The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-07
SUNDAY. 7, tse5-TwENrY

it was said. were shipped to reputable
citizens under the cover of dry goods
and crockery cases.
Every drug store in town experienced
a wonderful run on thigh wines for
medicinal purposes. All diseases
seemed to require a soothing liquid of
some kind. Doctors prescribed it. and
babies cried for it; in fact the motherly
instinct OF Eve seemed aroused as
never before. until many in the COM
munlty like an aged Scandinavian
friend heaving a big sigh, said, ''Wen,
IL does seem to me that I constantly
hanker after and love the taste of
everything the Lord has said was not
good Tor man" Eve was bound to
taste the forbidden apple and so her
posterity, weak in many things, be-
come strong when an attempt is made
to destroy human agency in the least
degree. Reformers might wish that
human beings were mere machines,
out they are not. God made man
naturally upright but man has sought
out many devices Of self degradation;
rev nave been more prolific of deceit
and of hypocricy than sumptuary
one man does for another that which
tne other should do for himself both
are injured; and further, that "Chris-
tlan nations are afflicted with no
greater curse than that of over legisla-
tion-restrictive laws, constantly fret
ting, calling and interfering with men
IN the exercise Of their natural rights
Another has declared, "Those who
govern least, govern best"
Now, as to the experience of Logan
City. During the one and a half years
IN which attempts were made to pro-
mott the sale and use of liquors she
gained no revenue whatever from that
source. During that period there were
no open saloons, but in their stead de-
Veloped sixteen different dives-dark
holes where young men feared to drink
and carouse through the night and
then creep into barns and outhouses to
sleep off during the day the debauchery
of the night.
Sixty-two cases of arrest and con-
viction during those eighteen months
of prohibition that did not prohibit
Then came cooler and better judgment,
founded on reason and experience, and
demanded high license and regulation
Under this new order five saloons
tions Of twelve hundred dollars
each per annum, and during the
eighteen following months the dives
and illicit dealers were closed
out and twenty seven arrests for
drunkenness. as compared with
sixty-two for the previous period,
were made. Thus the use of liquor
did not increase under the high
license system but like drunkenness
are no longer made in that line of
business, and yet the newspapers an
nounce that eighteen hundred of
Logan's inhabitants have petitioned
the constitutional convention to per-
manently adopt or submit to the peo-
pie for adoption the very plan here
tofore proven an utter failure. How
many of those eighteen hundred are
people of experience and judgment on
questions of this nature? 1t is likely
that less than one-fourth of them are
voters. Observation has shown how
easy it is to secure signature to
documents apparently involving no
financial burdens but at the same
time affording us an opportunity to
say what our neighbors shall, or shall
not do.
Again, what mother or sister, father
or brother would hesitate to sign any
document which they were told would
check the use of liquor in their own
or neighbours family Then again,
how many have the moral courage to
refuse to sign when the bearer of
the petition assumes a look of holy
horror" on finding anyone so far lost
to everything divine, pure and good
as ito favor drunkenness in prefer
ence to sobriety-the indiscriminate
use of liquor in preference to pro-
hibition.
Fix that fixture in the constitution,
thereby losing revenue through its
sale in the populous centers of the
territory, and from what source will
come the funds necessary to main
tain the larger city governments?
1t can only come from direct
increased taxation on the property of
those who do not drink liquor as we'll
as upon the property Of those who do.
The gentlemen of the convention
are doubtless aware that there may
be schemes known and unknown be-
hind numerously signed petitions, or
there may be no motive other than
that which naturally springs from
honest hearts and generous souls
desiring the welfare of all mankind;
but to the honorable members of that
body the people of Utah look fE
craftsmanship and the formulation OF
a constitution free from eccentricl-
ties. hobbies or fads of every kind. A
constitution founded upon principles
calculated to advance the liberties OF
men. women and children TO the
highest possible degree. Very res
pectfully, O6 o9 En-
Logan, Utah, April 4, 1885.