Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1882-01-30
Temperance.
THE ST. Adams ITEM
PERANCE MOVE.


terest to those engaged in temperance
work in the state.
The Grand Lodge of Good Tenn
plars of the State of Vermont, now
in session at Rutland, regarding the
representations by the public press
in relation to the temperance work in
St. Adams as untrue to the facts in
the case, hereby present the truth of
the matter, with the request that it
may be published for the correct in
formation of the public:
1. The est. Adams crusade" was
inaugurated by the pledged support
of 200 or more of the best citizens of
the town, including the clergy almost
to unit, the leading officers of the
Vermont Central railroad resident at
st. Adams, together with large ma
jority of the business men of the
town.
2. The hotels were closed as a
retaliatory measure, when the keep
ers of the same were notified that fur
| ther violation of the liquor law would
meet with it's desert as provided by
statute.
3. The associated press dispatch
published in the Boston and other
papers of January 5 was untrue in
letter, in spirit and in matter of fact.
None of the signers of the agreement
to give financial support to the pro-
hibitory movement refused to pay
his assessment; only one person
asked to be allowed to withdraw his
name; drunkenness did not increase,
but was materially lessened on the
street; business was not 'sseriously
injured" but was reported by many
business men as better in December,
1881, than in any December for
many years previous; and the bust
ness men who denounced the move
ment were but few and comparative
ly uninfuential. Another item in
the State papers, that the working
committee" were able to collect but
thirty-seven cents on assessments,
was false to the extent that they had
collected over 500, and were assur-
ed of all necessary funds for their
work as fast as needed.
4. The petition to the hotel keep
ers to open their houses was instigat-
ed by themselves, was circulated by
their particular friends and signed by
comparatively few of the influential
citizens and business men, and was
to this effect eve, the undersigned,
believing that the closing of the no.
tells is a real calamity to the business
and Prosperity of the town, respect
fully request that you open your no.
tells for public patronage" 1t in
wolves no pledge, no understanding
and no intimation that any citizen
would either protect them from pros
! ecution or refrain from entering com
plant if the liquor law was violated
. by them, and was a mere subterfugt
in behalf of the landlords to cas-,
them down from high horses of self
T, martyrdom.
J, .. The travelling public" il
whose behalf the demand is mad
that liquor shall be sold at hotels
has been defined to Include the com
mercial travellers who canvass Yer
y mont. This class of men repudiat
: this claim with Indignation. Tn
). commercial travellers of Vermont are
= many of them, temperance men an,
total abstainers, and even those wh'
h use liquors prefer to patronize tn
temperance hotels to escape the com
!. mon nuisance of treating" the uni
versal crowd. Instance the Bate
9 House at Rutland, and the Van Mes
4 House at Burlington, and Ballard
~ are more extensively patronized b,
Y. commercial men than any other tire
it hotels in Vermont. No little indig
nation is expressed by this class o
citizens because of the stigma cas-
lie upon them by the hotel keepers c
St. Adams.
:, 6. No abatement of the pupose c
IN the people of st. Adams to enforc
s. the prohibitory law has followed th
recent turn of events. All state
is ments to the contrary are simpl
falsehoods. Let it be known, ono
- for all, that the hotels of ST. AlbaI
es have no promise whatever of imml
nifty from the statute penalty for vie
y lation of Hotel at White River Jun,
ly ton, which the liquor law, and tn:
nd they are now, as much as ever, undo
=, the liability of the notice served upo
of them before their doors were CLOSED
Z. The conduct of the public pres
e. has, to a large extent, seemed mo
nd unfair and ex parte in relation /
III. this matter. The st. Adams Ne
* senger, and some other local shee
ed have, in the main, given the re
- facts in the case due publication
sh but the metropolitan press has ge
* orally given no attention to any co
rection of misstatements.
ng Therefore the temperance peOp
les of Vermont now make their reques
est in the name of truth and justice, tn
these facts, capable of proof by Il
mt calling of names if necessary,
- made known by every such paper
desires to hold the confidence al