, and prob 1 ably the same grave and funny aspects of the l case will be found therc."
 | EXAMPLES FROM NEW YORK. But we have had striking example in our
 own city, The Metropolitan Excise law of | 1866 was absolutely prohihitory on Sundays. l Prior to that law there had been no material | difference in the number of arrests made on | that day and on other days of the week Tax ing Tuesdays for comparison there were from 1 January 1, 1867, to October 1, 1868, of Tues days arrests II .034: of Sunday arrests 5,253
 showing difference of ,, I'll. X larger dit-
 ference probably prevails under our present | law, and the older citizens talk of the quiet | and good order that now exists on Sundays, as l in striking contrast to the condition of things l when liquors were freely sold on the SabhatI On the day of our annual elections a statute draws around each polling place a circle of
 absolute prohibition, within which no intoNi- l eating drinks may be sold orgiven. Contrast | el with former days, who fails to recognize l the change from excitement, disorder and l crime to almost universal quictlde and peace: | And who does not see that the measure of
 peace depends upon the vigilance with which | the police enforce the statute! During the spasmedic effort of the police authorities ot | this city about one yearagO to enforce the kA- i else law, one of the Police Commissioners todd l me that in his opinion arrests for crime other | than for breaches of the Excise laws had Iai- 1 len off between 30 and40 per cent Yet there was no general and complete enforcement of
 the law This fact speaks volumes for what
 might be accomplished in New York. But 1 am not here to argue for prohibition. l My sole purpose is to establish that intemper-
 ance is an evil factor in crime by showing
 that whatever limits or suppresses the one, di-
 minishes the other in ratio almost mathemat-
 ically certain. Whether judging from the de
 clared judcal experience of others, or from
 my own, or from carefully collected statistics,
 running through many series of years, be-
 lieve it entirely safe to say that one half ot all
 the crime of this county and Great Britain IS | caused by the incorporate use Ot int, X c1hng 1 liquors and that of the crimes involving per
 sonal violence certainly thrce-fourths are | chargeablc to the same cause. The practical l question is: What can be done about fl =? | If intemperance were a new evil, coming i'll
 upon us for the first time like pestllrlCa | from some foreign shore, laden with lis aN- | full burden of disease, of pauperism and crime
 with what horror would the Nation cOntcm-
 plate it's mOnstrous approach. What severity | of laws, what stringenCles of quarantine, what
 activities of resistance, world br suddenly
 aroused But, alas it is no new evil. lt sur
 rounds us like an atmosphere as it has cur ia
 thers through countless generations it per
 verts judgments, it pOisOnS habits, it swayS | passions, it taints churches and tears cOnSCi"n- | ces It seiZcs the enginery of our legislation.
 and by it creates moral phenomenon of pcr- | petual motion, which Nature denies to phys | cs for it licenses and empowers itself to be | get in endless rounds, the wrongs, vices aud
 crimes which society is organized to prevent
 and-wOrst of all for our country it cnc0is l parties like the serpenIS of LaOCoOn. and
 crushes in it's folds the spirit Of patriotism and 1 virtue
 THE DUTIES OF THE HOUR. \ Is the case then utterly hopeless? No not
 while the spirit of Christ has q tabernacle on ] earth.
 l Three duties of the present hour lie i'm
 medately before us.
 FIrst.-To see to It that our present Excise laws take no step backward. The outCry that
 the present laws must be changed because they cannot be enforced is insdlOus and false | They can be enforced The fault is not in them
 but in faithless officials who in coWurdc. dare 1 not or in treachery will not obey the plain l letter and spirit of their iniunctons. Ii The l present law were dcccnty enforced there
 would not be to-day in tine City of New York
 one place where liquors could be sold by The drink which is not in fact public inn, nCccs- l sary for the actual accommodation of travel 1 lers, and have all the cOnvenicn"cs essential to l such accommodation, and kept by a person morally fit to be trusted with tine syoHSi iii ties which the law devolvcs upon iuukrrl"G- | andexacts from them as licensed vendors o, .u- | tOXicating drinks.
 | ISecond.-lt is our duty to stand by them
 who seek to enforce the law and compel uI- | tical obedience to It's provisions Dr. trej.v's | organization commands respect and Gcs. rvs
 support. It asks nothing o it's eu.sa!s, a,.t
 obedience to the law. and nothin- u! is ,..,-
 mics but obedience to the law aud nr'h"l If
 it's friends but to aid it in comp"I!in. sI"'s e 1 dience.
 THt1d. Since all the courts have given their final sanction to the ac for thc pr"'"'iinA l of woman and childhood from th" injuries drunkenness visits upon nnOcrnce, th"r:. l. 9" excuse for us if we do not see that tlia; .aW Is put in vigorous operation. If enforced f will give many wife a sober husband and uauv Il child sober father, for the fear Of thr law
 will be the beginning of wisdom To man, drunkard- maker
 LastLy We ought to stand by and cncoul- age the reform that is reaching the hanu of
 brotherhood and love to the thousaaus If drinking men and women Ill oIIr city. r.r.-
 cis Murphy should be armed with our sv ..lel-
 thy, our prayers and our nea'i~ tp ait n;~
 noble work and most of all, the >ctiuS ii
 rum who are bravely striving with his aij jo
 reclaim themselves should hc hripod and encouraged in their effects not iy alas that demOraliZe and debase. but hY empiGVmrut
 that will encourage self reliance, and srpu-ih- en the hopes of permanent reform. What e te hinder an organization for suCh purpose,
 with good men and capital en9uLb to istllc It effective One hundred thousand dollars Ic- voted to that end would he returned to ;3rr community an hundred fold in saved ta>,~,
 increased industries; and aAoyr ail iu h'rr and women rescued from the his rjl.N vices and crimes of drunkenness.
 Arthur, youngster of five, irc>co. q hS face and hands with his n.annu's p&als ue other day, and when he inc; hrr soon after ~re