The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-04-03
LETTET FROM VERMONT.



liquor as beverage. Among the first of
States to pass this law, Vermont has been
among the most steadfast in its advocacy;
and it has come to be taken for granted
that it should always remain, save that
it should ere long become part of the
organic as well as statutory law of the
state. In the contests waged in other
States over this great question, Vermont
has been cited over and over again as
State where prohibition prohibited.
Citizens from this State have emigrated
to Kansas, Iowa and the Dakotas, and,
because of their early training under pro-
hibition in their native State. have helped
to win the fight which made possible the
safety of their new homes in the States
of their adoption. At home and abroad,
from one end of the land to the other, it
has been generally conceded that prohi-
bitiOn was in Vermont to stay. Tit true,
there have been occasional attempts to
secure the repeal of the law, and more or
less constant efforts to break down its
enforcement by lowering of puble SEN
timent, but the number of legislators
who could be mustered to vote for license
was small, and spasmodic and poorly
directed efforts in this direction seemed
to make but little headway. The efforts
to secure its repeal are no longer spas
mOdic but constant. They are no longer
made without plan. The agitation has
! a head and front, the forces are thor
oughly organized, and the parties making
the assault upon the law are tremend-
ously in earnest. They have plenty of
money at their control, and they spare
no pains or expense to do all i'll their
power to carry their ends. It's high time
for those who believe in prohibition to
awake and bestir themselves.
fear that the majority of those who
believe in the present law are not aroused
to properly appreciate the efforts which
are now being made to secure its repeal.
"What are the forces that the advocates
of prohibition will have to meet in the
coming contest in the State?'
|. If the law is retained on our statute
books, large number of good men, men
who thoroughly believe in prohibition
both theoretically and practically, will
have to be aroused. They are good, easy
souls, and think that because we have
had this law of thirty-seven years, We
shall always have it. They do not real
ize that when men sleep the enemy comes
and sows tares, or that, while they are
indulging in bright hopes for their child
ren, pitfalls are being dug for their un-
|
nothing else but prohibition, and have
40 adequate idea OF what the Legitimate
results of license are. These must bt
aroused and inspired to put forth their
Uest efforts to maintain the sanctity Oh
yhe law.
2. There are a goodly number of peO-
pie in our State who have always been
counted as adherents of prohibition with
whom belief in this fundamental princi-
pie is a sentimental belief rather than all
intelligent conviction. If the question
las been broached, they have always
said that they believed in prohibition,
Jut they have never been called upon t.
give an answer to any who asked them Il
.easOn for the hope that was i'll them.
ihe advocates of license are doing larg,
mont of work among this class, and al,
making many converts. Since their be
Ief i'll prolibti IL has been sentimen
.Lther than conviction, it is a compare
lvely easy matter tor a paper whicl
ONES to them every day freighted wit,
ne most specious and plausible argu
nentS in favor of license. and the gross
st Misrepresentation of the workings
II prohibition to change them to be bo
levers in and advocates of high license.
The tempting bait of the promised rev
nue. is no small factor in the conversions
which are thus being made. Except the
rOhibitionists do solid work among this
lass, there is great danger ahead.
3. A very large class OF our citizens arr
practically Indifferent to the whole mat
Ter. They have no especial convictions
yither way, but are more or less incline,
.Oward the largest personal liberty. /.
IS a lamcntable tact that half of the pcO.
| 4. - h., 4 nj tnt tn al M
attend church at all 1t is. of course,
rue also that this class hear no temper
lnce lectures, read no religious papers.
md get very little information ON thi,
great question from the right side.
Careful school district campaigns ough,
20 he carried on, that the large numbers
II people who are outside of church ant
temperance influence may be reached
md brought to see and follow the right.
Ne cannot afford to neglect them.
!. There are quite a number of mel
IN the State who honestly believe in higl
license as a temperance measure. The,
see. what all admit, that the prOhibitoT
Jaw is not perfectly enforced; they thel
reason that the traffic exists, that it mus
exist, and that the wisest thing to do L.
recognize it, regulate it, and make 1t beal
its share of the public taxes.
These men are earnest and active; i
will not do to sneer at them; they mus
Ue met in fair and candid manner, ant
shown by indisputable proof that licens'
is not temperance measure at all, ant
,hat the liquor powers always prefer Ii
i cense, however high, to prohibition.
). If these were all the forces, thi
. would seem to be enough to cause ever,
: believer in prohibition to awake and be
4 stir himself. But these are not all, ant
4 are not the worst foes which we have t,
d meet. There is an organized force o
] men who are seeking to secure the repea
: of the present law i'll order that the
+ may make the traffic legal and respeC
table. They talk about temperance, am
l. about inaugurating an era of reform, an
S the like; but these are but phrases +
cover up their real design. The leade
!, of this agitation made it his boast tina
d he would make liquor drinking respect
able, and would spend a hundred thou
II sand dollars before he would fail in hi
It effort to secure a license law. The
''mean business"
v TO illustrate the strength of the force
p that are openly arrayed against prohib
Ii ton, let me state one phase of their az
tivity. There are at least seven intiueI
W tial papers in the State that are openl
% advocating license, and doing it col
I stantly, and with the utmost of sophistr
re and CasuiStry. In the six issues of
i single week the Rutland Herald devote
N 33 solid feet in length of columns to tn
le crusade in which it is engaged. And
D. is doing this right along; perhaps not S
ID much every week, but something in eac
e. days issue. 1t is an old proverb tina
,e water falling day by day wears tn
n hardest rock away A paper so widel
rs circulated as this, iteTating and Te-itera
re ing it plausible argument, seeking in tn
,r most speciOus manner to cast cOntemI
upon every effort to enforce the preseI
1t law, cannot be without tremendous il
n fluence. Besides the Rutland Herald
there are papers in Burlington, Brattl,
st boro, Bennington, Montpelier, Poultne
m and Fair Haven, to say nothing of Othe
,r sheets which are less open in their advC
e. cacy of license. One paper published a
10 Montpelier came out strongly for licens
d some months ago, but the majority of tn
proprietOrs out-vOted the editor, and thu
l. debarred him from using its columns TO
+ the furtherance of license; but of cours
d he could not be expected to give the pro
hibition forces any aid.
lie We must not let the enemy steal
g march on us and capture the caucus. W
is must not let him be more active than ar
Q. We We must not let him manifest NOR
% zeal in the breaking down of the prohib
% tory law than we do in its enforcement
" If those who believe in prohibition wi
4 arouse to the magnitude of the contes
before them; if they will put forth thei
J. best energies; if they will invoke the al
d of the press and pulpit, the rostrum an
1t the lodge; if they will summon to thei
d aid the army of white-ribboned women
d If, under the guidance of God, they wi
,,t;I;.o oil aya;labla ,aenurcas tbav "a