The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1883-12-19
WORKING THE HIGH LICENSE BOOM

A Plaintield dispatch to the Neac York
Tribune, under date of December 5, I'M
dertakes to put construction upon our
late city election which makes 1t rebound
to the glory of "high license Ii is a
very fair specimen of the disingenuous
efforts of ''high license advocates to
show what grand panacea has at last
been discovered for the rum evil. The
dispatch says:
The charter election in this city yester-
day was the first for a dozen years in
which the temperance questions has not
been an exciting issue.
Then after giving brief history of the
raising Of the license fee last year the
dispatch adds
II (the high license SYSTEM has been so
successful that neither the liquor sellers
nor the prohibitionists took any interest
in the election yesterday.
The dispatch closes with the following
remark:
Plainfield has nearly 10, 900 inhabitants
and less than dozen liquor shops. The
license ordinance is very strict, besides
fixing the high fee.
The dispatch Is an attempt to convey
the impression that Plainneld has unani
mously adopted the "high license system
MS the solution OF the liquor question,
because it has been charmed with its
workings. 1t seeks also to lead the reader
to believe that under that system the
number Of liquor shops has been reduced
and that the liquor ordinance has been
more strictly enforced than ever before
1t seeks further to show that the liquor
sellers themselves are captivated by the
system as well as prohibitionists.
Now, not one Of these destinations is
justified by the facts The dispatch is
entirely misleading. High license" in
Plainfield has accomplished absolutely
nothing in restricting the traffic in liquor.
There are MORE SALOONS AND BARS in
Pldinfeld this gear under "high license
than there acre last gear under loso license,
though the number is increased by only
one.
AS for the enforcement of the liquor
law, nothing has been done whatever,
though the law is violated every day in
the year. One or two ridiculous attempts
were made in the early part of the year
to convict Illicit sellers, but nothing came
of them. Most of the four or five active
policemen have been notorious frequent
ers of gin mills, and two of them were
dropped from the force ON account of
drunkenness. And If we wish to 90 into
particulars, a deeper disgrace than this
might be noticed under this head. In
short, rum never held completer sway in
Plainfeld than it has during the present
year under ''high license"
The liQuor-sellers will smile when they
are told of their satisfaction with ''high
license" But they will smile a broader
smile when they hear that they took no
interest in the last election. The fact is,
they took as much interest in 1t as ever to
see that license council was elected.
As for the prohibitionsts, some of them
thought a '.still hunt" was desirable this
year so as not to rouse the liquor lion too
much, as might be done to the defeat of
good candidates, with the christian peo-
pie of The city SO generally asleep, as they
are, over the great dram shop evil, To
say that alleged thigh liceusen success
had sileneed the opposition of temperance
people is untrue.
The only 'high license that the major
ity of Plainfield's order loving people will
be satisfied with, is license so 'shieh''
that no liquor dealer can afford to pay it,
As that will be only another name for
prohibition, they would be glad to have
an opportunity to pronounce such .higb
license a success in Plainfield. Plain
field Times.