The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1886-10-01

was no power to continue the effect, and
keep those whose cupidity led them tc
open saloons from doing it. Had there
been an enactment to prevent them, and a
public sentiment to sustain it, | should
not have found ono saloon.
Hence I feel that while we work with
moral s%uasion, which VIC must not relax,
VIC must not rely upon this as the only
means of eiIceting our ends. We have
seen III regard to all other vices which af-
fict mankind, that the same rule holds
good. We need moral suasion to produce
the needed reform, then legal enforcement
to maintain it,. II we could convince
every individual that a thing was wrong
and there were no others coming up who
would not realize this, then moral suasion
would be all that was needed. But we
know it is necessary to supplement this by
that which will continue TO check the evil.
One of the means proposed for thisi is Ii
eense, and there are those who hold that
the only proper method is to restrain this
by a license, which gives to a few persons
liberty to enter into this traffic. This has
been tried for over W. hundred years, and
the public mind has arrived at the conclu-
sion hat it will not accomplish the OBJ
ject.
Now we are having a plea for High lii
ccnse, and are told that we may have It SO
high that none but respectable men will
open saloons, and If We cannot get prohi-
bition we had better take this as IA half a
loaf is better than no bread" | hold
that if a thing is morally wrong, as this is,
license high or low cannot make it NOR
ally right. We AVE no right to make any
compromise, for when we compromise with
any evil, it will always triumph. fla man
has a habit which he knows he ought to
rid himself of, there is no other way but to
place a positive prohibition upon that hab-
it, or it will conquer him. The same thing
has been found to be true with our govern
ment. There was an attempt TO compro-
acted to prevent it from passing beyond
certain limits, but when the Shareholders
thought it had grown strong enough, they
were determined to push it into territory
that was to be free.
So in regard to this system of High Iii
eense, it is a compromise that has been add
vocated on account of the revenue which
may be derived from it. A mans pocket
is a tender place to touch him. But it
seems to me that from my standpoint, it is
a very poor kind OF political economy. The
money that comes from High License does
not come from the manufacturer or the
seller of liquor. They do not pay it. No
NAH enters into a business without calcu-
latins what he can make by it. 1t is the
consumer and his family that pays the
money-the wives and children of those
who are deprived of their proper clothing
and food and all the necessary comforts of
life to pay for the High License. Instead
of reducing the taxes, they are greatly in
creased by the evils which result from it.
The very fact of requiring a license indi-
Gates that something is wrong. To open a
dry goods store or any other useful bust
ness does not require a license.
1t is said tia by High License we re-
duce the number of saloons. This is not
found to be the fact. In a city like this. if
one-half the saloons were closed, the ether
half would continue the sale. These lower
| saloons do not make the drunkards, they
| only supply them with liquor when they
have gone far down into habits of drunk
enness.
1t is in the so-called respectable saloons
that the young man goes to meet his asso-
~ciatcs; the billiard room, and even the
reading room is calculated to lead them
there, and if | had il in my power to STOP
one or the other, | would stop the high
license saloon first.
It would seem that there is no other way
to suppress this evil entirely but by ahso
lutte prohibition of the manufacture ano
sale Of all intoxieants. In coming to thi.
point | am met with many objections, somt
of which | propose to answer.
ntTt Is Il idISt tihN "hp iRii tsfh
prohibition of the manufacture and sale o
all intoxicating beverages is saying that {
man shall not drink these, and the govern
mcnt shall have no right to say what a MAI
shall cat or drink. One political party in
c"orporated into their platform that they
were against ''sumptuary laws" Webster
defines a sumptuary law as regulations IL
restrain or limit the expenses Of citizens il
apparel. food, furniture, etc" Alcohol is
not n food. | know the medical faculty
have abandoned the idea that it is a food
1t is not apparel, IT is not furniture. There
fore a law passed even prohibiting a man
from drinking it, is not a sumptuary law
A samptuary law as | understand it, il
passing a law that a man shall spend Sc
much per week for clothing. for furniture
for fuel, etc.
We all have a testimony against this
even the most fanatical amongst us do no
want it.
We are told again that a prohibitory Law
would abridge 4 mans liberty-that gov
eminent has no right to say to a man tina
he shall do certain things. The State o
New York passed an enactment requiring
each town to establish a Board of Health
which is authorized to enact certain laws
by which the sanitary conditions of tin