The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-11-12

day in the afternoon I took a stroll about
| town, visiting the vicinity of number
of the voting places Either the liquor
drank the day previous held out better
than Is usual, or there were immense
quantities being drank during the hours
when to sell or give 1t was prohibited py
law l counted more than twenty men
go in at the rear or side door of one
saloon, on Main avenue. before any one
| came out. The front door was closed, or
course. Election days and Sundays are
the best days for business that many sa-
looms and so-callcd hotels enjoy.
o.
When complaint Is made about the
manner in which the average nquor
seller violates the law. we are told TO
enforce the law, or to be quiet. Now l
want to say that under prevailing condi-
| tions the law cannot be enforced against
this very respectable class of law-break-
| ers. Because first, men perjure them
| selves in order to defend the liuuor SELL
| er; second, the evidence required to con-
| Wet is more than Is required in any 9TH
er class of cases ever brought before our
courts; third usually on the jury will
| be chosen one person who is preJudiced
| in favor of the saloonkeeper and he VIII
F! do his utmost to secure an acquittal;
| fourth, the malignity with which the
costs of prosecution have been placed
| upon the friends of law and order, who
| have undertaken to prosecute such Of
| tenders, has cured many of us of any
| desire to place ourselves where we are
| sure to be punished for attempting to
enforce the law. This is the condition as
| it appears to us. The physician or the
| clergyman who fails to make returns to
the board of health, IL a criminal The
/ man who spits on the floor of street
| car Is brute. The wheelman who ac-
cidentally runs down a pedestrian in the
| ,,s,l, l. cod
person who sells intoXicants to children
and inebriates, in any quantity desired,
| and who sells, contrary to law, on sun
| days or on election days, Is gentleman
| who may hope soon to be chosen to i'll
| some office of honor and trust, by the
suffrages of the people.
Now, the time has come when, in the
| interests of society and of the common
wealth, a change must take place. This
| bare-faced, wanton, and anarchistic Vio-
| lation of law Is a menace to the stabil-
| ity of government, and should cease.
| What should be done? Why, simply this.
| Give the law. and the friends of the
| law, a chance. Let the Legislature en-
act a statute with suitable penalties,
compelling constables and the police to
arrest any person found intoxicated on
| Sunday or on election day, and provld-
| ing that the said intoxicated person be
| compelled under the law to TESTIFY where
| the intoxicants were obtained. If there
| be a refusal to give this information,
such refusal to be punished by fine, or
| Imprisonment, or both. 1t is time to
| take hold of this matter In a business
| like way. 1t will work no harm to the
respectable liquor seller who keeps with
in bounds of law, and it will do much to
remove one of the most wanton and dam
gerous evils which threaten the stabil-
| ity of the state.
| If this government is to stand it's laws
must be respected and Obeyed. The no.
| torious and constant violation of law by
| keepers of speak-easies saloons, and So
called hotels, who cannot be punished
with conditions as they now exist, is
| breeding contempt for a law which ar
| rests poor, helpless inebriate and robs
him of five dollars or some similar
amount which magistrate may inn
pose upon him as a fine for being drunk
| and disorderly, when we all know that
a more guilty party, who will not be ar
| rested, violated the law in selling to an
intoxicated person. Let us have done
with a privileged class of law-breakers,
and remember that the law was made
for the protection of the law-abiding, and
for the restraint of the lawbrealking citi-
zen. If present laws are not adequate,
let them be amended or new ones en-
acted which can be enforced.
Yours for civilization and good gov
ernment. F. p. Doty.
| Scranton, Pa, Nov. II.