Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1889-09-13

publican party O'CLOCK themselves to the
housetops and waited without misgivns
for the glad tidngs from the land of
William Penn. And what were those
lidings? One hundred and ninety thou.
sand majority for high license aud,
saloon regulation and against free whisky
and the spy system.
In the Dominion Of Canada prohibition
has met with a fate as adverse us in thd
States A few years ago the counties of
the Province of Ontario rushed to adopt
the provisions of a lccal.option statutd
known as "tl,c Scott act" 1t was tried
for II time, and raised such social hubs
bub that most Of the counties which
had adopted it soon voted for its repeal
Now comes the question as to whether
state prohibition would be better for the
people Of this county. A large number
of the counties of North Dakota voted
for prohibition seon after the local option
law was passed, and the fact that u great
many of them have since recensidered
their action seems to indicate that their
experience Of the practical workings of
prohibition was unsatisfactory. Is not
'the lamp of experience" just as good
beacon light now as it was in the days
of Patrick Henry? Is there better lamp
by which the feet of the voters of this
county may be guided?
At present there is high-license law
in North Dakota, and the prohibition
amendment failing, public opinion viii
demand its re.enactment by the first legis,
lature of the new state. There are now
two saloons In the county and the yearly
sum they pay into the county treasury is
$500, or an aggregate of $1,000. If pro-
hibition should carry, that source of rev.
enue would be cut off. Neither would it
stop the sale of liquor. The prof,
arising from the sale without llconse
would be 50 great as TO tempt many to
risk discovery and the penalty; and il
ls hard to convict Ia cases of this class, as
| many of our citizens we'll know. Even
experts are sometimes puzzled as to the
difference between straight whisky and
Home Rule or ether bltters. In the
agricultural districts high license vlrtu-
ally prohibits the sale now, but would i,
not be surreptitiously sold if there was
neth,ng but the small government license
to pay2 Under the present high license
system every licensed saloon keeper it
interested in the discovery and suppress
sion of "bllnd pigs" for. while paying
Il heavy tax to the county, he cauno
successfully compete with rivals sinking
this expense. Under prohibition the in
terests of those violating the law woulc
he identical, and they would strive tc
shield each other.
The opinions above given are simply
those of one man, but they are bis honest
opinions, and. with due respect to those
who may think differently, these columns
| are open for statement of their views
| II would be neither fair nor sensible t.
adept the Iowa plan iu arguing the ques
ton. 1t is not right to class prohibition.
lists as ''cranks" and fanatics" becaus,
their desire to remedy the evils Of lntem.
perancc leads them to advocate what 9th
ers believe to be lmpracticable and tyran
nical methods 1t avails not to say thai
they have no right to pass laws governing
individual appetite, because the highes
judicial tribunal Of the nation has decided
that they have such right. Neither /!
it proper to class every man who opposes
prohibition, nor every man who drinks
intoxicating liquor in moderation. as {
"whiskeyite" or as one without regard fo
the welfare Of his country. The question
in its entirety is Que IN which all goot
citizens are equally interested. and i
should be settled with due regard, no
for what you wish might be done, but fo
what you think can be done.
Believing with majority of the voter
Of Massachusetts, of Rhode Island, Of
Michigan, of Pennsylvania, that peopl.
cannot be made teetotalers by statute, ant
that adoption of prohibition would Civ,
Emmons county dozen "blind pigs j,
place Of two licensed saloons, the REcoR1
sincerely hopes that the prohibition
paragraph in the constitution may be de-
feated, and that high license may con
tinue to be law in North Dakota.