St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-03-20
Liquor Government.

! Republican.
Liquor Government.
There is one consideration, not di-
rectly connected with the Roosevelt
aldermanic bill, now before the state
senate, but having an important bear
ing on it, which may he seriously COM
mended to the attention of a good
many peO lie who care but little about
the difficulties of municipal govern
ment. That consideration is the rapid
growth, not in this country only, but
all over the world, of the opinion that
the next great step in amelioration of
the condition of the race must be the
destruction or great diminutiOu of the
manufacture and sale of spirituous
! liquors. We are not now talking of
the state of mind of fanatical temper
| ance advocates, or prOhibitiOnists.
We mean that the increased attention
which is being given TO the problems
OF crime and poverty, and which finds
expression in attempts to improve the
dwellings of the poor, to make their
| lives less dreary and the future of their
children more hopeful. to protect
women and children from brutality
and fraud, to make prison discipline
more wholesome and reformatory,
! brings the most conscientious and in
tiuential members of every community
face to face with the fact that spritu-
Gus liquors are by far the greatest
cause of preventable human misery.
In Switzerland there is IA loud call for
governmental action, and one which
will he promptly answered, if it has
not been already answered, to prevent
the disorder and misery resulting from
the recent rapid increase in the con
sumption of spirits. In Belgium and
Norway the same question is coming
up from the same cause. In Great
Britain "the enthusiasm of humanity"
is very distinctly taking the same dI-
rectiOn. In fact, no matter from what
point social refOrmers start, they are
all apt to meet round the whisky or
brandy cask, as the true source of most
of the woe they are combating.
In this country we are to-day met
by the grave fact that the quantity of
distilled spirits in the United States in
October last was lis, ,949, ,235 gallons, of
which the United States was taking
care of a, ,5S2. IL gOllOns in bond, until
the owners could find it convenient to
pay the tax on it. The amount of
human misery, the murders, the fires,
the suicides, the defalcations, the loss
of property and health, the divorces,
the family shame and sorrow stored up
in this amount of liquor is incalculable.
In fact, it is not too much to say that
every whisky warehouse is like IA little
volcano lt n - W N fr
to send little rivulets of flame and des-
olation over the country. No one
needs distilled spirits except in sick
ness. Nobody i'll health drinks it with
his meals as a cheering or digestive
beverage. 1t is probably never taken
by healthy man without more or less
physical or moral damage. In other
words, it is a huge national curse. The
number of people who begin to see this
is increasing, and they are likely every
year to become greater and greater
proportion of the American people.
Now, it would be wise for those who
are interested in either the manufacture
or sale of liquor not to foster the
growth of this sentiment by any eXhi-
bitiOns of their strength which are not
necessary to the protection of their
business. Not only the distillers but
the brewers would do we'll to take note
of this. One of these exhibitions which
is increasing public hostility is the
apparent determination of the liquor
interests to take charge of the govern
ment of American cities. In all the
large cities the liquOr-dealers have of
late years made strenuous efforts to
seize and administer, or take a large
share in administering, the revenues.
They have long been an almost pre-
pOnderating influence in the govern
ment of this city. There are eight
liquOrdealers in the board of alder
men in New York, or one-t third of the
whole number, and as they act together
they practically control the board.
Now, the American people will not
stand this much longer. The liquor
dealers probably cannot he got out of
politics until they are attacked in their
saloons, and public sentiment is per-
haps not yet ripe for the closing Of the
saloons. But there is a decided readi-
ness to diminish their number and eX
ercise more stringent supervision over
those'which are kept open. But no
feature of municipal government is
likely to be tolerated much longer
which is found in practice to result in
giving the retailers of whisky large
share in managing the affairs of civil
lized communities. The makers and
lovers of whisky, rum, gin, and brandy
would do well, therefore, to let the
aldermen go. The less prominent
they are, and the less they have to say
about government the better for the
liquor interest \. Y. Evening Post.