The Press., 1896-10-01
Communicated

EDITOR OF THE PRESS Tn view of the approaching vote on the question of n- censing the sale of liquors in our town, 1t may be we'll to call attention to some de- liverances of the supreme court of the United States, which have direct bear ing on the question:
 1. The court declares: ''No legisla- tion can bargain away the public health or the public morals. The public them selves can not do this, much less their servants" Then, if we believe the liquor saloon to be detrimental to either health or morals,-and it is certainly detrimental to both-he has no right to tolerate the saloon because of the license fee.
 3. The court also declares: 'EThere ,, is no inherent right in citizen to thus sell intoxicating liquors by retail; it is not a privilege of a citizen of the state or of the | United States" Voters sometimes say. Men have a right to drink liquor if they want 1t, so will vote for license" The question on which we vote, however. is not whether men have right to drink but whether men shall be allowed to run saloons. We can not say that men have right to sell liquor, and so we will make it legal. Our highest tribunal has de- cided that question, and decided it in the negative. There is no such right, no such natural right. By the law of our state no one can have the 5egGI right to sell except he receive it as gift of the voters of the town. Upon the voters lies the responsi- bility of creating a privilege which other wise would exist neither by nature nor by law.
 3. Again, the court declares: "The l CfA ffGfiOS ofor amount of crime and misery attributable to the use of ardent spirits obtained at these liquor saloons than to any other cause." It will be observed that this is given not merely as matter of opinion, but as fact, shown by the statistics, not of one state only, but of every state.
 The court not only declares that statis- tics show the dram-shop to be the gleat- est known source of misery and crime, but by the following language declares that it IS generally recognized as at least among the greatest sources of these evils : By the general concurrence of opinion of every civilized and christian cOmmuni- ty there are few sources of crime and misery in society equal to the dram-shop." Certainly, the observation of every un- prejudiced person will substantiate that | judgment.
 The most important question to be set tied at the polls in Stafford next Monday is whether the town will give to any of it's citizens the privilege, which by nature and by law they do not otherwise possess, of establishing and maintaining these institutions which our supreme court pro- nounces to be the greatest known sources of crime and misery. If voter wants crime and misery in our town he will naturally vote ''yes;'' if not, he will naturally vote "no." I do not say that a man who is opposed to crime and misery will inevitably vote "no." Many good citizens have been In the habit of voting | ''yes." What mean is that no vote is the. logical conclusion from the declara- | t1ons of the supreme court, and from the we'll known facts in the case. To me 1t seems the only right thing for an enemy of crime and misery to do. l would as soon think of voting to abrogate any one | of the Ten Commandments as of voting for license, and am sure that for me, at least, the former would be no greater sin than the latter. The citizen who wants this beautiful town to become a model home for our people will not lightly vote to establish saloons among us. He ought to vote against it, and then use his best endeavOr to See that his vote is respected, No man who has boys in his own family, or who is interested in the welfare of his neighbors' boys, can afford co give his sanction to the saloon. The highest iu- dicial authorities of our nation and of other nations agree that the liquor saloon