New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-12-23

| d 90. ,,. r.gulat,un of the traffic II affects
Mr. Atherton admits that his Is ousin'ss oPo" "
many abuses. and that public policy requires INC
tcnance of machinery Intended to prevent these aou
and that Justice requires that the expense Oh a,'
tanning this machinery should be raised oy taA'nE '
trade and By taxing all engaged in It alike but SO soon
as the tax accompshcs more than TO providc ior 'o
cost OF the licensing bugeru II becomes oppressive al"
discrmInatve- mention this merely because 'hc
Man in the Moon, who Is both a knowing and ialr-
minded old fellow, hates to see good argument de-
feated by snap game. so to speak
DR. Crosby asked another question: and he put II IN
a way that the Man in the Moon did not like fou
cav Mr. Atherton that the liquor dealer should DO
treated by the laws the drygoods dealer Is rea'eo
Why do you advance that proposition, wheh oy conn
mon consent the dry goods store Is useful estaosh-
ment while by common consent tho saloon Is
nuisanceP
sWhat a fondncss these clerical gentlemen haVe'
said the Man in the Moon, for assuming uh'ngs'
IT'S the same way with tho lunar clergy. They al
WAYS assume the whole controversy and then proceed
N cram their deductions down your throat. sup
nose they get into that habit because it IS their
province to talk and ours to listen They get us IN
front Of them In church where we can't answer
back without committing great breach OF decori'n'
and then they spin away and we have 10 take IL
whether we believe II or not Now the Doctof says
that by common consent the saloon IS nuisance Mr.
Afherton declared a ago that there were 1000
saloons I'm New-YorI If It true that the saloons
were commonly considered nuisance how could
1000 of them EXIST Who would support 1900 public
resorts commonly considered nuisancesl What the
Doctor means of course is that they are nuisance
TO him and 10 those who think as he does. And he
has the clerical habit of assuming when he comes to
conclusion that It IS fact established by common
consent On the other hand. looking at the thing I'm
lunar light should say that the mere fact OF 1000
saloons being in existence here went long way
toward proving that by consent they served
commonly desired object
Mr. Atherton, however, did not llnger long over the
problem suggested by the Doctors question. He
simply manaincd that the saloon-keepers were
not outlaws, and that they possessed the same
rights that other shop-keepers possessed Then, as
bearing the desrabilily of adopting uniform
license for all classes OF saloons. he made tho candid
averment that drank liquors for the alcoholic
effect they produced and declared that there was
almost as much alcohol in a glass Of beer as In
an ordinary glass OF whiskey. Men knew, he said,
when they we're sufficiently stimulated by whiskey,
but beer was an insdious foe to the human system,
and more men got drunk IL than on the stronger
liquors He turned his attention for a brief moment
TO the question Of the saloon In politics. and
here, too his frankness was quite astonishing The
Hlghicensc people, he said, kept the saloon In pol
tics How could the liquor men keep out of poll
tics, when they were being eternally harassed and
prosecuted by changes in tho lawsl Over in Massa-
chusetts the people were called upon by statute
vote each year the question Of license or no
license. II law made for the avowed purpose
of keeping the saloon in politics, 1t could not be more
efectua than this.
/ asked the Man in the Moon what he thought !
OF Mr. Atherton's remarks. They certainly
curious he replied. ave trade" he says, in !
poison. We slowly kill and injure people to their |
great happiness They being pleased at the process
by which we destroy Them it follows that 1t is nobodys
business but ours and theirs II other people NEEDLE
and make laws we don't like, will bid them go
hang The sort OF laws that will obey are the
sort that leave us to do we please. We agree
TO the license system but deny that license signl-
les privilege and that the public give privileges
ON its own terms OF course, II license did mean
privilege the public would be justified In saying by
what method It should be conferred But since IL Is
nothing but a slgn.board, nothing but a bit of paper
representing that the lcensee sells poison, any one
who wants to sell poison is entitled to buy license,
as he would buy a signboard. and you violate an
eternal principle OF Justice II you impose discriminating
conditions upon the purchase. This argument con-
cuded the Man il the Moon. strikes me as essentially
earthly"
1t struck Mr.. Milliken in the same way. Mr.
Miliken is a man who, from being great patron
OF the saloons has become their dangerous antagonist
He is a lawyer, famous for his ability to use the
English language club He argued, In a way
that must have pleased Dr. Crosby, that any man
who conceded to the community the right to regulate
the liquor traffic conceded tho whole question of
High License; that to acknowledge the proprety of
anv fee was to abandon the ground upon which
a heavy fee could be attacked that to admit the
public right to restrain at all to admit any and