The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-11-21
FACE TIE MUSIC.

FACE THE MUSIC.
We are gratifed to see that the News
has at length. though in a very mild
hammered way, brought forward the only
real issue in the liquor question: 1t
says:
The law should also provide, ff-posslble,
that a SALOON shall be- closed at the
hours when the liquer traffic is forbidden.
The great weakness of the present law
is that X does not require a saloon to be
closed, nor make the presence of the
bartender and Of men apparently custO-
mers Illegal In short II seems, to-affOrd
every facility for purveying drinks at the
prohibited times, requiring the law to
prove. that liquor was furnished and
drunk, and not something that looked
and smelled like liquor. In other words.
the present law seems framed for the
protection of the saloons which wish TO
break it. Let us have a law which shall
mean what it appears TO mean, namely,
the restriction of the liquor traffic in GER
tain well-def1ned ways
When the present virtuous city admin
istration was seeking election The Senti-
mel stated that the liquor law could not
be enforced and was not intended to be
enforced. The present city administration
has NAA4ACA AAAAE III Ap4ACEN NlApA I " Gil
force the law or It has not made one.
If the former branch Of the dilemma be
accepted the result proves The Sentiners
statement, for the law has not been en-
thing knows it has not been enforced.
No law can be enforced unless there is
some way of getting evidence. to convict
those who violate it, and there is no way
to obtain such evidence as to the liquor
law without the use of what IS called
''the spy system" That system always
meets with popular disfavor. even at the
hands of those who make the loudest
protestations of desire for the enforce
ment Of the law. And there you are.
Enforce the law. but carefully avoid the
only possible means by which it can be
enforced. That is the demand of ignor-
intelligence and honesty back of such a
demand
But the News suggests the remedy that
is easy and practical. If You cannot en-
lDICc l4lG present. ldNs 1lltht a law lIltt
you can enforce. Everyone knows that
when a saloon is open at prohibited
hours it is open for business. People
who 60 to saloons at such hours go there
to drink. 1t is a waste of time and
breath to talk about the purpose being
anything else. And the way to stop it
is, as the News states, to make it a
penal offense 70 have a saloon open at
prohibited hours, to allow people to enter
at such hours, to have bartender pres
ent at such hours. And equally plain is
it that persons who enter a saloon in pro-
hibited hours should be made violators of
law. This IS the reasonable way Of set
Ting the whole matter and the only ques-
ton now IS whether the republican party
wants to live up to the professions it has
made and is still making. If the repub-
lcan party wants the saloons. closed at
II o'clock, or u o'clock, or at any other
hour. it needs only to pass law that can
be enforced.
But we venture the prediction that it
VIII not pass Sucn law. TOO many OF
its leaders are interested in the liquor
business. and too many are interested in
getting a drink when they want it, and
too many are interested in retaining their
hold on the saloon vote. The position Of
the republican party on the liquor ques-
ton is and always has been pure hypOc-
risy and false pretense, and if the good
citizenship league and other organiza-
tons desire to prove it all they have to
do IS to demand the passage of a liquor
law that can be enforced. That is the
reasonable thing to do if these organlza>
tons mean business. There is neither
sense nor justice in using the entire police
force Of this city and twenty extra men
in an effort to do something that cannot
be done, while life and property are left
in danger elsewhere. Highway robbery
has reached proportions here never heard
of before. Burglary and arson have be-
come common. 1t Is high time TO aban-
don hypocrisy and try common sense-or
at least it will be high time when the
legislature gets together.