Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-08-03


may as Justly plead responsibility, on
the ground that his passions were uncon-
trollable, and so on to the end of the
chapter of crimes. Yet while in all these
cases the imposition of a paltry So fine
would not stem or p%erceptibly check the
torrent of crime which would o%verwhelm
us, the vivid prospect of confinement in
Jail, workhouse, or States prison has
that effect, and renders life comparative
ly safe from manslaughter. theft and ra-
pine. The same would be true of drunk
enness. The principle upon which our
temperance legislation is based, when
carried to its legitimate results, would do
away with all law, and society would re-
vert to that barbarous state in which the
bowie knife and revolver would take the
place of civil law.
1t is a crime of the darkest dye for men
to voluntarily deprive themselves of rea-
son, and expose society to the terrible
results which may follow. No civil code
holds lunatics responsible for their acts.
If this principle is a correct one, then it
follows hat the drunkard, who in his de-
bauchery has not even the instinct of the
brute to guide him, must not be held re-
sponsible while in that condition. The
railroad engineer, track inspector. or
sWitchman, who, in consequence ofdrunk-
enness, causes the wreck of railroad
trains, is not responsible for the act or
neglect which leads to these results, but
for the self procured mental condition
which render such results probable. The
responsibility of all crimes and calami-
ties, thus induced, rests with the origin
ating cause, and that cause. in the
case supposed. is self-prOcured drunken
ness, and for this the culprit should be
punished with the extreme penalties of
the law, which would be applied to EVIL
dent preparation for and intention to COM
nit crimes and misdemeanors.
1t may be argued that drunkenness
does not necessarily lead to crime. public
calamity, or even to the disturbance of
the public peace. True, but shall society
be compelled to take the risks: Punish
ishment after the act does not protect or
restore the victims of crime. With our
present business and social organizations
the public are practically compelled to
trust their lives and property in the
hands of individuals and those represent
ing all classes of society. Drunkenness
may not only wreck the railroad train.
the steamboat, the omnibus. or the fam
lily carriage, but it may explode the sta
tionary engine, discharge the revolver or
fire our buildings through the reckless
carelessness which it develops. 1t sup
plies our poor houses with paupers. our
jails with criminals, and often subjects
the families of inebriates to a condition
of wretchedness from which death itself
is a welcome relief. | will not attempt
an enumeration of evils. which might be
almost Indefinitely continued, to which
society is thus exposed. In its mildest
and most harmless form. drunkenness is
a crime against which individuals and
communities have a right to demand pro-
lection from the State.
| have no fellowship with that morbid
philanthropy which has more sympathy
for the criminal than for the victims OF
his crimes-which would shield one class
of offenders while it would punish 9TH
ers equally eXcusable; that would es-
tablish legal precedents which, when fol-
lowed to legitimate results, would under
mine our civil code and substitute anar-
chy and violence for law and order.
The evil for the suppression of which
we should legislate is not the use, but the
criminal abuse of intoXicants. Let the
law first strike at the evil itself. as do the
other laws of our criminal code, and hold
all who aid or abet the criminal as accom-
plices. The incendiary who applies the
torch is held as principal, while the COM
rade who incites him to the crime or fur
nishes the combustibles, knowing for
what purposes they are to be used, is
held and punished as an accomplice.
Our present law not only ignores we'll
established principles of Jurisprudence,
but experience has shown that it is i'm
practicable. 1t is substantially the same
as the original Maine law, enacted more
than thirty years since. Its practical
efficiency, even in law abiding New Eng
land, may be judged by the statements of
those who advocate the principles upon
which that law is based.
The organ of the national prohibition
party, the Voice, claimed but a few
months since that Bangor, the capital of
that pioneer prohibition State, is one of
the worst rum-ridden cities in the Union;
that it then had within its limits one hun
bred places where rum was sold in viola
ton of the law. The same sad report of
lawlessness and crime comes from the
n%eighboring State of New Hampshire.
Twenty-eight places where intoxicants
were sold in defiance of law were recent
I'LL