Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-09-11
Vicious Law.

| VICIOUS Law
| EDITOR BENNINGTON BANNER:-It il
always good sign in a community t.
observe growing interest in the PEG
pie to enforce the laws of the land, anC
it is not a bad sign, if there are those
who believe the existing laws are bad
to use all honorable means to have then
repealed and better ones enacted. Sew
eral prominent and influential citizen!
of our county have recently, through thu
columns of your valuable paper, Spoken
in no uncertain terms in relation to oul
"Prohibitory Liquor Law" / for one
as citizen of your town, am very glaC
the writers have seen fit to express theil
opinions in matter that so vitality eff
tects the interests and future we'll beinl
OF the people of Vermont, and am very
thankful 10 you, sir, for allowing them
space In your columns for publication.
Having resided in Bennington since
1885, almost long enough to see two gen.
eratlonS OF its people pass away, and neal
a score of years before Vermont placed
on her statute books the law under dis.
cussion. venture to ask of you quiet
corner in your paper to express my own
opinion as to its working since its en-
actment, and to give some "reminiscences
concerning the rum traffic in our town
before its enactment, that the younger
portion of our present inhabitants are
too young to remember.
The very spirited article in your issue,
Sept. 4th, under the heading of IA vi
cious Law" wherein the writer says
I'VE seem to be on the verge of another
spasmodic attempt to enforce our long
dormant and practically dead prohibit
ory liquor law, which vainly tries to pre-
vent the consumption of drink by max
ing, the selling of it a crime" Further
on he says: ''tWe all know how drunken
ness and its attendant evils have not
even been checked, and indeed hay @ been
aggravated by their efforts" With all
due regard to the honesty and good in
tentions of the writer, beg leave to diff
fer with him in some respects, while
agreeing with him in others. l
know full we'll that the efforts of our
temperance and law-abiding people to
check the evils of intemperance in our
midst have been ''spasmodic," but when
he says 1.-The evil has not been checked,
and indeed has been aggravated by the
Efforts, | beg leave to protest, and can
only account for such statement in one
of two ways, either the writer's men,
DRY is at fault, for though young man,
he is old enough if it were otherwise to
remember differently, or that he is not
honest in his statement. | prefer to
give him the benefit of the first PROPOSE
tion, and l now venture the assertion,
without fear of contradiction, that there
is not man who has lived in Benning-
ton from the passage of our prohibitory
law to the present time, but knows and
and for shorter or longer duration, our
prohibitory liquor law has been enforc-
ed in Bennington to the extent that not
one open bar could be found in our town,
and no man or WomaH in our town dar-
ed to to sell glass of Intoxicating liquor
openly, so | conclude that when the law
is enforced to that extent that it has
driven the hydra headed evil out Of
sight, the debauching influences of the
open bar is removed, and the rum seller
is compelled to carry on his business, if
carried on at all, in places far removed
from the open light of day, although
the evil may not have been wholly an
initiated, l submit, something of check
has been put upon the traffic.
Again, the writer says: "a law that
cannot be enforced, that public senti-
ment will not uphold, is worse than no
law at all, for it is pregnant with great
er evils than those it was intended to less
sem" All laws, human or divine, are
subject to be broken, more or less, ac-
cording to the moral sentiment of the
community over which they are intend
ed to operate. Because law is not en-
forced, is that a reason of itself that it
should be annulled or repealed? If all
the laws on our statute books that are
not strictly enforced and upheld were
repealed, and only such as are strictly
enforced and upheld" retained, the next
compilation of the laws of Vermont
would be greatly reduced in volume. |
was glad to read in the BANNER of a few
weeks since, a report of the doings of a
large convention held at Arlington, of
devise some plan to protect themselves
against horse stealing. That evil has
existed as long as the evil of intemper-
ance, and law against it has been on
our statute books great deal longer
than our prohibitory liquor law, and yet
it is not strictly enforced. 1t was com
mendable in that convention to take the
course they did, instead of arguing that
because the law was not strictly enforc-
ed it should be repealed, or that the evil
could be better managed under restric-
tive high license law, coupled with local
option. No doubt the old argument
would hold good that much money could
be obtained for such license, which
would go into our treasury and thus re-
duce our taxes.
There is another law, that was pro-
mulgated thousands of years ago, and
as it would seem, in order to make it a
lasting and perpetual statute, it was
written upon tablets of stone by the
finger of Almighty God, andidelivered
to the children of man by chosen en-
basador of the Great Law Giver, to be the
rule and guide for all coming genera
tions. Has that law been enforced and
upheldP" If not, would it not be well
for our good friends who are so shock
ed at the non-enforcement of our pro-
hibitory law, and are so anxious for its
repeal, to go little farther in their zeal
for the welfare of mankind, and organ
ize a party whose avowed object should
be, repeal of that law which is the
foundation of all laws. and has been the
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