St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-02-24
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE.
The Other Side of the License Question.


The Other Side of the License Question.
To the Editor of the Globe
II was not intended by me to visit YOU so
soon again, but your declaration of intention
''to tote fair" and your com plaisance in af-
| fording to slow license'' the space for two
and one-hglf columns Of Numbering on the
high license question, leads me to believe
that you will make room for few lines
wherewith to prick that bubble of inflated
| nonsense.
Low License" is good enough to declare
at the outset that he does not assume a COM
pete knowledge of the question he seeks to
! discuss "a very unnecessary declaration on
his part, and one lis readers would have
saved him the trouble Of making by finding
out for themselves. He also wants to know,
You know, what the high license advocates
are up to. He processes to see some Interior
and sinister design disguised in the move
ment in which they are engaged. He Is
afraid it means prohibition; hence this pro
longed and aesthetic essay of his. He is like
the old gentleman of defective vision who,
after wasting much ammunition on what he
supposed was a squirrel up tree, finally
discovered that he had been firing at louise
on his own eyebrow.
As to prohibition. any restriction whatever
becomes prohibition in certain specified
channels. The present liquor law is pro-
! aibitiye to the extent Of its provisions. The
true point Of inquiry is, what is the correct
intermediary standing between absolute
freedom of the traffic and total prohibition
| Of il! Il has already been decided that some
restriction, some prohibition is necessary
and proper in dca!iug with this business.
The existing statutes are evidences of that
TACT. There is that much, at all events,
to be cleaned from the production of Low
License" That which will be sufficient as a
fund to provide the appliances requisite for
tue enforcement Of the statutory provisions
relative to this traffic, and not the amount Of
capital II takes To run the business, is the
correct basis OF computation for fixing the
| license fee. No man is compelled to follow
this special calling. If it be Il losing one for
him, he may abandon il for another 1t is
daily occurrence in other avocations. But
every profession, occupation or property
which has relations to the body polite es-
| tablshed by law, should be chargeable, and
in every other case but that of liquor deal
ing is charged, with the expenditure neces-
sary to maintain that relation. The tax
which the liquor traffic imposes is a heavy
one. 1t is directed mainly in police chan
nes; 1t requires peace officers, courts and
their adjuncts, in an especially large proper
ton. As the liquor business increases in
extent, as the saloons increase in number,
these appliances grow with them; as they
decrease, the authorities and powers required
| in dealing with them decrease, and the con-
| sequent expenditure provided for by general
taxation decreases also To limit the num-
Der Of saloons alone would be simply to pro-
vide an opportunity for the exercise Of favor
itism in the distribution of permits or
licenses for carrying on this business, a bid
for corruption and monopoly at breath.
An enactment, however, fixing q fee which
will operate to bring the number of saloons
down to proper relative standard and at the
same time place all on an equal footing as to
the requirements to be fulfilled before enter
tering the business, which will in some
degree equaliZe the burdens of
taxation consequent on its demands,
is, a just, fair and upright law, and com
mendS itself to every right thinking person.
| They who camor about the rights of poor
men in this connection are not poor men.
| Who can better prescribe for the poor man
|
hear that he is in favor of this unbridled
traffic. And besides all this one owes to
society to support himself and his family,
and if he fails to do so because of excessive
use Of intoxicating liquors, he trespasses
upon the rights of others, who are in conse-
| quence obliged to maintain poor houses and
charitable institutions, apC who have every
| night in self-defeGse to do whatever they
may legally and properly do TO prevent this
unearned burden from beinglaid upon them.
Vice seeks the darkness and shuns the
! light. 1t is in the ''dives and doggeries,"
Notwithstanding the statement to the con-
trary, where it fattens and thrves. If the
so-called better class of saloons be such sink
holes of iniquity as they are said by low
| License" to be, what must be the character Of
| mind that, knowing and believing it. will still
| bring itself toa rgue for their maintenance; if
these places, with the glare of MONDAY full
| upon them, are, as he says, the resorts of the
worst of criminals, what may be the condition
and surroundings of those curtained in OBJ
| security. Low License" has Illuminated
darker charge against one class Of saloons, at
least, than has ever fallen from the lips Of
any high license advocate with regard to any
of them. And who is he talking of when he
says that the supporters of this movement
are for the most part gentlemen who know
but little of the detailed affairs of life; who
are unfamiliar with business principles, and
business habits; who are not to be selected
as advisers of business men," etcl Why,
one would not think it, but he is speaking
Of the business men themselves. 1t needs
but to recall the names of those identified
with this movement since its inception, to
be assured that it is sponsored by the most
statesmenlike minds and purest characters
and most practical and experienced business
men of this state, and whose lead | for one
will gladly and humbly follow. Since when,
let US ask, has 1t become necessary for a man
TO be an habitua! drinkcr, If not an habitual
drunkard, in order to be practical, business
like, and capable Of taking part in govern
ment tai affairs We would gladly learn more OF
the identity OF the authority who pronounces
this dctum, and rs he complains that be
is cramped for room within the compass Of
two and One-half columns Of cold type, be-
speak for him an invitation to the next high
license meeting with ample opportunity for
expressing his views and producing his ar
guments, if he has any, for goodness knows
the task is still before him to perform.
&. J. WILLIAMS.
st. Paul, Feb. q, 1885.