Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-03
Local Option as n Financial Measure.
To the Editor of the Dispatch:

Local Option as n financial Measure.
To the Editor of the Dispatch
The enactment Of a general local
option law brings the question directly
before the people as living issue to be
studied and discussed in all its phases
and effects on the body polite. Pend
ing its consideration in the Legislature
there was no discussion in the public
press from those who are opposed to all
kinds Of puritanical or sumptuary
laws, while nearly every issue
of the daily papers contained arti-
cles in the interest Of local option,
some Of which were in anything
but good taste, and others were, TO say
the least, ungenerous if not actually
malignant in their assaults on the men
who have bought and paid for the privi-
lege of conducting business legitima-
tized by the laws of the State. have
reserved several Of these articles for fu-
ture reference.
While respecting the adverse opin-
ions of others, am one of those who
believe that local option is an error
both in morals and economics, and will
do all | can to defeat its adoption unless
can be convinced that it is desirable
innovation on the past policy of the
State; and this can only be done by the
evidence Of its practical workings in
other localities where it has been
thoroughly tested.
AS a question of dollars and cents,
we are in the outset confronted with
the fact that local option will certainly
occasion a deficit in our State Treasury
of nearly 500, 200 per annum. Says
a prominent gentleman Save us
from the crime, the vice, the pauper-
ism, and idleness engendered by the
dIam.shopS of Virginia, and we can DO
with 100000 less of revenue" No
doubt many of the leading local-optiOn.
lists think the people are willing to have
this deficit made up by an increase OF
their property-taX. Let them 90 on
the hustings and announce that those
who vote for local option will there
by consent to an increase Of their taxes.
and ! venture the assertion that the
army of tax-paying patriots will be
greatly diminished. Local option will
inevitably reduce the annual revenues
of the government, but no means have
been adopted to meet this deficiency.
and no means can be found except to
increase the tax on the real aud per-
sonal property of the people. Let it
remain as fixed fact that local option
means increased taxation.
This radical change in our financial
policy comes at time when the
State is ill-prepared to experiment
in this new style of civil service re-
form at a time when the so.caIed
public creditor is endeavoring to push
the State to the wall by forcing her
into expensive litigation in the State
and Federal courts. Who can estimate
what this annual drain on our resources
will be? The indemnity bill alone will
add thousands to our annual expenses.
Again Another serious loss must be
anticipated. There is a large and thrifty
class of our fellow-citizens whose ma.
tional beverage is beer. Beer is as ne
cessary to them as is the much-prized
tea or coffee of the local optionist, and
if we are to believe medical testimony
not a particle more deleterious in its
effects. Beer-drinking with them is a
lifelong habit, not to be changed by CO.
erciye legislation. Local option will
assuredly drive these people, with all
their energy and their wealth, from the
State in search of home where the !
personal rights and liberties of the citi-
zen are not circlmscribed by arbitrary |
laws. These people naturally attract
friends from the fatherland, but the
natural sequence Of local option is to
arrest this immigration. Here, then.
is another heavy drain on the taxable
resources of the state, and the real
and personal property will have to meet
the deficiency by increased taxation.
There is another prolific source OF
revenue, present and prospective, which
will be severely crippled by local OPP
ton. The orchards and vineyards of
the State are considerable in value.
and constantly increasing, both in
acreage and in the amount of produc-
ton. The census places the value Of
our orchard products in 1879 at
IL ,G09, GG3, and in all probability it
has increased to at least $2,O00,000.
Local option will destroy to a great
extent our orchards and vineyards.
and it is probable that its advocates
will rejoice in the anticipation Of such
a result; but the real question for us
to consider is, How shall we meet the
deficiency in the public revenues occa-
stoned by the destruction of the tan
able values of our orchards and vine
yards: The answer inexorably points
to an increase in the tax rate Of our
real and personal property.
| do not propose to say more at pre-
sent, but offer this as a preliminary to
a more elaborate discussion at some fn-
Iure time, when shall endeayor to i'm
press my views on those who will have
10 decide this controversy at the ballot
box, and thus, as hope, aid in defeat
ne the visionary plans of the we'll
meaning but irrational local-option cru.
'aders.