The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-06-08
THE POND LAW.

Judge HOadley closing against the law.
The Attorney General and Judge West
upheld the law mainly on the ground
of the general taxing power. Several
gentlemen argued against the law. Mr..
HOadley closing in an hour in reply to
West on Friday.
JUDGE HoADLEY'S ARGUMENT.
Judge HOadley opened his argument
by paying high compliment to Judge
West. He said that to the political pOr-
tiOn of the argument he should not re-
ply. But while emitting any reply to
this part of my learned friends address,
the omission requires from me at least
the statement, lest my position be mis-
understood, that in this case my con-
science, my intelligence, and my duty,
as counsel, are in accord. | have spent
too much time in the sober countries of
the civilized world and among the great
wine and beer drinking people of Eu-
rope not to know that self-cOntrOl, in
which alone lies the virtue Of temper
Ance, can exist without the help of the
General Assembly. | have spent one
day of my life in one of those lands of
the sun where religion and civil law
combined to enforce total abstinence;
where any use of intoxicating liquors is
both sinful and unlawful. There L saw
negro slavery hand in hand with it's
ed friend labOred so earnestly to natur-
Rlize on American soil. The denial of
liberty to freemen in the matter of per-
sOnal habits, both flOuTishing under the
banner of the Crescent, in The name of
the false prophet. When left Northern
Africa last October thanked God that
my life was cast in a happier land
where negro slavery had been eradlcat-
ed under the benignant moral rule of
Him who thought it not unworthy of
His divine office to manufacture wine
and distribute it as a beverage to his
friends on a certain festive occasion in
Cana of Galilee. Judge West says:
First and above all are the interests
of good government" With this | disa-
gree. l say that first and above all are
the interests of personal liberty, to
which government is but a means to
the end, one of the ends to secure which,
as the great charter of American free
dom pronounced more than a century
ago. governments were instituted among
man.
We agree with Judge West and Mr..
McDOugal that the schedule, section Is,
of the constitution, cOnfeTs Onlya policy
power, but being such it cannot be the |
basis of taxation, neither license tax or
any other, because the Office of section |
is regulation not taxation. This is a |
}icense tax. "a license" says Chief |
Justice Vaughan, properly passeth no |
interest nor alters or transfers property |
in anything, but only makes an action |
lawful which without it had been un-
lawful" The present status of the en-, |
tire traffic under this bill is illegal1ty-
for it is punishable by fine and impris-
Onment or both. For such punishment
is imposed, not as in Michigan, for the
nODpayment of the tax but for the con-
tinuance of the traffic, and it is estab-
lished that where traffic is punishable
by fine and imprisonment, it becomes
illegal, and debts contracted in the
course of its exercise become nOn-cOl-
lectable. This dispOses of Mr.. McDOu-
CALLS argument that the traffic remains
and still legal. To this we
Judge West to agree, but to
in the schedule, section Is, has a re-
stTicted and limited meaning referring
to the license of favored and limited
class, small in numbers, and of certified
and authentic moral character. He
thus, in effect, admits that the General
Assembly may not license the traffic, if
only they license lavishly and largely,
he also in effect admits that this is a
license law of a comprehensive nature,
put denies that it is forbidden because
)nly, that, he says, is forbidden which is
q part of the whole, it being permitted
% license the whole as if the cOnstitu-
iOnal convention had said to the peo-
lie:
"a little liquor is the dangerous
hing.
Drink deep, or taste not the bucolic
pring."
Judge West holds that what the franz
rs of the present constitution aimed at !
vas that a great deal of liquor did less !
lamage than little. What a strange :
way of reasoning. What strange way
# reasoning. AS we'll might we expect T
he Judge to stand on his head and argue :
With his feet.
had once hoped that seven would :
BE larger than eight morally and I
ightfully. thought it should have :
)een so, but physically it was not. The i
Judge then proceeded to discuss the tax Z
eatures Of the law. He claimed that /
he law was tax on persons, poll tax, :
lie saw by the papers that Jake Aug had I
AIKEN out two licenses in Cincinnati for /
wO saloons. This was an unnecessary :
The law did not tax sa- Z
OOns. 1t taxed the person. If man I
aid $500 in Cincinnati he could run as
many saloons as he desired in that city.
he brewers of Cincinnati could form
n association and all of them get off
7ith but one payment of three hundred I
Ollars. 1t is seriously urged here that I
general law has been made to operate 9
a spots, sort of Typographical opera +
On.. A man in Cleveland may purchase I
is peace in Cleveland for one price, in b
incinnati for another price, and in k
Iansfield for still smaller price. Isn't o
hot uniform operation with a ven- &
eancep He claimed that the law could a
OF be made to operate uneqally, being h
tax on a traffic or ON person, be- n
ause of the traffic. The mandate of ="
be Constitution is that property should Y
e taxed according to its true value in Q
loney. This property has paid its tax n
he constitutional power has been ex- &
austed, and there is nothing that can 81
ut it in motion again for a second col p
ectiOn of taxes. 1t has been already &
reed from that burden, and it could be
epeated. The power in Ohio to tax is
learly stated in the Supreme Court de- h
lsions. Judge HOadley, in conclusion, t
sked the court, as did Judge West, for Il
clean cut decision, and returned O
ranks for himself, his colleagues, and S
DpOnents for the patient manner in q
bich the court had listened to the ar &"
u..-- y
COLUMBUS, o., May 30. The Pond law a
is been declared unconstitutional by d
O. e - .