The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1880-04-01

adopted, believe, hut those rcgula-
tions cappof be prOhibitory neither can
they lie partial TO the manufacture and
sale fer mcslici1Al and other purposes.
The sale for those purposes will be lc-
Qnlized By the constitution. and every
citizen Of the State will have cOnsti-
tutional right to engage m the business.
A license may be required but 1t must
be reasonable license and open to all
alike. 1t can be licensed rs any other
legitimate business may be licensed, as
dry goods, hardware, etc, and not 9TH
erwise. How is il nov, without the
amendment ! Cooley, on constitutional
limitations. says: The Legislature by
an enactment based on general reasons
OF public u,iiify. annihiiates the traffic,
DESTROYS altogether the employment,
and reduces to a nominal value the
property on hand. Even the keeping
Of that for the purpose Of sale becomes
a criminal offense. and without any
change whatever in his own conduct or
employment, the merchant Of yester-
day becomes the criminal of to-day,
and the very building in which he lives
and conducts the business which to that
moment was lawful becomes nuisance,
if the statue shall so declare, and be IL
able to be proceeded against for for
feiture.'"
New here is the power of the Leg.
islaturc without the exception Should
the Legislature deem ii expedient for
the public good to prohibit the sale Of
intoxicating drinks even as medicine.
so far as appear, it can do so, and even
our present law makes no exception in
favor of amy one foi any purpose. No
man in Kansas can now sell liquor for
any purpose whatever, unless licensed
to do so, and no person can get license
without the consent of the people in
the locality where the license shall be
granted. All places where intoxicating
liquors arc sold without a license are
declared to be common nuisances and
shall be shut up ana abatcd as such.
But adopt the amendment and then
what! The law must then read, and if
NOT The courts will make II SO read, no
man shall sell Intoxicating liquors cx-
cent for medical, mechanical, or scien-
tific' purposes, and the places of sale
and liquors kept fo7 sale shall be de-
cIared nuisances and abated, eIcq'f
where used for these purposes. And
what does medical mean? Webster
SAYS, pertaining to the art Of healing
diseases. Medicinal: contain
ing that which heals; to cure
"By adopting that proposition the
people of Kansas say in their organic
act that alcoholic liquors are medicinal
in their nature, tending TO the curing
of disease, and that every citizen in the
state NAV manufacture and sell them
for such purpose. do not wonder that
Sam Wood, the veteran temperance leg
islator of Kansas. the famous Francis
Murphy, and hundreds Of the best tenn
perance men in the country, repudiate
the amendment as opening the door to
free whisky all over the State, for such,
in my opinion it will do
81 anu not a lawyer, and you are not
one, and would like the opinion OF
some disintcrested attorney on this
question. First-Shpuld the amend.
ment in question be adopted, can the
Legislature prohibit any citizen of the
State from selling intoxicating liquors
for the purposes named in the excep-
tons? SecOnd-If licensed for these
purposes, must not the license be of the
same character as for any legitimate
business, and not prohibitOry in its
nature!r