New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-12-23
MAKING LIQUOR LAWS.
THE EXCISE COMMISSIONS WORK.
WHICH THE MAN IN THE MOON COMES DOWN TO
CRITICIsE AND CONCERNING WHICH lie
OFFERS SOME USEFUL SUGGESTIONS

|
OFFERS SOME USEFUL SUGGESTIONS.
Some choice testimony has been taken and some
rarely interesting speeches have been heard by the
| Commission which the Legislature authorized and
Governor Hill appointed to revise the excise laws Of
| Ncw-York For several days recently running dc
bate was kept up before the Commission by the liquor
men and their lawyers and the temperance men and
their lawyers concerning the kind Of regulation which
the statutes should provide for the sale OF stmulants
] don't know when have been more entertained by
public discussion, though It is quite impossible to say
that any good will OF II. Probably nothing was
said which struck any member OF the Commission as
novel Probably all that was said had been already
considered and yet they were remarkable hearings
and I am just enough Of opmis to believe that
the tmo will conc whcr the senographers minutes Of
these hearings will DO read by the average American
with sort of amused surprise that II possible in
an age SO enlightened rs this TO find lot Of men
cudgellng their brains for devices by which the
punity, whom they fairly represented could reduce 10
a minimum the disastrous effects Of It's moral cow
ardce; TO find that everybody agreed about the
fact Of the community being moral coward, and
equally agreed that its cowardcc the principal
cause Of crime and misery and disease and poverty
and shame and to find that nevertheless this Coui-
mission did not sit to show the community how It
could purge Itself Of cOwsrlice, but merely to show
how 1t might be coward in the least expensive way
/ have friend who, when he wants TO take an en-
tirely impartial and dlsinterested view Of given
situation, proceeds to convert himself by summary
process OF the imagination into the Man In the Moon
and having thus given himself entirely foreign
identity he calls upon himself the Man in the Moon
10 tell himself a mundane mortal how the situation
in question strikes him. I couldn't help wondering
what the Man in the Moon would have thought had
he sat with me while that Excise Law Commission
In ccfOD last 10 xrin at he
Man in the Moon, before he attended those meetings.
had never heard Of whiskey beer. Tie would be
informed in the first place, that this body Of sedate
gentlemen assembled for the purpose Of framing
police regulation guaranteeing the public against the
evils of traffic in whiskey and beer and he would nod
his head IN token tina; he comprchended.
That amiablc, curly healed. astute-loohng man, be
would be further told, is the Hon. Daniel G. Rollins
distinguished lawyer, and of high char
acter, whereupon he might be expected TO observe
that no fitting selection of commissioner could
have been made. This clearly shaven, elderly man
with a buttOned-up walstcoat IS clergyman the Rev.
Dr. Howard Crosby, the pastor Of large congregation
a man highly esteemed for his learning who takes
deep interest in public affairs. Yes. the Man in the
Moon would undoubtedly say a person who under
takes to teach other men how TO live ought 70 be a
man Of affairs That gentleman yonder, to continue
the ntroductons. is the Hon Denis O'Brien, recently
the chief law officer of the State. This here is
legislator who has had experience in framing laws the
Hon. Frederick w. Kruse. He comes from the cUun-
try. That at the end is an editor, the Hon.
James S. Smart, chiefly known. however, as an adroit
politician. The young next Mr.. OBren IS Mr.
Max Stern, wholesale whlskey dealer. and that ore
Just in front is Mr.. Thomann, who is interested In the
manufacture OF beer.
What the Man In the Moon cxclaims in a startled
voice, whiskey dealer and beer brewer on the Com
mission. How extremely odd When undertake
TO frame penal laws up in the Moon don't think II
necessary TO call in those intended TO be restrained
from crime TO &c. their approval Of the law In fact
the kind of law they approved would be just the kind
we should not enact.
Er-well, yes, l reply, but you sec, our Governor
wanted to be fair ard impartial lie wanted q
scheme perfected by which men Of good moral char
acter could be licensed to sell these intoxicating
fluids without unnecessary hardship.
To the lunar intellect, the Man in the Moon re-
spends, this seems strange contradiction in terms
These fluids, you say intoxicate. make people crazy
furious, silly and wicked, lead them into crime and
reduce them to misery. Up in the Moon We should
consider that sort Of fluid poison Here you pro.
pose 10 legaize its sale, and you cfer to license
good moral moras TO traffic in It. How can you
md good moral human willing to poison his fellow
DO you license good moral persons to commit murder
or to rob and swtndlel And when you make laws
providing penalties for such crimes, do you summon
good moral muderers, robbers and swndleIs to help
make them? After your Legislature enacts penal
statutes do you then send them to your prisons for
your convcts 10 pass upon theml
Before have time TO think out good replv TO this
remark and, it be owned greatly to nv relief
the proceedings begin. The room is crowded with a |
motley company. Seated side by side are white |
haired, reverend Prohibitionsts, rednosed, habby
ilquordeaers, amiable-ooking philsnthroplsts and
reformers, smart lawyers. cergymcn. big German |
brewers and politicians Or. Crosby announces that
the president Of the National Liquor League Mr. |
Atheron' desires'to speak y quiet, serious sort of
n IN rises from distant seat and comes over TO a |
place directly In front Of the Commission lie Is a |
Misunderstanding person, with small head and a |
mild voice He wears his beard in way that makes
him resemble Abraham Lincoln. lie begins by say |
ing ttat lie represents the National organization of
quordealers, made up from scores Of minor organza
lions, which altogether embrace membership of moro
than 10000 persons No class of citizens, he SAYS
Is so anxious for the enactment Of Just and equitable
law as the lquordeaers but they want law that |
VIII endure, that VIII not discriminate against the
poor In favor of the rich, that Will not be built upon
the ruins of equal rights. They want a law that |
is capable OF being enforced, and has behind II that
measure OF approving public sentiment which Is O. |
sentia to Its stability and usefulness The principle
OF nigh license is wrong, unjust. utterly hostile 10
The doctrine of equal rights What authority IN |
JUSTICE nave you to declare that I, poor man. shall
be deprived Of my business because / cannot nav Won
as much as my weather. rival can pay2 I am a. |
good as he, big he, as honest as he and n hun
dred times more needy But because nv pocfetlook
IS smaller than his you bar my doors AMI throw opcn
MS but you say You keep low grogecry. while
he has cutglass decanters, elegant sllveI.wac beau
tiful nude pictures. and other tokens Of anlucncr
The patrons OF his bar are fine gentlemen while YOUR,
are thieves and srcei-walheIs Indeed! And those
facts II they be facts. give you the light do they 10
subVer the fundamental law of equal rights? Who |
IS TO draw the line, and where shall It be drawn be
tween low groggciy and a high onel Who is 10
say that poor Five Points thief shall be deptived NJ
light which cucs to h'h wall rect 4 ,ckw tcr,r,
Your law doesn't say, Only the vrtuous shall dripv
1t doesn't provide that man whose hands Ar. nm
clean and whose hcart Is lmnnre slan haro ncco.. -