The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1881-12-23

elsewhere to buy their Christmas pres
ents. There is something SO sad and !
so touching in the state Of things as re-
venled in the hotel mems putting or
gan, that the sympathetic soul nat'drni-
ly considers the question Of reliof. 1t
Is of course necessary In the nature of
things that st. Adams should have
more hotels than can do paying BUSH
ness within the law. IL is bad for the
place to DO without oil It's hotels, and
more of them, and If the hotel men in
theit just wrath see fit to close up, st.
Adams must In some way persuade
them to open again by making up to
them the flow of shekels with which
the unholy action of the temperance
fanatics has interfered. 1t seems ont
of the question to give them permis.
sion tosell liquor again, because temper
ance fanatics may prove obstinate and
keep up their interference. But If
they cannot violate that law they
might violate some other law. For in
stance suppose the humbled and chas-
ten ed st. Albanites wait upon the Of
Tended and naughty rumsellers, and
propose to them that, If they will only
open their hotels, which are the breath
of life 10 st. Adams, they may make
up the loss of the liquor trade by lob
bling hen roosts, or stealing horses, or
picking pockets, or fracture the laws
in some equivalent way. 1t would
seem as though this ought to satisfy
the hotel men, and bring smiles to
their countenances, and thus cause the
sun of prosperity to shine again. 1t is,
to be sure, possible that another class
of fanatics might arise, who, with The
provoking tendency of fanatics to in
terfere in the private affairs of others,
might try to stop the new business of
the hotels by repeating the threat of
invoking the penalties OF the law. If
that should prove the case, we see no
other way for st. Albans to keep it's
numerous hotels in running order. and
encourage the building of numerous
other hotels, except by the painful pro-
cess of putting its hands in its pockets
and banding over such sum in ready
cash as will satisfy the modest ideas of
the hotel men. This would really be a
cheaper way of doing than to force
them to violate the prohibtory law or
any other law to paying extent, but,
as suggested above it is more painful.
1t seems as though this idea was ca
pable of extension. Take a place
where comp etition in any business is
so great that some of the competitors
cannot keep on their feet by doing a
legitimate business, and the remedy is
obvious. The hard pushed grocer, or
dry goods merchant, or hardware man,
who finds himself running behind,
ought to have the same privilege of
violating the law as the hotels. In a
place where temperance fanatics are
not ON the rampage, the prohibitory
law is good subject for violation, but
If any unpleasantness of the st. Adams
kind should arise, then the merchant
might bring his business up to the pay
ing point by violating the laws against
horse stealing, or pocket picking, SO
long as public opinion was averse to
interfering with him in his transac-
tions. If business men and the public
generally would look upon the matters
in this way, and hire parties to publish
papers like unto the st. Adams Her.
raid to demonstrate the lively bust
ness, the good order and good morals
which would prevail if only fanatics
would let everything alone and mind
their own business when the laws are
violated, they might possibly work up
a public opinion which would look Oh
calmly and see property becoming de-
lightfully insecure, and the lovlies dis.
order governing society. The blot
upon this pleasing prospect is that ia
natics will continue to exist, and they
seem to be growing lamenta5ly nu-
merous of late.