The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-03-31
The Pint Liquor Law.

/ EDITORS CLARION Under the present
law any person may obtain license to sell
yinous or spirituous liquors, in less guam
tity than five gallons and not less than one
pint, by applying to the tax-collector, and
paying him 500 for it, unless a majority of
the legal voters in an incorporated town or
supervisors district have petitioned the
board of supervisors against the granting of
license, in which case, no license can be had
for twelve months after the presentation of
such petition. 1t is thus in the power of
any town or supervisors district to prevent
the issuance of license within its limits, if
majority Of its legal voters will subscribe a
| petition to that effect, and present it to the
| board of Supervisors. The power to prohib-
it the traffic is in the han ds of the legal vo-
tiers of the town or district If a majority is
opposed to the traffic, it may interdict it, by
| the simple act of expressing the wish in the
manner prescribed When done, its prohib-
itory effect will last twelve months. This is
local option-the leaving to the legal voters
of designated localities the right of choice as
TO the liberation or prohibition of the traffic.
Could any regulation be more democratic
The majority of legal voters in any super
visors district, or incorporated town, may
stop licensing the sale of liquors for a year
ahead, and, as the expiration of that year
approaches, may in the same way prohibit
1t for another year, and so on from year to
year by the same means.
Has better escape from the agitation of
the Innnr nnaafiOn bapT Il than to
place the power to deal with it in the hands
Of the legal voters of the designated locali-
ties to be affected by it?
In Mississippi, legislation with respect to |
the liquor traffic, has never taken the shape |
of Prohibition but always of Regulation. |
The latter has been the accepted policy of
the State, acquiesced in by all political par
ties, and never proposed to be disturbed.
In view of this, the question presented |
itself as the best means of regulating the
sale of vinous and spirituous liquors. The
long established system was to license per-
sons to sell, in any quantity, on the petition
ola majority the legal voters of supervisors
district or incorporated town. 1t was found
that, generally, any person desiring a license
obtained it.
The result was the existence in most
places where it was thought profitable to
establish them, of licensed retail liquor
shops, with whatever evils attend them
The skill of the keeper in mixing; the social
feature of treating and drinking at the
counter, the fashion, the convenience, all
served to allure old and young. Thus
whatever of evil exists in connection with
licensed retail liquor shops was found in the
established system. Since federation and
Regulation were the accepted status of the
subject the inquiry was natural and al
lowable. Cannot a better regulation be adopt
ed May not plain be devised whereby
at least to increase the revenue, without the
evil arising from the sale of ardent spirits.
The result of such inquiry was the legisla-
ton of 1880, in which what is called the
Pint Liquor Law is found, and is as stated
in this article 1t was supported by the
argument that it would enlarge the receipts
from the traffic. and swell the revenues of
the State, and that it would not increase the
evil of drinking. The correctness of the
can be determined only by time,
and a fair trial Of the scheme.
The books of the Auditors Office will
furnish data for determining as to receipts
of money for licenses and carefully collec~
ted facts in the experience of great many
places, for a reasonable length of time, {
as to the relative evil of an
to sell by the pint, but pro-
hibited, under severe penalty, from per-
hitting the liquor sold to be drunk in or '
about the premises, and one to sell by the d!
drink, to be drunk at the bar, with all the
impelling motives to such drinking.
But, the object of this article is not to
defend the pint liquor law. 1t is to depre-
cate the inconsiderate condemnation of the s
law and the body which enacted it, and to /
show to the satisfaction of thinking men n
II -. Gne law d1d not spring fIem- d1,spesi
ton to Surrender to the whiskey interest,""
as has been said of it, or from disregard
of its moral effects, but from an earnest
effort and honest desire, the better to regu-
late the sale of ardent spirits. And whats
ever may be thought of the law, before 1t
has been fairly tried, or whatever its operas
ton, and its fate, it is premature and most
unjust to condemn the Legislature for its
passage. DEMOCRAT.