Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-05-17
SOTND TALK ABOrT HOTELS AND
LfQrOR SELLING,

When the Bennington hotel keepers
closed their houses recently as a means Of
bulldozing the public because they had
] been prosecuted for liquor selling, Hon. A.
| b. Valentine gave his fellow townsmen the
/ following sound aud enlightening talk on
the subject. Maj Valentine does not be
| lieve that prohibition is the only means Of
dealing with the liquor evil but he also
/ does not believe that there is one law for
hotels and another for other kinds Of bust
| ness
! am surprised to note the disposition in
our public prints to go ON record as sympa-
thzing with the violators of our laws, and
practically 10 say, that, because a law is
| distasteful especially to its violators) there
| fore it should not be enforced
1t may lie, and u.s. debatable question
whether prohibition or high license is most
in the interest Of temperance, but it should
not he a debatable question whether the
| law as it is should he enforced If our
| prohibitory law is wrong, enforce it and
make 1t SO Odious as TO cause its repeal, but
while it is "a law it should be obeved ] am
among those who are perfectly willing to
go on record as believing that we would he
better without hotels, than with those
whose principal business is to sell rum to
our townsmen.
The cry that liquors must be kept for
guests is a fraud and our hotel keepers
know it. 1t is the patronage of the bar by
our citizens that they want, rather than to
be able to satisfy the demands Of the trav-
cling public. Good food, good rooms, and
good bed are enough for the average
| traveller, and, where these are found,
have yet to learn of complaints because
there is not public bar On the contrary,
complaints have been constantly made
against our hotels, 10y travellers, on account
Of too free flow of whiskey.
Business men travel, but business men
very rarely patronize the saloon, by what
ever name known.
In our village, but one, or at most, two
good hotels can be supported by legiti
mate hotel business, but, instead of that
the cry is for four or more places where
rum can be had under the name of patron
age of the hotels. The state of affairs
which has existed in our town, in this par
tiCular, is a simply disgrace to u.s. and
| dsreputable to our hotel keepers, al d all
good citizens should rejoice and be glad
that there seems to be beginning of the
end of it.
For quarter Of century, or more,
Lewis Cady, of the olden time, kept the
Stark House, on strictly temperance princi-
Piles, and prospered a. none Of his success
ors have prospered under the bar necessity
rule. A similar house can be kept today
and prosper. The moral influence Of the
late Landlord Lewis Cady, the irreproacha
BILE character of his hotel, and its business
SUCCESS from legitimate hotel patronage, is
in strOng contrast with the moral influence
which has since gone forth from the hotels
whose doors are now barred against the
public, because, forsooth, they cannot sell
rum and violate statute law with impunity.
repeat, this is not question Of the
best law, but of the enforcement of the
law considered by our legislators as the
best
If our hotel propretors do not fancy the
business or the law, let them retire 10 more
congenial pursuits, or 20 where the laws
are more to their liking No one asks them
TO pursue business at a loss, and no one
ought to ask them to stay in town and set
the example of law breaking But, rs
they have chosen 10 stay here, and have de
llberately taken the risk of violating the
laws Of Vermont, even after the expert
ence Of fine and threatened Imprisonment
let them take the consequences like men
and not 20 about seeking sympathy and
rs they express it, endeavoring to manufac-
ture public opinion. They cannot even
plead in eXtenuatiOn of the offence that
they have not been notified, and warned,
and expostulated with
No, citizens Of Bennington, who take
pride in its good name, let US not counte
nance compromise for the sake Of liquor
selling hotels, let US not assent to law
breaking as a reward for opening their
doors, but rather let us 90 without a hotel
for a season, as we may be sure that, when
it is settled that no open bar is to be allow
ed, that our laws must be respected, that
temptation shall not be set before our young
men in supposed respectable places, that
our officers of the law will be sustained in
the discharge of their duty, then, and not
till then, shall We have hotels which will he
run on the basis of doing a legitimate hotel
business, and be credit, instead of dis
grace, to our town.