Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1886-03-12
FRIDAY MORNING. MAR. - 1.se.
THE ISSUE LOCAL OPTION.


we believe. by considerable body of the
voters of this State. we have all along been
perfectly frank in stating the posi- ion the
INDICATOR would assume towards the
attempt to apply the law. We shall join
that large body of conservative and think
ing people of this city in resisting its
adoption as opposed to the moral, financial
and commercial welfare Of our town. 1t
is of no use to address to US arguments,
however able, against the evils of drunken
ness-we know them WE'LL nor in favor of
any measure to suppress them-w3 sympa-
thyze with them too deeply to need spur
to our good intentions. We are among
those who do not consider the advocates
Of Local Option or Prohibition, cranks,
and We have read their arguments and
listened to their orators with profound
interest; for every question that concerns
Man should interest every man, ard re-
ceive patient and respectful hearing
Every year of observation added to mans
life must add to his conviction, that under
free form of government nothing can
succeed that has not first obtained the
willing, intelligent and earnest assent of
the popular mind. 1t is true in politics,
in law, and in religion. If yentured in
the first, it means the disruption of the
party attempting it, as was witnessed
few years ago in the Democratic party of
this State On the debt question; if in the
second, it means leXity on the part of the
law officers, corruption of administration
and secrecy of violation, and if in the
third it means church dessieated and
unspiritual. The people are supreme,
sometimes to their glory, sometimes to
their own hurt-but always supreme. A
law without the great majority Of popular
opinion On its side is wasted paper; the
most brilliant and Arcadian plan of gov
eminent without their approval is
chimera. On whatever experiment in
government we embark. we had best reca-
on with the people first; we shall ineVita-
bly, have it to do in the end.
1t is proposed to apply to this commu-
nifty in opposition to the judgment Of. las
we believe the ballot box will show, very
large majority of its intelligence,
law which shall prohibit the licensing oil
the sale of spirituous liquors. The appli-
cation is not sought because Staunton is
any Sodom among cities: not because her
criminal class is larger or more desperate
than that Of cities of her size: not because
the deaths from drunkenness are of unusual
number or out of proportion to the deaths
from other vices or causes; not because
liquor has made Staunton place of dis
order, or of danger to person and property;
not because the results have at all lessened
its popularity as a great educational
centre for females-that most sensitive of
all business enterprises; not because the
liquor interest is not rnled as with an
iron rod by the civic head of the city
government-bu because the local appll-
cation is part of a general plan the pro
meters of which are sincere in their belief
will, if successfully carried out, work un-
told good. Tha necessity for the applca-
ton, therefore, does not rest so much on
the exceptionally intolerable character Of
the traffic here, which would be a tangible
ground, as upon the future good to be de-
rived from its end, which is a matter of
speculation. Taking the present instead of
the future in discussing the reverse Of the
good results, the picture is not an agree
able one. 1t is useless to deny that il
Stanton adopts Local Option, she will
lose great part of the little trade that
the railroads have left TO her. Every bust
ness man in Stanton understands this,
not only understands it but could almost
be relied on 80 name the very sections of
our back country whose trade would be
lest to her-merchants can tell you that.
who never saw the inside of city saloon
and possibly never tasted drop of liquor.
Merchants are men who know the world
pretty well, it is their business to know
it. and to this knowledge they greatly owe
their success. Il is this that gives that
class CT citizens such conservative cast
of thought on all public questions.
Most men in business in Stanton, now
know how much of a particular and most
profitable trade we enjoy is due to Local
Option freak that our neighboring town
CT Harrisonburg indulged in some years
she returned very soon to the license law.
she has never been able torecoVer. Most
CT them know how much Of the West Vir-
ginia trade Stanton owes to the fact that
the s'no license is practlced in that quar-
ter and that the unlicensed holes, never
in favor with a reputable man, send
traders to Staunton to do business.
But it Will be replied that we ought to
be willing to give up pecuniary profit in
order to have the demoralizing use of
liquor blobted out! Well, suppose that the
merchants of the town and The mechanics
Of the town were willing 10 see the trade
and employment from other places diver
ted in order TO blot ent" the use of
liquorin our midst, would it be blotted
out? Nobody who has observed the peo
rations of the law under our noses-ip
Harrisonbarg and Waynesboro. believes
that it viii. Nobody that has read Of ifs
attempted enforcement in other cities and
carefully weighed the results can believe
that it will. Neither Local Option nor Pre-.
hlbition can be thoroughly enforced il
cities. Nobody affects to believe chat it can.
even after years OF attempt. We listened
Saturday night to the admirable address
Of Prof. Hopkins Of New York, With
much Interest, and some curiosity as Il
what be would say about its enforcement ,
IL the cities Of Maine, where for thiru
years it has been law and where lately
it has been mace part of the constitu-
ton. When he came to the cases of Port
land and enc or two Others Bangor, VIZ
think among them, he very frankly said
"WhY we have naEer clainled that il u,.s