The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-09-01
THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

At the elections held Few InouIns aSO
in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, 1or
adoption or rejection of constitutional
amendment prohibiting the manufacture
or sale Of intoxicating liquors, the negative
was carried Oy an immense majority in
each instance. This does not OF necessity
imply that the people Of those states are in
favor of the traffic, or that they do not
care to have it condemned by the voice of
the law, for it is well known that the liquor
interest and its supporters in every state
and territory are in the minority; 1t is
only an expression of disapproval of the
methods sought to be employed by short
sighted fanatics.
The people who voted down the amend
ment, as it seems to us, looked at the matter
in its proper light. The experience of
century has taught US that whether the
liquor evil is forbidden or permitted,
it exists and those who indulge
in it are not curtailed of that
indulgence to any great extent by the for
mer condition. Where prohibition pre-
walls as a measure of law, the cunning of
man is exercised to circumvent the law
and no wit is keener, no mind more inven-
tive than that of the habitual drinker; so
that the maintenance of such laws not only
accomplishes nothing, or at least very lit
tie, in the desired direction, but in too
many cases they convert the drinker into a
hypocrite, q sneak, a coward and liar
qualities which he might not acquire if lie
gal impediments were not placed in the
way of gratifying his appetite. 1t may be
A. ~, k,a
sacrificed in that way as the other, and so
It might were it not for the fact that one
evil does not cure the Other-that it finally
remains question of whether the victim
shall drink and not be otherwise debased,
or whether he shall have both conditions.
It is part of the great work which hui
name people, the press, the pulpit and even
the stage have to perform to emancipate
their fellows from the thralldom of the
demon rum. But force viii not do it,
neither will legislation of the kind referred
to- The best, in fact, as it appears to US,
the only plan, is restriction by means of a
license which is just one step this side of
prohibition and by means of which a grog
gerry cannot be maintained at every street
corner in the city and every s-rOads in
the country; then keep them under as
much surveill ance as the terms of the con-
tract with the licensing power and due
regard for the rights of the owners of the
property will permit; make and strictly en-
force laws Furnishing severely all cases Of
sales to drunken men, children under tif-
teen years of age without written orders
from their parents or guardians, keeping
open on Sundays, ETC., and then if,
with moral suasion, good examples,
and such pressure as is not irritating, the
victim cannot be reclaimed, he is incor-
rigible and can only be reformed by means
Of some unlocked for accident or the hand
of death But let US not add to the burdens
of a human life the other ills already
enumerated.
Utah has for many years upheld the high
license plan, and, while it has not done
everything the better class of people would
like, it has still accomplished a great deal,
much more than prohibition ever did or
could The latter has been tried in several
of our cities and in every case has had to
be abandoned because the result was a
complete failure. Probably more drinking
went on than before such ordinances were
enfor led; in some instances at least, this
was undoubtedly the case. The cities
gained no revenue from the traffic, and in
such bad odor do spoilers" stand with
courts and iuries that but little was
acquired by fines and other penalties, not
enough, as a rule, to pay expenses. THE
HERALD, therefore, admits against its will
that prohibition does not prohibit and is
glad under protest that the people of the
two states named have found it out and de-
cided on the best plan of action available
under the circumstances.