The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-11-30

As the people Oh damned the con
stltution. SO viii they ordain the
naturalization OF all public instru-
meuts.
THE LIQUOR QUESTION.
The question of regulating the
liquor traffic has vexed almost every
community in the nation. After
more than forty years of agitation
and numberless experiments III MANY
states with prohibition, local option,
high Incense, low license and no
' license. the traffic has grown and
! tcurIshed and the evils resulting
from the use af intoxicating liquors
have not been dim! nished, much less
abated. The object sought after in
! all methods of regulation are sub
stantialiy the same-to retain what
ever good there may be and Danish
! thc evil connected with the use of
| spirituous liquors. This is the task
temperance people have set out to
! a accomplish. Those who seek results
| ought not to fall out about means.
/ Here in lowo we have almost made
3
| with various plans of regulation.
! Surely no one will claim that either
of them has filled the hopes of its
! advocates or proven satisfactory.
The quarrel still goes on.
The republican party having aban-
| dOned Il position held for several
years III support of prohibition and
substantially taken up a new ground
! along side of democracy is not con
/ elusive evidence that the people de-
sire to return to any kind of license
| system whatever.
The plan as outlined by Gov.
| Boies contains nothing new. 1t is
the same old contrivance tried over
and over again for the past forty
years. AS a plan for restricting the
use of Intoxicating liquors, the re-
cord is against it. AS a plan for
collecting public revenue, it is con-
trary to good morals and good con
| science. A license traffic has all the
bad features of other forms of pri-
vate monopoly. The increased re-
| venues which the traffic must pro-
vide under this plan acts as whip
and spur to increase the sale, and,
with it, the evils attending the use
of strong drink. Instead of making
| the traffic yield larger revenue by
making larger sales, as the license
plan proposes, it would seem TO be
wisdom to reverse the plan and tax
ing out all profits, to destroy the
incentive for extending the traffic
beyond the line of useful purposes.
Private profit is the life of the traffic,
A great proportion of the evils re-
suit from the seductive places and
attractive forms through which it is
presented to the people-all because
of the profit to be had from its sale.
Cut off the profit by state ownership
tree withers plucked up by the roots
THE CORRECT SOLUTION.
The great mass Of the people re-
ceive no profit from the traffic. 1t
Is to their interest to have as little
consumed as possible, and that lit
tie for useful purposes only. 1t
should be inspected and branded
with its true quality by officials hav-
ing no pecuniary interest in its sale.
This, we believe can only be done
through a system of state sUpervis-
ion.
Upon this question the peoples
party has taken the same high plane
where it placed the great questions
money and transportation. Believ-
ing we have hit upon practical So
luton OF the question we as all who
are. seeking to restrict the use of in
toxlcating liquors to consider well
the reason we offer for our faith
that absolute ownership by the state
of the whole traffic for all purposes.
! and the elimination of all profits
| offers the suaeSt, safest and most eff
ticlent cure, for the evils of the
traffic. The government now has
complete control over the manufact-
ure of liquors so far as collecting
revenues Is. concerned. It is our
position that the government should
60 one step farther and control the
sale, taking for the people sufficient
| revenues to pay expenses and no
! more, thus cutting out all the profit
| from the retail traffic, and DESTROYING
the only incentive any man can
have for engaging in the business,
| aud until such time as the govern
ment shall take charge, the state
shall own and control the traffic.
| Such IN my opinion, fellow citizens,
Is the position of the peoples. party
on these three questions,
80 TIME FOR ACTION.
There was time in the history of
mankind when the king, the conuu-
erer and the. aristocrat ruled the
world. The people were not sup
posed to have any rights; they lived
upon the earth by permission of the
king. We IN herited and still retain
many of these old notions. .. T.
| Seven centuries ago our ancestors
| met at Runne Mede and forced King
John to sign the great charter, stip-
| ulatlng that justice shall not be sold
nor delayed nor denied to any man,
that foundation has spung the
mighty structure. the right of the
| people to control their own affairs.
| The old parties stand to-day as King
John stood IN the great highway Of
progress. satisfied with holding the
power, and controlling the wealth in
their own interest, they seek nothing
further and of couse find nothing.
oppose our demands as being dan
| gerous innovations on time honored
customs. just as the kings of the
earth have done from time~immem-
oral. .t'.,'..' .-s...'ss
! '''''~ THE END 81
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