The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-02-07

reputable for the individual to be
rum seller. Comparatively few native d
Americans engage in the retail liquor S
traffic. The foremost Christian denOm- !
nations. such as the Methodist and (
PRESBYTERIAN. exclude liquor-sellers j
from church membership. But license, I
high or low, makes the tate liquor
seller. AS Horace Greeley was accus-
toned to say, cit is disreputable enough
for the Individual, under the pressure
of personal wants, to become liquor
seller; but for the whole State to become
such, and this with no necessity, but
from pure greed and cowardice, is infa-
NOUS.
The actual saloon of our day is notorl-
ously school Of crime, an ally OF
anarchy, a fountain of social misery,
source of heavy taxation, cesspool OF
political corruption. License makes
the whole community partner in the
business of the actual saloon. To that
business, with these results, License
gives governmental sanction, and so a
legal responsibility. But the actual
saloon in most cases has infamous
allies. The gambling-hell and the
brothel and the gilded High License
saloon usually go together in great
cities, AS Prof. Uerrick Johnson says
in an epigram not soon to be forgotten,
''Low License asks for your son; High
License for your daughters, also High
License tempts the salaon to make alli-
ance with the gambling-hell and the
brothel so as to raise funds to pay the
High License fees. This temptation is
rarely resisted License of the saloon,
therefore. may easily amount in effect
to license of gambling and harlotry.
It is assumed in this discussion that
the wickedness of licensing these allies
( of the saloon is admitted. But the
= community that fosters the liquor traf-
~ fic by giving it legalization, does prac-
= tica!ly make itself largely responsible
- for the usual allies of the traffic.
:, Liquor selling, it is sometimes said
- is not a sin in itself. But the business
% of the actual saloon is what is in ques
ton. We think that this is sin in 1T
# self, fully justifying the exclusion OF
" the liquor seller from church member
- ship, as it now does in the leading evan
10 gelical denominations. But certainl.
49, the business, even if it were not sll
in it's circumstances. The wickedneS
~ of all forms of license is proved by tn
,to wickedness VIGOROUSLY resulting from
"a the business of the actual saloon OF on
-, day. Tomake the community partne
&c in that business and its results by llcens
NV high or low, is not only the worst socis
Of economy, but also ethical wickednes
on The actual liquor traffic, as the Meth'
;f dist Church officially declares, ga
,,u never be legalized without SIM
~ NAV not be a sin in itself to light
~ match, but it is a sin in it's circumstanc'
IN to light match in powder magazin
~ The actual saloon manufactures pau
80 ers. criminals, widows, orphans, NADINE
1000 and lost souls, and license Of the actu
- saloon makes the community itself
tho participation in this wlckedness.
inc Licence proceeds upon self-contrad
-: tory principles. 1t sanctions the trat
.oa with one hand and condems it with
40 other. In the days of the Americ
uo conflict with slavery, Governme
Of treated slave-holdinga as crime north
Mason and Dixon's line. All the pow
.so,f of the Government was to be brought
die bear against it there. One hair's-breat
south of that line, however, slav
} de- changed it's character and was to
, Gne permitted. All the powers OF
e IL Government were to be exercised
CIV defend it there. History has
Sc IS proved that policy thus divided agai
q I' ~ itself could not prosper. Under a lice
.ense system, Government treats the liq
the traffic as it once did slavery. The
rary, cense fee is Mason and Dixon's
i poyo On one side of that line Governn
nt on condemns the traffic. A hair s-brea
,ate" across the line, on the other side,
that ornment defends it. These princi
n t'n an are self contradictory. Ahouse div
against itself cannot stand.