Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1888-11-20
Is PROHIBITION A REST RTCrION OF
5 II PERSONAL LIBERTf2

d Personal LIBERTli
1t is true, that purpose to be vir.
tuous, must be free. No man was
ever made virtuous by compulsion.
Virtue is not put upon one from with
out; it originates from his own choice.
There is no dispute, therefore, with
one who says that law is not sufficient
for virtue. Good laws even do not
make goodness. But it is q predig-
ious mistake, therefore, to argue
against CONSTANTS of human conduct
through law. There is an absolute
necessity for physical coercion among
men. The question relating to the
liquor traffic is not between law and
no law, but between one kind of law
and another. In newspaper article
reasons must be condensed.
First-License, high or low, re.
moves from the seller the condemna-
ton of the community. 1t makes his
act legal. And with the masses the
most potent educator is the law.
The Nevada Liquor Dealers Assooa-
ton once passed this resolution:
"Resolved-That so long AS our
business is licensed by the United
States, State and County, we consider
it perfectly legitimate and honorable,
and do not think that we deserve the
censure constantly being heaped ur-
on u.s." . ...
Second-The restriction of high
license does not abate the evil. One
saloon can supply 5000 with liquor as
easily as 500.
Third-Restriction is the enslave.
n,ent of the multitude for the freedom
of the few. It makes the community
itself a party to wrong doing, and
lowers the moral tone of society.
Fourth-The revenue from license
falls heaviest where the burden ought
to be liz htcst. The cost Of the license
adds to the price of the liquor sold,
but does not diminish the quantity OF
the quality sold. The difference Of q
few cents on glass is nothing to a
drinking man, but the worse thar
widowed wife, and worse than vi,
dowed children pay for and suffer fo
the difference.
Therefore, while I do not believe
that prohibition ALONE will stop the
sale of strong drink, any more than il
stops gambling or theft, or any othc'
crime; believe that it sho bt
8 made clear by statute that it is a crime
10 sell Intoxicating liquor as beve!
8 age. 1t is the promise and the dut,
= of government to make it as har,
as possible for a man to go wrong
and as easy as possible for him to g
right. 1t is frightful blunder t
} place the education from the law OF
> the side Of wrong; an unenforced
righteous law is infinitely better thar
$ an enforced law which gives half
sanction to the wrong. For argu
: ment's sake, admit that the liquo
5 traffic is simply dangerous. DO w
, not regulate and, prohibit dangerou
things? Slaughter houses, bone fac
tories, powder mills, frame house
g within business limits Of a city? These
5 in some localities are absolutely pre-
hibited. In some simply regulated
l, not the liquor traffic a more SIT
pendous injury to society aud gov
. ernment-a continuous menace
> both; responsible for 50 per cent. {
0 all our crime, for inhic,ing more hair
o upon man than war, famine, pest
, lence, combined? This is so prove
by the most credible statistics and b
: the testimony of our ablest phi.
q sicians, and our most discerning me
; of all professions, and by ALL OF
, WOMEN. If government was ev'
= justified in prohibiting anything sill
y full or dangerous, certainly it is just
v fed in prohibiting the traffic
~ liquor in making the business .
outlaw.-Selected from articles
julius II. seelye and I. K. Funk.