The Press., 1883-12-27
|LlR-AND-6RDHR WORK IN COLD SPRING,
 NY. :

1 The village of Cold Spring lies among the Highlands of the Hudson, just above West Point, and, including the adjoining corporation of Nelsonville, contains about 2, ,500 inhabitants. For many years the liquor interest has predominated. Last year forty three places sixteen unlicensed l-dispensed freely all kinds of intoxicants. License fees were reduced to the minimum {: $30 for hotels and $15 for beer. Free rum, with all its consequences, prevailed. The law was ignored or vioiatr d with impuni- ty; the Sabbath was desecrated the streets were filled with drunkenness by day and riotous debauchery by night the young men of the Ilace were almost all pa- irons of the saloons dissipation, crime, and demoralizatiou were characteristic, while little or no temperance sentiment ex- isted, or, if existing, it slept, while Gold Spring won for itself an unenviable repu- tation as one of the worst places along the river.
 But at length came aIchange At 8 union temperance me eting of the church. es, held on Sunday evening, April 22, 1883, just in advance of the annual meeting of the Board of Excise Commissioners, pre- ambie and resolutions were presentt d, de- scribing the condition of the village and cinity, and ealing upon the Christian, moral, and respecl able people to assert themselv in behalf of their rights, es- pecially the right to quiet Sabbath, and the maintenance of law and order in the community. As first step in this direc- tion it was resolved to petition the Board of Excise to reduce by at least one-half the number of licenses granted; to increase the rate of license fees to grant no license to known violators of the law in any of it's fn oil khai,. %~x. the punishment of violators of the law, li- cSnsed or unlicensed.
 The paper was unanimously adopted, and copy presented to the Excise Com m1sslo, CTS at their preliminary meeting. After delib-raton, they increased the fees for license to $1OO for hotels and store keepers, and $75 for beer. The liquor dealers rebelled, and unanimously resolved not to pay the new rates, and the first meeting of the board passed without sin- gle application for license As all licenses expired May l, all sale of liquors was now illegal but the dealers defantiy continued their traffic. The need of imm. diate sc- tion being apparent, to sustain the law and the Exci-e Board, few delegates from each church met, drew up and signed a; paper Ill favor of organizing law -and-or- der society, and circulated it through the
  cured, including l. ading aud influential citizens these were called together, constitution was adopted, the necessary officers elected aud committees appointed, and h the latter part of May the Law-and- Order Association of Philipstown was ready for business. This was begun by procur- ing detective from New York, and suita. bl- counsel for the inevitable work of pros- ecut,ng violations of the law. The de- tective did lis work SO well that he had secured 8, velal charges against each of- fender before lis official character was dis covered. Arrests followed j; one after an- other the law-breakers were brought be- fore the justice; in most cases the plea of guilty t' the first charge was made, fines imposed and paid, and the business; end ed; the ot; CT charges being suspended duri.g good behavior. In a few instances jury trials We're demanded; but in each c ,re conviction was finally secured Un- der these proc edings the liquor traffic collaps' d, and the Excis' B, aud soon had plenty of applications. That b, dy, how ever, exercised it's power of discretion most of the applications met decided re- fusal and the whole number granted for the current year, for the entire township IS niue; including four hotels, three store keepers, ald two beer licenses.
 Of course this work met with decided oppos' tion, and arous. an intense feeling among the adherents of free rum. Ef- forts were made to disorganize the Board of Excise by inducing one of it's members to resign; attempts made at "boycotting" business men thre ts of political disaster vituperation and falsehood withc ut stint public l dignation meetings and counter organization effort to secure indictment of the Excise Board by the grand jury; and, latterly, personal violence made upon the detective and threatened upon a justice of the peace, have all been tried by anti law-and-order men, and have all failed. So far, the triumph of law and order is complete. The open, unlicensed sale of liquors and beer is suppressed; attempts made at illegal sale are punished as soon as evidence can be secured j; several persons have been arrested and fined a second time. Licensed dealers are kept strictly to the terms of the law. Sunday is now such Sabbath as Cold Spring has never known before; while the marked improve ments in the character of the village is such as to astonish both residents and wis., itors acquainted with its former condition.
 The financial aspect of the subject de- serves notice, especially as one plea of the opponents of law and order is that it will
 
 few figures. Last year, twenty-seven licenses put into the treasury less than $400; this year, nine licenses produce $S91.
 F The cost of detective and counsel for prosecution was met by private subscrip- tion; the only cost to the town has been the legal fees of the justice and constables these, so far, amount to less than $500; but the fines imposed and paid aggregate more than $500 leaving respectable bal ance to the credit of the town.
 I As to the relation of this work to tenn. perance, it may be said that while the as- ~ociation is not professedly temperance organization, its work has direct Influ- ence ill that direction. There is evidence that reducing the number If selling places does reduce the aggregate of drinking and drunkenness, and removes much tempta- | tion. The enforcement of existing laws promotes the growth of healthy public sentiment, and of that respect for law which must prevail before any statutory enactment can be enforced. This work a1- so leads to union of the best clements iu any community, without regard to party, for the benefit of the whole.
 The work in Gold Spring is not all done ]; I