Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-05-06

the enlargement of any Federal preroga-
tive; it is not tendency toward central
ization, nor yet in the drift toward the
the breaking down of the sovereign powers
of the States. That it has no political
significance in these directions is obvious
from the fact that if political prejudices
have anything to do with Court decisions,
in this case there are none, for the decision
is by three Democratic and three Repub-
lican Justices.
The prohibitory law of Iowa was asked
for, and the campaign preceding its adop-
tion was based upon the distinct UNDER
standing that it was not intended SO much
to interfere with the use of liquor as
beverage, as to suppress the evils of the
saloon system. According to the Iowa
State Register, conservative and thought
full paper, the prohibition argument was
aimed mainly at the bar, which was held
to be menace to society. That journal
says:
.Iuc Stdtemeut WAS repeatedly mace 0y the
advocates of prohibition that they did not in
tend to interfere with social habits that did not
themselves interfere with the welfare of society,"
But the open saloon, the dram-shop, with its
mites for squandering the wages of the poor
man. its incentives to crime and its shelter to
criminals, must go. The Supreme Court gives
no word OF encouragement for its return But
friends of prohibition took when they dis
claimed any intention of interfering with indi-
yidual habits that did not injure others.
So, to repeat, the decision amounts
to this, that man who wants case of
liquors or any unbroken package of ardent
spirits delivered to him in Iowa, from a
seller of liquors outside of that State,
can have it done, but he cannot break
such package and sell from it, or sell the
package to another in the State of Iowa so
long as the laws of his State prohibit it.
The Prohibitionists have already an
nounced that one of the labors of their
future activity will be to procure from
Congress the enactment of law providing
for the removal of the restriction
upon the State in dealing with imported
articles which have not been mingled with
the common mass of property in the State
This appeal to Congress will be made upon
the basis of an expression of the Supreme
Court that will be found in the para
graph which we quote from the decision in
this article.
The Philadelphia Press and the New
York Euening Post as well as the Chicago
Inter Ocean, hold that the effect of the de-
cision will be to destroy license laws
largely, because under the ruling liquors
can be sent into State and sold in un-
broken packages, however small, without
the payment CT any license or tax, while
local dealers will be compelled to pay
both license and tax, and thus be placed
at decided disadvantage. This may be
true to limited extent, but those jour
mails are in error in the assumption that
the decision will permit one ito set
up as an importer and do a flask and bottle
business" free from tax or license in his
locality, since the law, as construed by
the Supreme Court, does not recognize as
an act of interstate commerce any sale |
after the receipt by the importer. So far,
then, as the original recipient is con-
cerned. he can undoubtedly receive liquors
in original packages without tax or
license, and just as far as his consumption |
affects local dealers they will be injured. |
but in State where the sale is prohibited |
and tax and license are unknown as a |
consequence, the importation can cut no
trade figure, while in States where the
traffic is not forbidden, the law and the
custom remain as they always have been,
and there is no incentive to importation
by consumers.