Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-03-06
A W0rd About Local Option i'm Mont.
Eo0ery County, Md.

To the Editor Of the EVENING STAR:
The welLknown reputation of your paper.
ever making strenuous efforts in behalf of the
rights and the veal of society, warrants me in
hoping that you will come to our rescue now
that we plain countryfolk are in danger You
Montgomery county in the matter of the sale
OF liquor. Some time since the people, by a
very large majority, determined to do away
with the license system, and to make fair and
full trial OF the statutory provision known as
local option" Within our county this was no
mere experiment 1t was the proper effort on
- extend the protection of the same police reg
Blations To the whole county which the citizens
0 sandy Spring had enjoyed for many years
The Sandy springs people would not for any
monied considerable part with their protection
their 1cai nrohibirpryp ti,,e 1919 .nem by
Them all the advantages of an admirable police
regulation. Nor is the county at large less wise.
Under the fair trial of local option though
the times have been dull throughout the whole
country, yet have we witnessed a general adj
vance In the standard Of prosperity. What
county In Maryland has improved more rap
IDLY than ours during the past five years? And
yet IL Is proposed to undo all this prosperity by
10 invite capital and labor TO settle among
them, protected as they are at present from the
ravages Of intemperance. 1t Is well nigh ak
lomauc that there can be no iong-sustained
prosperity In any community, agricultural or
manufacturing, in the absence OF reliable labor
aemorilized the labor OF Montgomery county
scheap Intoxicating drink near by the humble
homes of our colored people. Recently this has
much improved In all the elements of good cit
6eDship. i am careful TO make this Statement
because am told that the colored vote is now
relied upon TO undo :" local option" A word of
warning here. Demoralize our labor and at
once you cripple our farmers, cheapening their
land and drive many to the west. You poison
county by swelling our criminal docket,
nliins our jaiis and penitentiaries,
our almshouse Demoralize our labor system.
and many OF our best citizens will sell out and
move away. Your present writer happens to
Of local option" las a mere police regulation
leaving the question of morals wholly out of
view. induced many persons, to settle in Mont
Dick, the teamster, was wanted to drive q load
OF hay To market he was not drunk I'm a neigh
boring grog shop. but was sober and ready for
work And now a word for Dick, his kindred
and color. Will not persons who are not will n
out influence In the coinage of the opinions OF
these people in our county. do their utmost to
protect them from the corrupting influences of
the much money which the liquor men will
throw into the election II the question should
again come before the people? And now NAV
not the senator and delegates ia the Maryland
egisIature De appealed To IN the name OF order,
soberness and general prosperity, and urged to
turn a deaf ear 10 any suggestion in favor of re-
opening the question OF liquor license in Mont
gonery? We do not think they can be induced
ID ignore the sweet voices Of our mothers wives
and sisters eloq uently pleading in behalf of
the protection OF home, they certainly will
do II, by reopentng the question: they ieopar d
the best interests OF our community by multi
plying temptations in the path of a weak
brother No, No! We have a TAR better opinion
Of the senator and delegates, and especially So
as we happen To know that none of them is so
deaf as not 10 find music To their soul in that
popular applause without which most men are
elected 10 stay at home. Let Us cling tenaci-
oUsly 10 that statute of ..iocaI option the
practical operation of which has been To invite
much population To cur county by eIeyating the
standard OF citizenship, in that we are ;,s a
whole, a people much freer from the curse of in
temperance; in that our labor is much more re
liable, ana therefore worth more; in that we ca m
now meet our fellow citizens from even the nan
ner counties of Baltimore and Hartford and
challenge them To look well TO their laurels in
1880. Multiply grogshops, the revival of
liquor license would do. and who can tell how
last or low In the scale OF genuine manly sef re-.
spect se would fall? We help ouselyes by helm
ing or fellow man. This is God s law Thara
Is but one-the same God Tor the capitalists
and the laborer, the same God for the tistiller
and the drunkard; the same God for the errg-
shop keeper and the widow and orphan OF the
poor u1iortuuate whose bones bleach in a
drunkards grave; the same God who ordered
and controls the laws OF political economy.
prominent among which Is that of indusIry
md sobriety a. u condition precedent to ma
nonal wealth and security To life and property
Eorking out in the end, over the heads and
graves Of legislatures, 1.-THE greatest good to the
greatest number" LOCAL OPTION