Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-06-26
History Of ofTsmperance Lsglstat'a
In New England.
License Laws In ,Boston-Their Workins'
Described-How the Yankees Learn 8
To 0rink-The Firstof Our
Series Of Letters. j \
"THE HUB" is NOW THE BATTLEFIEL1
scr Correspondence Of the Register.

/ u
mer, / will describe in detail the workip!
of the severallaws in gthe Mex lEaslani
States, the subject of regulating the sale oi
liquors, and give facts which will tend to
show the bearing of these several laws
upon official probity, political schemes,
the morality of the home, the
education Of the people, and the decrease
orincrease of crime, insanity aud pauper-
ism. Statistics will also be given which
may tend toward intelligent discussion OF
the question of what methods are best for
the suppression of drunkenness and its &c.
| companying social vices. In these letters
will be included statements, figures and
claims of the Prohibitory League officers
here; facts from the police and court rec
ords in the several States; interviews with
Hen. Neal Dow and leading Prohibitionists;
statements of wholesale liquor dealers here
as to the character and quantity of liquors
sold to people in
Prohibitory States,
| contrasted with licensed Massachusetts,.
l shall confine myself in t., letter, princi.
pally to description of til "ay the license
! laws have been administer . in this city,
the substance of which h,ra obtained in
several interviews with ?" inent people
here who have been most r'utly concerned
| in the workings of these Ir'>.
Agitation has lately bet revived here
on the question of liquor lv.; Station, or as
its friends are more pleas, / to term it,
Temperance legislation" l ne interest in
- L hat
permeates the whole of New England. The
people OF those States which have the most
stringent laws are clamoring for something
different, it being claimed Oil both sides that
the preseut system is not altogether
a success. The prohibitionists are fairly
satisfied with the statutes of Maine, New
Hampshire and Vermont, but are not con-
tent with the manner anil degree with
which they are enforced. The opponents
Of prohibition contend that the law is
failure; that no prohibition statute can be
enforced; that sumptuary laws will not be
sustained by the people; that they simply
invite official corruption and backmsil;
and that the history of the last half century
shows that prohibitory law will not tend
toward temperanee.
In Boston the prohibitionists have taken
advantage of what they consider or claim
to be loose and
Corrupt Administration
Of the license law and its addendum
the screen law They obtained, early
last year, the cooperation Of nearly all the
Nbfei induceu 10 sigira 'htentbfrn; fo- tne
Board of Police Commissioners, setting
forth as facts, the statements that the law
was not properly enforcedS that IN VIOLA
tion OF its provisions liqaor was openly
sold TO minors; that drinking saloons were
kept open on Sunday and between mid
night and six o'clock in the morning; that
unlicensed place were as open in the sale
| OF liQuor as those who sold in conformity
| 10 law; that the police failed to make COM
| plaints of violation; that houses OF i'll fame,
| with bar-room attachments, were
allowed to flourish with notorious
| publicity, ETC., etc. The charges were not
| without considerable basis in fact, but the
indictment was strongly drawn.
| As the memorialists sent their petition
| directly to the Police Commissioners, the
latter were placed in a dilemma. If they
| granted the prayer of these citizens, as pre-
sented in detail it would be virtual &C.
acknowledgement that they-who them.
| selves had not only the enforcement OF law
generally, but the granting of licenses and
| other special powers conferred by the laws
| which created them, and attempted to reg
| ulate the sale OF liquor-had been dereiict
in the performance Of their duty. II they
declined to notice the matter there would
be opportunity
To Use this Refusal
in the State and city campaigns. The com
missioners were put on the defensive, and
as a consequence, there appeared after
while an open letter addressed to Hon. Robt
Treat, Paine and others, the memorialists
and signed by Henry Walker, Thos. J. Gar
gan and Edward J. Jones, the Police Com
missiopers, denying the allegations OF the
former, explaining how the police ma
chinery was managed and inviting thu
petitioners to make complaints in any
cases which came under their knowledge
and furnish the proof, when arrests woulC
be at once made and the cases fully pre-
sented to court.
There was also hint that the Distric
Attorney, the jurors and even the Judge
we're somewhat responsible for the fallur
to convict in many cases which had beel
presented. The invitation to become pros
ecuting, or even complaining, officers wa
not accepted by the memorlalists. Their
is little disposition among New Englan'
Prohibitionists, as q general tn ng, to turl
informers or prosecutors; examples ar
plenty in which thev decline to and the au
thorities in the enforcement OF their pc
would readily do in the case OF the in
fripgement of other Statues. These memo
rialists answered, in effect, that the powe
| of the citizen had already been delegated
organized force sufficiently strong to Ell
an - law, and that il the present o.
lO,Ss ron;sat;Sr a wa. incompetent 1t had bette
give place to anothe-.
The Friends OF B.s> ,rv h
particularly those who disinterestes...
lieve in license as temperance and mon
measure, instead Of prohibition, regTette
the turn affairs had taken. While they di
not believe that the case had been stats
fairly by Mr.. Paine and his hundreds Q
co-signers, they believe the answer of th
Commissioners to be speciotrs and disir
genuous They thought that the licens
law was not having fair treatment at th
hands of its trustees, and some OF theI
predicted that, unless reform was speedil
Instituted, the State wotild return to pre-
hibition. -
Their prophecy came nearer to .fulflmen
than was pleasant to the opponents of pro
hibition. During the summer and fall Q
1881 the Prohibitionists were busy every
where, but in a more quiet way than i
most years. The experimentation wa
not openly agitated in connection Eth po
III u LcW lOCdlIAcS. 1nF
seemed to have changed its current so this
its force was all exerted through tue Re
form Clubs, the Good Templars, the SOU
of Temperance and other moral sus
sion organizations, one of the mos
active and influential of which wa
the Woman's Ch ristian Temperance unior
But when the caIcuses were held the
were so managed that the Legislator
which assembled last January containe
more Prohibitionists than any of its prt
decessors tor ut least seven years. TIL
Governor, the President Of the Senate an
the Speaker of the House were each CON
mitted in favor of Prohibition. The specis
committee appointed to consider that POI
ton of the Governors message relating 3
the subject felt the pulse carefully an
long. and after protracted hearings an
careful consultation, reported bill prC
bibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors
but with the proyiso that it should becom
law upon its ratification by popula
vote, and only then. 1t was not an attenp
to