Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-07-12

From the Burlington Free Press.
The fact that eight states have recently
refused to put prohibitory clauses into their
constitutions, aud the fact that the state Of
Rhode Island has voted to strike out Of its
constitution the prohihitory clause which
was inserted two or three years ago, are
taken 10y the organs Of the liquor traffic 10
mean that the prohibition craze, as they
call it, has had its day, and that the states
which have prohhitory laws on their stat
ute books will soon have them no more.
This is quite too much Of jump to IA con
clusion. The facts alluded to simply show
that the majority Of the people in those
states have not the faith in constitutional
prohibitory amendments that some other
people have. The Importance Of constitu-
tional prohibition has beyond doubt been
greatly overestimated Many good people
have seemed to suppose that all that was
needed to stop liquor selling and intemper-
ance was a prohibitory clause in the consti-
tuition In Rhode Island, for instance, hav-
ing after a hard fight carried the prohihito-
ry amendment to their constitution, the
the prohibitionists settled down in the com
Portable belief that the constitution would
execute itself that the contest with the
rum traffic was over and that the saloon
must and would go-from the great city Of
Providence as surely as from the smallest
village They have found a constitutional
clause will no more enforce itself than a
simple statute, and thousands of good tenn
perance men who voted for the amendment
have now voted TO take it out of their con
stitution because they would rather not
have such a clause in their constitution than
to have it remain as dead letter
Paradoxical as the statement may seem,
constitutional prohibition is valuable, chief
~ where it is not needed In communities
like Vermont and Maine, for instance,
where the prohibitory law is sustained by
the sentiment of the great majority of law
abiding persons, constitutional prohibi-
tory clause is of no consequence. In this
state the prohibitory law is as stable as it
could be under clause in the constitution.
No attempt to repeal it, or to substitute IA
less restrictive law, has come within gun
shot Of success in the last thirty five years.
1t stands because it has been found to be "a
most effective agent-more effective than
any high license LAWN the suppression of
the liquor traffic because even where it is
laxly enforced it operates as a steady force
for temperance, putting ban on the sa-
loon, driving the bars into underground
holes, and removing temptation from the
slaves to their appetite for drink 1t is
feared and hated and resisted by every liquor
dealer-and it has fairly earned their i'll
will 1t has stood, nevertheless, and it is
going to stand, against the utmost efforts
of its opponents. Here constitutional
amendment could neither help nor hurt the
law.
In communities, on the other hand, where
public sentiment is more evenly divided
and the saloon interest more powerful
where a prohibtory law might be passed
one year and repealed the next-there "A
constitutional amendment could he of ser
vice, to give stability to legislation and to
the prohibitory policy of the state when
once adopted. But there. if the temper
ance people fall back on the constitutional
clause expect it 10 enforce itself and the
laws enacted under it, and relax moral eff
| fort constitution and law will alike fail and
| the people may be glad TO return to some
less stringent but more easily enforceable
mode of restriction of the traffic in intoxi-
cants.
We have never maintained that prohib-
ance. When a judicious law prohibiting
the sale of alcoholic liquors for other than
legitimate and proper uses can be enforced,
it is the fairest, most effective and most
practicable mode of legal restriction. Where
the necessary public sentiment is lacking to
back such law, some other method of re
pressing the rum traffic becomes necessary
Let local option do its best for temperance
where the state as whole is not ready for
prohibition. Let high license. the Scott
law, or other similar statutes, do what they
can to lessen the number and power of the
saloons, and lead the way up to something
better where nothing better is now practi-
cable. Above all let principles of self-con-
troll, temperance and right living be instill-
ed into the young and be obeyed by men
and women till we reach the good time com
ing when principle shall everywhere take
the place of prohibition. In the mean time,
and as a step towards better things, the
policy of adopting the strongest possible re
striction of the liquor traffic, up to the point
of prohibition, wherever this can be main
tanned is going to make steady progress in
this and other lands. 1t would make more
rapid progress if the political prohibitionists
whose folly has caused much of the seeming
reaction against the policy of prohibition
could cultivate little more common senst
and learn something by experience.