The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1892-07-13
Additional Local.
Re-submission of Local Option.

Re-Submission of Local option.
Ever since THE TRUE NoRTHERNER
has been under its present management
its voice has always been raised on the
side of temperance. 1t has always en-
dorsed and upheld every law that in
any way tended to lessen the evils OF
the liquor traffic. 1t has always advised
the people patiently TO await the work
ings of every law passed for the regula-
ton of the traffic before condenping
them as inadequate to the requirements
of the times. When the existing county
option law was passed we entertained
doubts as TO its efficacy to cope with
the evil, for we readily foresaw bow
easy matter it would be to import
into county adopting the law liquors
from its neighboring counties which
continued to legalize the traffic. Still,
we had hopes that these impOrtatiOns
would only effect that class of men who
aOiH drink as long as liquor is manufac-
tured, and that the closing of the open
saloon would remove terrible tempta-
ton from the youth of the county and
give them chance at least to grow up
TO manhood in sobriety.
The almost total failure, the first
year, to enforce the law in this county
discouraged its most ardent supporters,
many of whom acknowledged (among
themselves) their disappointment with
the law, and commenced to cast about
for an avenue of retreat that would not
be an absolute surrender to the liquor
interest But THE NoRTHERNER urged
them TO hold fast what they had and
hope for something better-at least for
a better enforcement of the law. And
we had it, During the next year eUery
saloon and bar in Yam Buren, county 9CdS
closed! Convictions followed each other
in such rapid succession that the deal
ers were forced to acknowledge that,
so far as they were concerned, the law
was success. But land here comes the
worst feature of the whole question: in
proportion as the saloons were closed
the importation business set in, and it
has been kept up TO such an extent that
to-day there are more men in Paw Paw
of whom whisky can be bought than
ever before in the history of the town.
That this assertion is fact, no man
who has his eyes open and his senses
about him doubts, and the very tempta-
ton that we were all so anxious to
remove from our boys assails them in q
hundred fold more dangerous form and
from direction that il is impossible,
under existing circumstances, to guard
against Employees around public barns
and shops, transfers, hOrse-dealers -
all sorts of men in all sorts of places -
are peddling out the vile compound in
quantities of from half-pint flask 10 a
three gallon jug, until to-day parents
and guardians of boys are fearful of
having them ort of their sight for a
moment lest they be caught in the
snares SO temptingly set to entrap the
unwary and the unsuspicious. Each of
these bootleg dealers has some one man
through whom he does his business, and
this one man knows exactly whom to
trust, so that it is next to impossible to
reach the root of this monStrous evil.
Boys from II to 16 years of age are fire.
quently known to have bottles of whis-
ky in their possession, and cherished
sons Of respectable parents are carried
or helped home in state of maudlin
intoXication. These boys could not buy
drop Of liquor from an open saloon !
If saloons were open under the existing
state laws, this importing business and
bootleg retail traffic would cease, for,
as the phrase goes, there would be
nothing in it,
We contend to-day, us we have al
ways contended, that no valid argu-
ment can be offered in favor of the Sa-
loon. But when we find ourselves con
fronted with two great evils, one of
which MUST be endured for the time,
let us choose that one the hight, and
depth, and breadth of which we can at
least imagine, and which is hedged
about by restrictions that render it
vulnerable to legal process.
For the reasons above set forth, and
for kindred reasons not herein speci-
fled, we believe the existing local option
law should be repealed