Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1898-08-11
A sumptuary Law.

in your columns of late on the prohibi-
ton license question. To be sure 1t Is
an old theme, but always interesting to
many of your readers. The position
of your paper appears to be one OF iair
neutrality, willing to give each side a
hearing. 1t is only by full and free
discussion that the truth can be de-
termined and the right prevail. The
approach of a session of the law-mak-
ING body makes the matter of especial
opportuneness now.
| desire to touch briefly on some
points that have impressed themselves
on my mind that have not seen fully
brought out, at least in recent discus
sion before your intelligent readers: |
hope may at least start new train
of thought, if my communication does
not carry conviction.
What is prohibition? What is Ii
censeP What is local option? They
are all methods employed in different
localities for dealing with the traffic in
intoxicants. The first forbids It, the
second permits il throughout the state
on payment of a certain fee, the last
leaves it to each municipality, town or
city. to determine according to its own
desires. II is generally admitted that
the use of intoxicants as they are used
bv mankind is detrimental to the race.
Strong drink helps nobody except in
cases Of illness. The abuse of liquor
all know to he harmful. The tendency
of a moderate use is to feed the appe-
tite and f:lsten the habit until the will
is captive and the man wreck. ! say
such is the tendency. Ii Is not, how
ever, the inevitable consequence, or
even the rule. The first glass does
not, as some of our good temperance
lecturers would have us believe, lead
directly and irresistibly to the drunk
ards grave. We all know many men
who stand high in the community, who
are respected for their ability, char
acter and worth, who sometimes drink
with moderation. They will, in nine
ty-nine cases out of a hundred, live
temperate lives and die honored. Some
of our greatest men, including even
our beloved Mckinley and Dewey. are
not teetotalers. In fact the proportion
of men who never touch liquor in any
form is enthusiastically small. If the
world were left to that class of people
there wouldn't be enough of them to
preserve the species from destruction
by wild beasts. The great mass of
civilized mankind uses liquor in some
form at some time. do not say that
it would not be better for the race if
this were not true. believe that ow-
ING to the abuse of drink by small
portion of those who indulge, the whole
Institution could better be dispensed
with than kept. But believe that this
is absolutely impossible because drink
ing in moderation does not impress it.
self as sufficiently harmful to condemn
the whole. Some liberty must be left
the individual One of our inalienable
rights is that OF eating and drinking
whatever we please. There Is no law
against drinking. even in rock-bound
Vermont. Ii man is determined to
kill himself by drink he can legally do
so anywhere,
Now while drinking is never bene-
fetal and In many cases harmful, the
same can be said of many other things
that are not so frowned upon by our
law. The use of tobacco, card play
ing, dancing and many other things
are seldom of any benefit and actually
harmful and demoralizing in their ten
dency. Why not prohibit them9 Be
cause of the harm resulting from over
indulgence on the part of a few, would
il be right to stop the rest from doing
what is not seriously harmful to them?
And yet prohibition aims to do this in
the case OF drinking. The rights OF the
individual are so clear that the law
does not undertake to dash the cup
from the lip, but seeks indirectly to
accomplish the same result by making
it impossible for the man. however
moderate his use of liquor. to obtain it.
Il is not strange that a law aiming to
do by indirection what is illegal di-
rectly meets with the opposition that
ouriprohibitory law encounters.
The ideal temperance law would be
one giving the opportunity to procure
liquor to all those who would not abuse
its use and shutting Off all those who
have not this ability. But how can this
be done? Who can determine when to
refuse the customer and when not?
The interest of the dealer, of course, is
not to refuse anyone. The more pat
ronaoe the better for him. The man
himself is the best judge, and many
times he is not competent, or his appe-
tite gets the better of his judgment. No
third party, standing between the SELL
er and purchaser, can well determine.
Hence it may as well be admitted that
the ideal temperance law is impossible.
The alternatives are to try to stop all
drinking by everyone through prohibit
ton of selling. or to use every effort to
keep down the evils, while permitting
the sale to those who do not abuse the
use. Which method is the better and
fairer, as Illustrated by experienced
Fifty men, on hot summer day,
range up to an open bar and drink
glass of beer apiece. They 90 about
their business refreshed, certainly none
the worse Tor what they have DONE
wrong in that? Any reason
why the law should seek to prevent
fhon1 nv fhraafaniuo tho vandoro Affor