Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-09-20
Expediency In Temperance Legislation,

Expediency In Temperance Legislation.
A correspondent of the Evangelist writes
as follows Having been for more than
fifty years deeply interested in all matters
connected with the temperance cause, and
nearly all of that time member of some
active organization in its promotion, have
been glad TO see during the last two or
three years an awakening Of new inter
est in the matter. have read all that you
have published, and bid God speed to
all the authors of the different plans for
advancing the temperance work-only beg
giug them not to worry each other, but to
unite all their energies against the great
evil.
"But all this time I've waited for some
one to suggest what seems to me the strong
est point in the enemy's line, and at the
same time the one most accessible in the
way Of legislation. Saloons are to big
boys and young men as completely training
schools for vice as our public schools are
to children for intelligence and virtue. |
can remember when they were first started
and they called them Coffee Houses
but nobody saw any coffee in them. Be-
fore that time drunken man was rare
sight, though every retail merchant sold
liquor and nearly every family thought it
necessary to keep bottle of it in the house.
From the day that Coffee Houses were
opened, all over the land intemperance and
drunkenness increased with fearful rapid
| ity. Old Mr.. Lyman Beecher was the first to
blow trumpet call that awoke the land to
the evil of drinking ardent spirits ! and it
was ascertained within few years that all
alcoholic drinks belonged in the same cate
CORY, and since then all temperance efforts
have been directed against their use.
"But the most prominent of temperance
efforts in the last few years is in the line OF
legislation-and we are now trying to con-
slider what is the most expedient in that
line. say stop the sale of liquor by the
glass. Prohibit any sale Of liquor to be
drunk on the premises where sold and do
that first because it is practicable, and Sec
ond because it will be most effectual. First
practicable. 1t will be much easier to pass
law to prevent the sale of liquor by the
glass, or the drink, than one to prevent all
manufacture or sale of it, because large
classes Of voters will support the former who
will oppose the latter. Alcohol is extern
sivey used in the useful arts, and is for
many purposes indispensable. Consequently
all persons engaged in those arts will OPP
| DOoc lnC BiOhlbitOiJ iuWo bOW III NO6uS'
Alcohol is absolutely indispensable in the
preparation of many of the most useful
medicines we have and the few physicians
who have said that it is not necessary to
use alcohol as medicine, are obliged to use
medicines so prepared. Hence not many
physicians can be expected to be very en-
thusastic in support of entire prohibition,
while all would be of the suppression of the
present form of the retail traffic. A large
class of habitual drunkards will vote for the
abolition of saloons. Very many of them
are anxious to reform but cannot persuade
themselves to pass one without stopping,
and they would eagerly vote to close them
all. Many who use and would continue to
use liquors to some extent, would be glad to
be clear of the temptation to drink to graf
ify friend, when they would prefer not to
do it; Others would prefer to save the ex-
ira expense of buying their liquor at sa-
looms and so both classes would vote to
close them. For the above and many other
reasons, it would be far easier to get ma
jority in any state to stop all sale of liquor
to be drunk on the premises where sold,
than to prohibit the manufacture and sale
altogether.
$50 much for what is practicable now
for something effectual. First, as soon as
the sale of liquor to be drunk on the pre-
misses where sold is stopped, more than one
half, perhaps two-thirds, of the drinking
will cease. Confirmed tipplers will buy
their bottles of liquor, and those of them
who cannot be reformed will go on drinking
till they die. But when they are gone, there
will be comparatively few to take their
places for when you close the saloons you
stop the supply of drunkards for the future.
Hence it follows, as matter OF course, that
within few years it will be easy to enact
any laws on the subject that may be needed,
and that this mode, because practicable, will
also prove effectual.
"One or two collateral ideas occur to me
in connection with this subject. First, al.
cohol is useful thing, and was permitted
to man for useful purposes, and all the evils
flowing from its use are caused by the per.
verse misuse of it by man. Many good peo
pie have been sorely tried by much they find
in the Bible commendatory of wine, and il
even exhorts TO give ardent spirits to one
ready to perish If bitten by rattle
snake, would not hesitate TO drink freely
of whiskey or brandy, because it would be
the only way to save my life. For such pur
poses they are useful, and for such they are
intended by the all-wise Giver. The physi
clan may see case where pure wine may
be useful to the aged or the feeble, and the
Bible specially warns the young against it,
Those in health should not drink it, but
none should quarrel over the smaller mat
ters ON which they may disagree in opinion
but all should combine and march in solid
phalanx on the line that is practicable and
effectual to remove the cause Of more than
half the evils in our land. Second, of course
many will cry out that their liberty is in
vaded but they forget that others have the
same right to that boon as themselves, and
that no one has the right to 80 use his lib
erty as to Cypress another. Why should all
the temperate people in the land be taxed
to repress and punish all the crimes and
support all the paupers caused by intemper
ance, and why should small portion OF the
community have the right to destroy the
quiet and comfort and deteriorate the value
of the property of the rest ? Why should
saloons be tolerated in the vicinity of resi-
dences or business houses any more than
powder mills The latter may produce q
sudden catastrophe; but that from the
former is certain and far more terrible.
To make the reform easy, complete, and
permanent, real coffee-houses should be
established where coffee, tea, and enough OF
a restaurant TO afford as much of a lunch as
the saloons are in the habit of keeping
together with sods-water lemonade, fruits
etc., can be found. A reading-room should
always be connected with it, and a fair
amount and variety of harmless amusements
provided for. They should be so conducted
as to be proper places of resort for both
sexes. With these things provided, it will
be easy to win the young, at least, from al
desire for saloons"
He came down street, looking shabby
enough, an old travelling bag in his hand
the rain dripping drearily on him. 1t was q
tramp. We wondered il rum did not have
something to do with his shabbiness, anG