The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1891-07-15
The Liquor Traffic.

Except possibly in the case Of some with
whom " a fellow feeling makes them won
drous kind" the forward movement on the
saloons at Montpelier on the Sd and 4th Of
July is heartily approved throughout
Washington county and the state at large,
and in Montpelier itself the only note of
discord in the general acclaim of "well
done " to all engaged in setting in motion
the machinery OF the law and to the Of
ficers who so faithfully performed a diff
cult duty, arises from mistaken belief that
the saloons were somewhat unfairly dealt
with, that the search and seizure should
have been made before the evening of the
third. But as the WATCHMAN stated last
week, the complaints were signed more
than two weeks before the raid was made,
and whatever may be the reason why &C.
ton was delayed or deferred till July 3, the
signers of the complaints are in no wise
responsible for the delay or deferment.
The great mass Of the people were glad to
see the blow fall at any time, and the an
niversary of the national independence was
as good time as any. II any one made a
" compact with hell" promising the sa-
looms immunity on that day, the God-fear-
ing, law-abiding element at the capital were
not bound by the compact, and repudiate it
utterly. II the saloons or their friends are
aQgrieved on this score, they must seek re-
dress from those who made the compact
Public sentiment in Montpelier suStdins the
raid in time and circumstance, the Argus
hysteric shrek to the contrary notwith-
standing. Many would have "rejoced to
see the curse removed " at an earlier date,
but they sang their hallelujahs even at an
eleventh hour removal. And Montpelier
has not for many day been so quiet, or
derby and decent, her streets so free from
men showing signs of all stages of inebria-
ton, as during the days since the Fourth.
The change is remarked on all hands, and
il the citizens do their duty the new order
nf thinpq will he nprpptuatad
Now all Washington county has almost as
great and direct an Interest in suppressng
liquor-selling at Montpelier as the imme-
date residents Of the capital. Free rum at
Montpelier is practically free rum for the
entire region of which this town is the bust.
ness and geographical center. Prohibition
may be made locally effective in all the
towns in every quarter of the county, as
the people in those towns say it is, but the
traffic has for the most part been transferred
to Montpelier. The other towns have
" changed the place but kept the pain" So
the people of Washington county have
right to rejoice over the movement begun
at Montpelier, and to demand that the law
be rigdly enforced here now and here
after, and to complain if it is not so enforced.
Many outsiders are willing and eager to lend
a hand in its enforcement, to sign COM
plants and give any other support, mate
rial or moral. But Montpelier's own citi-
zens should, and will, do their whole duty.
Distant be the day when active, external
interference outside the constituted legal
authorities, is required to secure the enforce
ment of law here. What is true of Wash
ington county, in some larger sense is true
of the whole state. The name of Vermont,
throughout the length and breadth of this
land, is synonym Of public virtue, OF good
government. These qualities are the moral
and political complement of her " rocks and
rills, her woods and tempted hills" Every
son of Vermont is intensely proud of his
native state. Her capital is one of the fairest
and most picturesque of her many beautiful
towns. There is this one blot on her bright
escutcheon. For this Vermonters blush,
and for this Montpelier is everywhere re-
preached. These saloons have long enough
disgraced the farest capital of the fairest
state in the Union. They should henCeforth
become the object of the unceasing warfare
of every reputable citizen-every business
man, every professional man, and, more than
all others combined, of every laboring man.
In this work of suppressing the saloons
the way is straight and plain before every
good citizen. No one should falter, or allow
his aim to be distracted, and no one should
be inundated by the threats or personal
attacks of the saloons newspaper cham
pion. The saloon is the object of attack.
That should be kept steadily in view, and it
should be attacked persistently and system
atically, under the law, without heed to the
" barbaric yawp" showered upon the as
u
1t doesn't even wound. There are scores of
good men in town, and all over the county
and state, who may not be prohibitionists,
who may not be total abstainers who will
say God-speed TO a courageous, well-directed
effort to close up the rum-holes. The men
who are instrumental in this work, private
or official, will have the respect and graft
tude and support Of this community, and of
the communities around, even to the bounda-
ries of the state. The law should be rigor-
ously enforced, the same as the law against
DEMONSTRATING or any other law. We have
great respect for law-abiding citizens,
whether in respect of the law against traffic
in Intoxicating liquors or catching fish or
killing game. Our esteemed contem-
porary up street is an aggressive sup
porter of fish and game laws. The
poor cuss on Lake Champlain who takes
a fish from its waters, contrary to law,
to feed his family, had better have a mill
stone about his neck if detected, and be
cast into the depths of the lake, than to
have Editor Atkins after him, armed with
the penalties of the law for such otfenses
made and provded but the man who
deals out " liquid damnation " to his fellow
man, and atrociously violates the law of
God as well as the law of the state of YER
mont is the cherished object of his fierce
protection The citizen who sets in motion
the machinery of the liquor law is pariah;
the man who is violating the law is "A pat
riot. Strange perversion of the relations of
right and wrong! Our esteemed contem-
porary, as statesman or philanthropiSt, is,
we fear a woful mistit! But let the good
work go on, and let the friends of law and
order and of temperance in this county and
in the state support this movement, and let
them be assured that the solid men of
Montpelier" sustain the raid and the raiders.
They believe the time TO catch bears is
when bears are out. The bears were
around last week and were nahbed-and