The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-12-04
Enforce the Law.

Editor of Watchman:-The temper
ance contest now being waged by the
newspapers of the state has several
phases of interest and importance.
The right side of some of the aspects
of the question has been ably presented
in the columns of the WATCHMAN,
and there is no occasion for further
discussion by myself or others.
But there is yet another standpoint
from which this controversy should be
viewed, The papers that so unceas-
ingly attack the present prohibitory
law, and whose vocabulary never seems
adequate to express either their horror
over the fact that the law is not per-
fectly enforced, or their detestation OF
every attempt made to enforce it, are
really, unintentionally or otherwise,
setting in motion influences that will
have tendency to bring all law into
contempt. Indirectly, these attacks
upon existing statutes, statutes which
represent the oft-expressed wish of a
great majority of the people, -tend to
bring not only those particular acts, but
the whole body of law, into popular dis
regard. The vituperation and personal
abuse directed against citizens and Off
Gals engaged in executing the liquor
laws of the commonwealth are gradu
ally setting in motion influences that
will make it hard for public official to
enforce any law. 1t is far less difficult
to unleash the dogs of war than to
bring them back when once they have
tasted blood, and it is much easier to
awaken and foster the spirit of lawless-
ness than to hold it in check when once
it is rampant. One of the danger sig
nails of the times is the growing disre-
gard fer law and authority. This dis
regard is evidenced by the lynchings
which are now beginning to be prac.
ticed in the North as well as the South,
by the wholesale bribe-taking and cor
ruption among the constabulary of
some of our great cities, and by the sys-
tematic and organized opposition to
law and officials of the law manifested
in certain of the great strikes of the
past few years.
The rabid attacks by some of the
state papers on the laws and officials of
Vermont are directly in line with the
evils above mentioned, and all good
citizens should, whatever their person II
belief in the advisability of the present
prohibitory law, stand like a wall of
adamant for rather than against it's en-
forcement. This is the only true course
for patriot to take, and any other, in
9nItp nf ananinno raaonninn tn ho
trary, has in it the essential elements of
treason to constituted authority
son OF the same kind, though not of the
same degree, as that which sought to
disrupt this nation and paralyze the
government in the days of '61.
Personally, believe in the essential
justice OF the law. To me the principle
involved in the law seems the en-
bodiment OF the essential teachings of
Holy Writ. When the law against
idolatry was broken as soon as en-
acted, God told Moses to 90 down and
bring public sentiment up TO the laD,
and not to degrade the law to the level
of public sentiment. That was ulti.
mately accomplished, though it took
some centuries to compass the feat.
The public sentiment of the state of
Vermont can be brought up TO the
point of demanding the enforcement of
its liquor laws. The fact that the
saloons of the great city of New York
can be closed one day in the week
shows that, if we had sufficient num-
Der of officers of the moral caliber of
Roosevelt, and press and the pulpit
and the pew standing squarely by them,
the law here could be rigidly enforced
seven days in the week. Let the law
stand, Mr.. Editor, and let all patriots
stand by those officers already willing
to do their best to enforce it, and let
every wel-directed effort to protect the
homes of the state from the greatest
curse of the nineteenth century re-
ceiye cordial support from all those
who love their feilOw-men.