The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1879-11-08
LOCAL OPTION DISCUSSION.

The law regulating the grartipg OF
licenses 20 sell spurious liqucr has beea
the absol bing topic Of Legislative inter
est today. coming Up on its third read
ing il the house with Q favorable report
from the committee Il having been
announced at the opening Of the pres
ent session that Mr. White. of King
county. would be the special champion
OF license, in opposition Of the bill, the
we'll known ability Of that gentleman
as lawyer and a jurist, had in no
measure sbated the interest otherwise
( felt in the discussion and the final ac-
/ tion Of the house upon 1t. /: was not
surprising. thercfcre, that the lobby
was filled with an eager AMI expec ant
throng. many Of VIII III were ladies.
whose interests the bill. peculiarly af
fects.
Mr. White took the floor promptly On
the calling Of the or Ter of the day. and
moved that Mr. Joseph. shoEt>hand
reporter. be admi,ted to the bar. as he
wished to be correctly reported on the
measure pending. The speaker ruled
that the motion was unnecessary as re
porters for the press had already been
accorded the privileges Of the House.
Mr Joseph then appeared and made
quite little speech to the H0u-c; said
he would not claim that he was abe u
report cerbatim a speech hut he " Ou,d
do the best he could; tha, he Wa. ems
ployed by MIR White. and va. account.
able 10 him for his efforts. As Til, pre-
been taken, VIC feel more lib r.y - ac-
corded us in our continents. "a Mr.
White has wisely provided the means
of calling US to crder.' il We elr in
any statements We may make while
givin. the substance If hi, remarks
These preliminarics being arranged
to the satisfaction Of MIR White. he ,,n-
mediately resumed the floor He hasti-
ly traced the history of temperance re.
form from the time Of the Whiskey lie
bellion to tho present hour; his ances-
tors he claimed wore rebels; the rebel
lion originated in the district in which
he was born. but he found iLany Of the
advoc .tcs # .cmIe,ance ii the present
day were the descenian:s Of those VINO
then opposed the laws for the suppress
sion OF the still. H. claimed tha, all
Temperance effort bad proved futile; it
would rise and fall Nature madr n
cohol; it possessed life giving ,,ropeiti
and had beerAand would continue to be
used by man
To drink to excess, however. lie de
.clared to be q crime against nature, and
il there was God, c.me against
God. He would never place straw in
the way Of any body who endravorei to
reform. But he dii not believe IN
sumptuary laws The French Rcvolu-
tion resulted from ar effort 10 control
the morals Of the people by legal en-
actmeut,.
Mr. White then detailed very pa
,hetic piece of family history. He had
probably had more reason to condemn
the sale Of liqnor than anybody on the
floor. He had dear sister who had
been worse than widowed by the prof
ligacy incident to rum What this had
to do with hi, side Of the question was
the query uppermost in the mind, "f
every body. 1t could only TO presumed
to be intended for u play upon the
sympathy at the an.i-climax. "A touch
of nature makes the world akin and
skillful manipulator knows precisely
the key note. most likely to sound in
unison With tho heart pulsa,ions Of his
auditors.
The chief argument made against the
bill was that it delegated to the pco,le
powers vested i'll the Legislature; that
no law could depend upon some pros
pective act to give it vitality in any
given direction. and he quoted from
several authorities to show that Judges
had made such ruling, Another
point. and one we'll taken. was that
without n legal definition Of the word
adult" used in the bill. the general
meaning would include anybody who
had arrived at maturity. making per-
sons Of over fourteen years OF age COM
petent to sign the petition contemplated
by the law. and of course, including
that aye in the aggregate number OF
inhabitants" Of which majority
must be obtained before license could
be legally granted. The effect Of the
law he declared would be destructive
of the very ends sought. Tbs club
room would take the place of the sa-
loon. and rs much whiskey drank as
now. His personal experience bad led
him TO believe that this alternative was
even more destructive TO sobriety than
the sale as now sanctioned under Ii
cense. This bill did not make sny dis
t,nc.ion between the different beverages
vended as intoxicating liquor. Whis-
key and brandy bad maddenins ef-
feet; wines. cxhilirated. and malt
liquor induced sleep. Some OF tho
European nations were habitual con
sumers Of these milder beverages, and
were law obeying people,
My. Stewart spoke in defense OF the
bill. He believed that all power was
inherent in the people: they had a righ.
to protect themselves against wrong
doing. and everybody admitted this TO
be q gigantic evil. If the principles
enuncisted BY the gentleman were
sound, We did not have legal county
road in the Territory. Under the
present law the most worthless scala
wap could obtain license for $500. 1t
was democratic to allow the people to
saw whether such things should be tol-
Grated or not. He closed with mo
stirring appeal fo: the rights OF woman
to be heard upon the subject in which
she was the greatest sufferer. lie said
that the attendance of the wives and
daughters At this debate. Indicated
their heart felt feelings IN the matter.