Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-04-14
History Of Prohibition.
TWELVE STATES HAVE ATTEMPTED TO STOP
LIQUOR SELLING.

Q6nS6r centres Vi pOpuldbiOu Iuo prCulUlCOry
phalanx is not strong enough to get posses
sion of the public offices and in making the
issue of compulsory abstinence it brings the
worst elements of the community into fac
titious Importance among its opponents
The figures Mr.. Sutton gives are these
Two years ago there were 1906 saloons
open in the State, licensed and amenable to
public observation and official discipline
After eighteen months of compulsory pro-
hibition 1887 saloons are found in opera
ton with no attempt at concealment, and
420 others are reported to him as suspected
of vending liquor, and in sixty of the most
populous towns the law is a dead letter. A
strong friend of prohibition, Mr. Sutton is
not content with pretence, and decides in
favor of local option, SO that the whole
Commonwealth shall not be engulfed in
anarchy on the temperance question. In &C
cord with him were the mayors of twenty one
cities of Iowa, who very recently met to-
gether and agreed to ask the Legislature to
| repeal the prohibitory statute, and to permit
system of local option to be tried.
In favor of this settlement of the problem
is the experience of the cities of Omaha
aud Chicago. They are authorized to con-
troll their own systems of dealing with this
question, and while in both of them pro-
letter, plan of high license has been found
to exercise marked restraint on the in
| temperance of the people, while the NUM-
| cipal treasury has been greatly benefited.
In Omaha fifty-seven of the lowest saloons
were closed and the receipts of the city
from licenses reached $167, 275 last year
| In Chicago the number of saloons was re-
duced from $4,000 to 5000, and nearly 81,
800, 900 were put into the public treasury.
| In the recent revival of that phase of the
agitation which seeks to act through legis-
lation, the discussion has largely
proceeded as if this method were
new. 1t is far from being SO. Fifty years
ago movement of great intensity and uni
| versatility in favor of suppressing the retail
traffic in liquor sprang up in the country
Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Yer
mont, Tennessee and Delaware, in obedi-
ence to the strong sentiment prevailing,
passed prohibitory laws in the decade from
1887 to 1847. New Hampshire, Connecti-
cut and Rhode Island adopted substantially
what is known now as local option, and
strong support was given to kindred
measures in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan,
Iowa and Wisconsin. The same old ques-
ton was raised then as is now, that these
sumptuary laws were unconstitutional, and
| it went to the Supreme Court of the Uni
| ted States. A turning point was reached
| in 1847, when the tribunal decided that it
was not contrary to the Constitution of
| the United States for the several States to
restrain the sale of intoxicating drinks in
such ways as they thought best. Since
then prohibitory laws have bsen i'll force up
to the time when the Kansas Constitution
al amendment opened still another method
Of operation, as follows:
| 1S46-Maine. Neal Dow's project was
concerned with the method of enforcement
and not with the principle of prohibition.
| The law of 1916 continued with his amend
ment Of 1851, until it was repealed in 1856,
and a license system adopted. In 1858
Maine returned to prohibition.
| 1S47-Delaware. Pronounced unconsti-
| tutional in 1913.
1S5O-Michigan Pronounced unconstitu-
.tional in 1854.
| 1S52-Rhode Island. Repealed in 1863
Massachusetts,. Repealed in 1863.
1652-Vermont. Law practically 10 force
now
1854--Connecticut. Repealed in 1872.
1S55-Iowa. Local option exchanged for
prohibition in 1884.
1S55-New York. Law was never en-
forced in New York city and Brooklyn,
and after few years trial in the rest of
the State the people returned to license.
1S55-New Hampshire. Substantially
| still in force.
1S55-Illinois. Legislature passed pro-
hibitory law, which was disapproved by
popular vote.
Massachusetts,. This law was
gradually relaxed by amendments in favor
of fermented beverages and was repealed in
| 1875.
1674-Rhode Island. Repealed in 1872.
Indiana twice passed prohibitory laws,
once in 1858, and again in 1866, both of
which failed to obtain the approval Of the
| Supreme Court.
OF the twelve States here mentioned
three of them failed to carry prohibition
beyond still-born legislative enactment
The remaining nine enforced this system
| from periods varying from four to thirty
| four years. In Maine it has reigned thirty
| eight years, but there was an interregnum
| from 1856 to 194S. The average duration
of the system for each of the nine States
has been about twenty-four years. La five
of them, viz: Rhode Island, Massachusetts,,
Michigan, Connecticut and New York, the
policy of suppression has been abandoned
for years. That policy has held its own,
with only exceptional moments ofinfirmity,
in Maine, New Hamisphire, Vermont aud
Iowa.