Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-06-06
THE "EXPERIMENT OF PROHIBITION, 4,
VERMONT


hbition, he's been replied to- in part, in 8
far as it related to the city of Burlington
The article, however, had reference to tn,
Slate of Vermont. rather than any partiCu
lar town or city, and was designed T., main
tain the proposition that in Vermont, afte
thirty years triui, the experiment of prohibit
ton is an utter failure. Some of the state
ments by which this proposition is supporte,
are so misleading and inaccurate, that in Jus
tice to the State and to truth, they ought no
TO 60 unchallenged. Mr.. johnson begins b,
mention OF the facts, that though original,
ratified by small majority oS the people o
Vermont, the probibitory law became a
once and has ever remained "the settled
policy OF the State; and tina
it has been changed by success
slve legislatures only to perfect anc
strengthen it. AS the Stnte is admitted tc
be "a moral a7d God.fearing community,
and Its people are not considered specially
lacking in intelligence, the fair inference
rom such extraordinary support and popn,
larity of the prohibitory system, wetld seem
10 be that 1t must have merits as a system.
tor community like that of Vermont. ard
| mat At must have measurably answered its
worthy purpose. 1t is idle to say that this
support aud popularity is Fictitious gub.
Dies DO not last for generations. II might be
possible, with efoft enough, to manufacture
sudden sentiment and popularity for sys-
tenn, that might last for a year or two. But
II is SAFE to say that measure like this,
winch stands firm year after year, and de.
cade after decade. against the bitter onposi.
ton OF an elsewhere powerful interest. among
not particularly excitatle or visionary pco-
pie, among people in fact of more than the
average independence of judgment and prac-
llcal hard common sense, must amo-n, to
something This Inference we assert to be
correct one. The people of Vermont have
sustained 1t for over thirty years, and still
sustain 1t, and will continue 10 sustain
it,-not as lovely theory or a "barrea
ldeaNty,' not as panacea for all social ev,ls
not as necessarily the best thing for nil
states and all communities, IN their existing
conditions, bat ts the system which is better
for them than any other they know Of ~ a
system which in spite Of hindrances, defects
and perversties which largely obstruct all
moral effort and must be ESPECIALLY ex.
pected to hinder az, effort to curb the rratti.
cation CT an appetite as general and poverful
as that for strong drink, does practically
mere In Vermont restrict the liquor traffic.
TO greater extent, and SC proves itself q be,,.
ter ally to moral effort to resist inemners,o,.
Than any other method of restriction tbev
nave ever tried, o: Seen tried elsewhere. Tho
hub OF MIR. Johnson's article is as follows.
1t is fact, which cannot be controverted
or denIed, that for all practical purI, oses the
Jaw is an. absolute dead !ctter. According
u. ~, tne returns CT tho United States revenue
olucers' V"e government tax on the manu-.
,aS.ure anu sale OF intoxicating liquors in the
State amounted last year to fourteen thon0
and dollars in round numbers. On The came
authority, there are in the State At tine nse..
ent Time four hundred and frty-six niaces
~hete intoxicating liquors are sold and
.ihougn the population is well-nigh stationary
'neIe IL marked Increase in the number
Vi .pese places, last years returns showing
only iour hundred and twenty-six and those
Tor The preceding year four hundred and
nine. La the city of Burlington there are
aooul tnree score places where liquor is sold
ana IN Rutland st. Adams, and all the larg, ,
CT to"ns, proportional number, and in
every village In the State, with the execution
~ Iaa. iew inconsiderabe hamlets, there is at
t las L onc such place. large proportion of |
snI u.ani snols are located upon the princi-
pal streets and there is no concealment or |
attempted concealment of the illegal traffic
conducted within them. As these facts md
ngures sufficiently indicate, the law, broadly
speaking, Is not at all enforced. The sale
vi lquor' II is hardly too much to saw. il
a'liIos. as Tree and open as through there
, Mele no sucn thlng as prohibitory law.
Inc principal exception to the general rue
consists OF an occasional spasmodic attemnt
10 enforce the law in the larger places and
.ne nning OF liquor dealers 10 what are
termed disclosures" In the latter case a
person arrested for intoxicatlon is compelled
70 disclose the person of whom he procur-
,'1 ilq9or, ana That person is then tried for
put as only the lowest class of huuor dealers
Is concerned in them, generally sneaking
ana as the prosecution is invariably for "
hrsl otense," no effective purpose Is served
In suppressing the liquor traffic. W. WV
Some of these statements will not stand a
inquiry, and can in fact only he
uelehued on the score that Mr.. johnson was
using language much more loosely than one
WHO writes for scientific journal should he
expected to, and in fact did not moan ,vbo,
NC has said. He could not mean that the
Ia" Is practically al absolute dead letter.
erms only applicable to a law which is
never enforced to the least extent: for he
elsewhere states that practically cases of
enforcement of the law are very com.
non!" The figures given are we SUPPOSE
corrective have endea4ored in vain 10
obtain verifcalion of them from the office /;
II the Collector of Internal Revenue, who is r
'ut OF the State; but it is 20 be remembered f,
nat OF the 446 persons procuring licenses TO q
ell spirits not less than 300 are druggists g
Who must use and keep alcohol and spirits +,
or purposes recognized as legitimate. I,
While too many of these, beyond :,
oubt, sell to greater or less ex-
ent Tor other than medicinal, mechanical
nd chemical purposes, most of them
re not dram shops" in any usual or proper u
sc OF that term and many of them guard D
lelr sales rigidly. With these are to be in a
uded the large manufacturing and whole e,
'e druggists, dealing In alcohol and spirits il
large amounts in their trade, and paying to
rye taxes, yet which are SO far from being al
am shops that not only do they not sell r
lrlts to be drank on the spot, but no one di
u In the trade, high or low, can obtain aco- nj
j or liquor from them for individual use, or be
en- for cooking or other family purposes. 8