Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-04-09
Prohibition Vermont.

which is probably small i'll comparison
with that used in New York and other
LIQUOR States," so Called but it is equal
ly true that large quantities are used in
that State, and for drinking purposes,
too. This is shown plainly enough by
the following instructive statistical
event,
Vermont is nOminally a prohibition
state, even bOasting priority over Maine
In the date of the law prohibiting the
sale of intoxicating liquor within her
borders. The State, however, recognized
the necessity of the use of alcoholic
liquors for medicinal chemical and me-
chanical purposes, and created the office
of town agent to dispense them The
agents are appointed by county com.
missioner and are required to give 5000
bonds fol the faithful discharge of their
duty. The selectmen furnish the liquor
and the proceeds go to the town.
OF late years some of the towns have
been making large profits derived from
such sales at their agencies, so the Legis-
latuse of 1894 decreed that hereafter all
profits derived from such sales, in excess
of ten per cent, of the total sales of the
year, should be turned into the State
treasury. Already this has had the eff
feet of cutting down the price of liquors
in number of places, which example
will doubtless be followed by most of the
towns in the State. The ground is taken
that if the sale of liquors at saloons, etc.,
| is immoral it is manifestly true that it
is equally immoral for community to
profit by the sale of liquor. That such
| is done is shown from the fact that last
last year in fifty of the largest towns in
the State the profits of the agencies were
| SIS, ,470.2S. OF this amount the share of
the State under the new law is $6,091 .35.
| These figures do not include Burlington,
the largest city in Vermont. These fifty
towns constitute fOrty-two per cent. of
the total population. During the year
they bought $40, ,037.O6 worth af liquor
for medicinal, mechanical and chemical
purposes, or fifty-seven cents per capita
spent for legalized liquor. Should this
proportion hold true throughout the
State, the licensed liquor traffic is worth
$3.50. 1856 to the wholesale liquor dealers
without the State. These fifty towns
sold liquor through their town agencies
amounting to $109, ,S41.2S for medicinal,
chemical and mechanical purposes, or an
average of seventy-eight cents per capita
for every man, woman and child. Could
the same proportion be relied upon in all
parts of the State the people of prohibi-
tion Vermont would have bought for
their own use, by the consent of the law,
S26l, ,527 worth of liquor during the year.
OF these 80 towns only 2 lost money by
the sale of liquor, and only 10 failed to
make profits large enough to be obliged
to share with the State. The United
States government received 81 ,250 for Ii
censes. The salaries paid these 80 town
agents amounted to 50, 434.S9, or in other
words, in state where liquor selling is
crime, 80 people at least are allowed to
500 to S795 for the nominal work. Bur
lington paid its liquor agent S705, Brat
tleboro $3.50, Middlebury S400, Rutland
and Bennington $500 each, and other
towns averaged about 5000 each.
The town of Barton has population
of 2,217, and the proceeds of the liquor
sold by the town agent during the last
year were $2,O75, or nearly 81 for each
person. The profit was S394.S4, and of
this the State will receive about S17j. The
profit of the town of Bennington was
S5O4.29, of which the State will receive
S275. The agency in BrattlebOro sold
S, ,269. 40 worth of the ardent during the
year. Residents of the town bought So
S94. AS. The total population is 6,S62. The
net profits were 81, ,233. .06, of which the
State will get S307.02, In the city of Bur
llngton the total sales were So, ,2G5.1S In
the town of johnson, with population
of |, 1862, the amount of sales at the agency
were S2,312.41, equal to $l,5S per capita.
In the town of Ludlow every inhabitant
spent 81, 80 at the town agency. Mont
pelier, the capital of the State, is the
banner town. The sales amounted to
S6,523.17, and the profits to Sl,79l.93, of
which the State gets 81, ,O396l. In Poult-
ney the sales amounted to Sj19.13, the
profits being only SS.16. From the city
of Rutland the State gets S244.4O, as its
share of the profits; from St. Albans
nothing, the total sales here amounting
to only 1925, on which the profit was
$9432. St. Johnsbury will pay the State
S55S.Sl, Vergennes S642.3O, Wallingford
$3S4.73. Williamstown sold to the
amount of $9S963, and lost S9O,45 on the
business.
A glance through the different reports
shows that many of the larger communi-
ties actually sold less LIQUOR through
their agencies than their smaller neigh
bors. 1t is absurd to pretend that with
a population one-fourth as much as st.
Highest of all in Leavening Power,
"A