The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1890-03-07
The Weakness of Local Prohibition.

AONs@N
are good stepping stones to aid in effecting
the work official abolition Of the liquor evil
of the country, which has become the great
est obstacle to progress, both moral and
material of any cause now present. Both
these systems serve as trestle work in the
erection Of great bridge, 10 the temperance
reform that nearly all persons profess they
desire to see completed. Such temporary
supports are never intended to be relied on
by the engineer except to aid him in his
work as part of the necessary tools employed,
although casual observers are liable to mis-
take them for part Of the structure being
feared.
The efforts making to force the saloon
back upon the unwilling people Of this
county is case in point, showing the in
herent weakness and insuficiency ofall such
temporary remedies. Such laws if not re-
placed by more substantial ones, like the
trestle work under bridge, are liable to be
swept away in moment and the work Of
years has to be replaced at great waste Of
time and loss in labor and money.
So active has been the whiskey element
that petition of 1900 names has been, 1t
is reported from Annapolis, sent to the leg
islature asking for the ''resubmission" Of a
license law to take the place of the present
prohibition law Of this county. under which
the county has so prospered for the last
several years. And the bill that Is "prayed'
for we are informed names April as the
time for taking vote on it by the people
of the county. The whiskey legions. having
been we'll equipped for the raid, are to
swoop down like troop of cavalry, recap
ture the county by dash and place it
under saloon garrisons. This is the con-
slant danger to which all detached local
laws are exposed. The liquor power is
now national. 1t is as completely organized
as the army of the United States, and
strengthened by treasury filled by the
tens Of millions of money it has robbed the
people of. The movement which over
powers this immense force must be as we'll
organized and of national proportions also
The main strength of the liquor power is
fortified in the United States government.
Before the government gave it its protection,
the business was degraded and weak. Cap
italists would not risk putting any money
into it. But the moment the government
laid its encouraging and protecting hand on
the business and made it a source of rev.
enue, capital considered it safe and invest
ed largely.
1t may appear to those who have not
given the subject Of political economy any
study, impossible that taxing business
would encourage and protect it. 1t is nev.
ertheless true that the government tax is
the greatest protection the liquor business
ever received or can be favored with, and
the next is high license. To demonstrate
this we will make a few figures which we
find ready prepared a; hand, taken from
government records.
IS Dbl. of No. spirits, S SAITH proof gal.
Ions, IS l-2 cts. Original cost )......$ Te2.45
Tax on 5,647 gals at 90c.. 6,0S2.97
Total. $685.. "A
Cost OF goods including barrels profit to
dlstlller, etc. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 1852 40
Tax exacted by the government; about
'Oo per cent OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 6US2.91
And here We meet with the government
prote ction. This $76245 worth of whiskey
is locked up by the government officer and
kept safely for three years, and no one is
allowed to make any liquor during that
time unless he pays 90c on every gallon dis.
posed of. This capital of $762.45 in 8 years
amounts 10 $5,Ss5.42. 1t requires large
capital TO successfully operate business of
this kind, and competition is cut off, and
the rich distiller can 60 on manufacturing
liquor for l33 cents gallon, and Fill mp his
ware houses till the time comes to sell when
he pays the government 81 Cts gallon for
so much as he has orders for and puts his
goods on market where the price cannot be
put down by competition because the gov
eminent fcrbids that. The business of the
liquor merchant now is to collect the 80 cts.
gallon he has paid the government off of
the consumer. The first process is to re-.
duce the liquo, from the strength the gov
ernment allowed it to pass, by adding ten
gallons ofwater to every fifty gallons of
liquor, which is gain of 20 per cent. And
from the wholesalers the stuff passes to the
saloon, and no one can tell how much adul-
teration and mixing it is subject to before
it is drank in some of the low groggeries.
The point which we wish you to note is
that the real cost of this quantity Of liquor
is $762.45 with the interest on that sum
while the whiskey is ripening, and all above
is virtually watered stock, fictitious value
which is collected from the consumer, who
not only pays for the real worth of the liq-
uor $762.45 bnt the government tax and a
large profit to distiller, wholesaler and sa-
loon keeper.
While the protection the United States
gives the liquor business places it in the
hands Of rich synoicates, the high price in
vites the worst and greatest amount of
adulteration, before it reaches the consumer,
OF any other goods. If instead ofa capital
of $5,SSj.42 being invested only $762.45
was all that was placed between manufac-
turer and consumer, there could be no con-
siderable amount of capital invested. There
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