Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1880-10-14

COlebrook, 30
Goshen, ~
Kent, not reported :.
Morris,
New Hartford. 81
Norfolk, ~
Plymouth.
Winchester,
OF the towns not heard from, Washington
and Warren have probably voted No License
and Bethlehem and Harwinton are, we be-
lieve, practically No License. though not
taking perhaps any formal vote. The smaller
towns, having no large villages, and doing
little manufacturing, can maintain mo Lii
cense" The larger towns and manufacturing
places find 1t very difficult to carry votes Of
No License, and still greater difficulty in en-
forcing such votes, when carried. Ltchfeld,
Thomaston, Wolcottville, Riverton, Salisbury,
Sharon, New Milford, and Woodbury., are
now given over to License. During the Blue
Ribbon excitement most of these places voted
prohibition, but the liquor interest is gradually
reconQuering the ground 1t then lost. In
spite Of the very successful temperance CAM
paign Of the past year Gin consequence of it,
perhaps we should say, it came within one
cate of carrying License in Winsted. AS the
suffrage now stands, it is not often that the
sale Of liquor can be prohibited In village
of over 500 inhabitants. What practical eff
feet, then, would woman suffrage have upon
prohibition Our own belief is that it would
very greatly extend the area of No License.
That this ia no mere guess Of ours, but be-
lief founded on reliable data, is easily suscep-
tfhle Of proof.
In Winsted, last year, the Temperance peo-
pie circulated petition among the women of
the town urging the voters to carry No LII
cense. About twelve hundred women over
the age Of sixteen, we have been told, signed
this petition Il was presented to all the
women above that age in the town, and all but a
very few gave their signatures That would
seem sufficiently conclusive evidence of the
feeling Of women on that subject; but that
was not all the women Of Winsted did They
made special effort On election day, and the
vote No License was carried by about an hum
dred majority, il our recollection serves US.
Tkis year they seem to have made no special
effort. and the consequence was majority of
bus 0ae
Tbo1gh. On extraordinary occasions, dis
franehised citizens can, by special effort, ex-
ert q good deal Of influence on the voting
class. IL ID not an influence that can be relied
upon fOr ordinary occasions. This is notice
able i'm the English political history of the
eighteenth century, and in the history of the
Temperance Crusade of our own day. In the
former case the disfranchised male, in the lat
Ter the diSfranchIsed female, made a great
impressisa On politics at few important cleo
ti0uA This influence, however, waDed al
nosI a Suddenly Is |: arose, and has never
proved permanent To exert decisive, con-
tinDogs influence On Prohibition, woman must
have her Own vote Without it, her feelings
may be well understood, but, under ordinary
The vote Of woman Is needed on collateral
- well - upon direct temperance issues The
Wins1ed Temperance campaign developed this
fscs very strongly. One Of the greatest diff
6czlEi<z under which the Rev. Mr.. Forbes and
hls cOadiutors hbored was that of finding Of
HceTs uhO would give them earnest and eff
cssak support The High Sheriff was whole
sAle bq9E agent bis deputy could not be re-
lid upOa and Il was with difficulty that the
help q 9 competent and efficient constable
o0zld be had IL such an officer proved him
self sEzcient, he was sure to be beaten at the
n<xt elecsiDn- The woman vote is needed.
therefore. in the lectisn of town officers al
mlst - much Is in the direct vote upon Ii.
eense- We have conversed with some of the
WizsGed men prominent In their war on the
rzn-shOps. and found them fully awake to
the oeed Of the woman vote for Temperance
and In favor Of granting her municipal suf.
frzge
Looking then. at the Litchfeld County
vote upon license, how would 1t be affected
BY the enfranchisesnent OF women? In four
towns the question is decided by less than
ten majority; in none is license carried OF
lost by City. On Prohibition, in short. the
present voting class 10 weak and waverine-
tending downward rather than upward-un
reliable for or against Temperance. With
Woman Suffrage those towns that are now un
certain would become certain. and those which
are now struggling with free rum at all times
might hope for better things. We should no,
count upon an unanimous woman vote for
Prohibition. but its friends of that sex would
be the sarOag majority Its enemies, the weak
s1d wsvering minority.
Nor would the woman vote tell on temper.
ancs alOne. but upon all the moral aspects Of
politics The dram shop now exercises q
nOss powerful political influence. Il il all
the moEe powerful because il meets 90 little
elective opposition st the ballot box. Wo.
man i the natural enemy of the dram shop
her vote, the natural antidote of the poison
the dram shop now infuses into practical pol.
fsicA Within tho present week we were told b.
Democrats who ought 10 know that Mr. Fred.
eriek Hurihut. Of Goshen, could not be nomi
n&1ed for sheriff OF, il nominated, could MOI
be excited; because he Ia a pronounced Tenn
peTanee man, and the liquor interest wouIe
beat hEm Whether this IL true or not, on,
shtng Certainly ID true: to be known as
TempeHnce man ID q damage to candidate
of either party, % the suffrage now stands
WT1h wcman suffrage we feel certain tina
sacA could not be the case.
We notice that intelligent Temperance mel
and Organisations are coming to appreciate
NOT the mere advantage but the necessity @
the wom@ais vote for Temperance. We cor
ssmntly observe the Woman's Suffrage plan
In Temperance platforms; and the next TEN
perance Revival that Is 20 effect anythin
lasting In favor Of Prohibition, will do it b
giving wosanan The ballot.