Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-08-06
Prohibition or License,

here is substantial agreement among
friends OF temperance on the ques-
tel 5i the legal prohibition of the liq-
YEA raillc. They regard every grog-
SHOP as nuisance that should be
Ted by law. If the people have not
right to protect themselves from the
r,y, vice and crime caused by the
9r business, then civil government
tailuae. Persons who regard high
use or local option as a finality de-
W. themselves, and do not understand
{. conscientious purposes of the work
!0 the cause of temperance. Let
I in this connection, bring to the at
f on OF your readers two or three
lltroyertible facts that some of us
m have overlooked:
Licenses TO sell intOIicdtin0 drinks
.9t originate IN desire 10 encourage
1slRcSs, or 10 make ii respectable.
mere was a time when the right to
these drinks was conceded to all.
Is ever chose to do so, sold rum or
b a.ly as freely as he dealt in flour or
asses; and no one questioned his
or natural right to do so. In time
vita Of the business became SO ap-
ll that good men cast about for
Was in this way that the license
10 originated. AS early as 1861,
ti Feople of East Hampton, N. Y,
r d a law to license and regulate
t business. ct is to be regretted
ta the word ''licensen was ever used
ia lis connection.) The colony of New
Raven passed similar law few years
lr, and ever since the people of this
.f,-t~ ho va Ia
terae, the evils that result from the sale
and use of intoxicating drinks. | am
no. aging that this legislation has al
n been right in principle, or that its
results have been what we could desire
Bat il is flying in the face of the facts of
ii ory, and is SANDER of the living
ana the dead, to affirm that it was
a. igned to encourage the drink traffic.
iEyse laws, one and all, treat that bust
us as an evil that is to be put under
law aud hampered by restrictions. The
friends of temperance make mistake,
'ud extend aid and comfort to the enc
rt when they assert that licensing a
grogshop makes 1t respectable. The
b ness is Infamous; no legislation can
change its character. 1t is not by
liaauses or taxation that any business
is promoted. The production of beet
su ar has been stimulated in some of
tAe countries of Europe by bounties.
ue BY taxation. When a legisla-
t-ga imposes a tax on dogs, or re-
Qages their owners to pay license for
hopping them, it is done for the protec-
t.l Of sheep, not TO encourage the rear
i'll of dogs.
License lars are prohibitory, and
p bitory taa0s license the sale Of tntori-
~ under certain circumstances.
a law that licenses one man in a
usaEd to keep saloon, prohibits
u hundred and ninety-nine others
fu engaging in the same business.
Objections to prohbitory laws on the
ground that they interfere with personal
hts, lie with equal force against Ii.
e es An enactment that is unjust to
a9Gsand persons, is not changed in
Character when one man in thousand
s. <ampt from its operation. On the
q hand, the most stringent prohibit
III Jaws of which have knowledge,
nsd on authorize the sale of alcohol
medicinal and mechanical purposes.
a preference uRder certain circun,-
Of high licenses, rather than lo,C
necessarily an endorsement of The
system.
IS seems to me so nearly self-evi-
d truth, that feel like apologizing
t. sour readers for calling attention to
fl La moment. We are not 10 forget
I'll i- connection, that the settlement
al is question is not left entirely in the
hands OF temperance men. We are cit
lions Of country in which there is the
l ssl liberty in speaking and voting.
n a naturalized citizen of foreign birth
v believes in the use of stimulants,
has tae same rights on the platform
an1 40 the ballot-box as ourselves Let
az oppose staunch friend of temper
asst to be living in n community in
th the question of prohibition is
,v up for consideration. Nine
III s ~ the citizens are in favor OF, and
vote for, license; but they are di-
a as 10 the terms of which licenses
30 granted.
DBG party favors granting one thou
sua licPnses at ten dollars each; the
o. 3 would limit the licenses to ten,
eu charge thousand dollars each for
thn. The intelligent friend of prohi-
bf0n stands by, and advocates his
principles; but believes that ten grog-
ers are less an evil than one thou
ssr}. and acts in accordance with his
c tions. 1t may be said that his
course is q choice of evils, and for this
DE may be criticised. | should say that
ne accepts of the smaller evil, and IN
q ig so acts like man of sense. Sub
mtang 10 the amputation of an arm to
save my life, does not prove me in love
with capital surgical operations. One
msg greatly prefer ripe peaches to raw
potatoes, yet be so situated that it is
bc for him to make a meal of the un-
cooked tubers.
Once more, and in conclusion:
70 Is important that noe make UtSe
as 81 nc la,CS 1ce haze for The SatppreS.
son ~ intemperdnce until zoe can replace
E ty better ones.
Ji., at this point, as ii seems to me,
seme &c our friends act with singular