The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1898-11-05
CrumpetS or No Crumpets?
EDITOR CECIL WING:

The temperance contest now on in our
county, simmeted down is very simple one.
1t is very like that described on the immortal
pages of the Pirkwick Papers. Sam Waller
quotes to his master in the Fleet prison, the
words OF tie doctor when arguing with the
patient WAC Insisted upon eating crumpets
as matter of principle. "Crumpets is
wh"i"soMr.' said the patient. "Crumpets is
Not wholesome" said the doctor. Licensed
| liquor houses. q score aud more, would be
Wholesome for Cecil, says the advocate of
License. Licensed houses are not whole
some" rejons the local optionst; rum and
ruin are welded and cannot be divorced"
Such is the issue. Would the opening OF 20
whiskey establishments on December next.
by the sovereign authority of her citizens and
with all the sanction and authority OF law be
wholesome for Cecil county? That is the
question to be settled at the polls next Tues
day. 1t lays a weighty responsibility upon
every voter-a responsibility he cannot evade
or shirk. Though not voting. he is respon-
sible Tor the consequences. By voting "for
license he accepts and shares the RESPONSE
biity for whatever damage to young men, to
husbands and fathers, to homes, business and
other important interests that nay spring
| from licensed rum, aye, and the damage that
comes to himself, through that vote. The
| Almighty has branded that with his "woe'
Habbakuk 2: Is. Surely, every citizen
| should weigh the matter very seriously. To
do 80 may require a little effort in the way of
thought and time but as her energetic sister
in-law said to Mrs Bombey on her death-bed:
AN effort is all that is required" That
effort put forth and followed up by a vote o
match will mean, We are persuaded. Il
| doath-5ed OF License il Cecil. Voters OF
Cecil! are you ready 10 erect Il small liquor
oigArchy or monopoly inyour midst? Ait-
Gle Il, Of the Declaration Of Rights. prefXel
10 the Constitution Of Maryland. declares
that monopoIies are odious, contrary to the
| spirit of u free government and the principles
of commerce, and ought not to be- suffered"
| Are you prepared to vote against that good
democratic doctrine? mo principle" snys
Judge Pitman sis more firmly implanted in the
American mind than that which John Adam,
placed in the Bill of Rights, preilxed to the
Constitution Of Massachusetts No man, nor
corporation. or association Of men, have any
other title to obtain advantages or particular
and exclusive privileges, distinct from those
| OF the community, than what arises from the
consideration of services rendered to the
public The license law proposes to invest
with very high prerogatives above their fe-
lows twenty-five favored men. What dis'in-
gulshcd services, we ask have they rendered
the public in consideration of which they
claim such exclusive rights and privileges?
| Absolutely none. Perhaps it Is because OF
what they will DO, that they are thus favored.
But has their business ever meant or can
not it mean other than evil to every interest
|
means debauched men. ruined womer, des-
| poiel homes. increased crime, endless i'm
morality. The evil of the whiskey traffic
| needs no demonstration at this late dute.
The proposed license law with its restrictions,
| LIMITATIONS aud machinery is the strongest
| poSsh" confession of the inevitable iniuuitv
| of the hole business. Voters of Cecil Are
you ready in defiance Of the letter and SPIRIT
| of our laws and constitution not only to es
| tabsh in our midst monopoly but IL monoI-
| oily to do evil.
Citzcus Of Cecil Are you willing to ac-
| cept bride in consideration of your vote tor
| WhiSkey? That precisely is what the pro-
posed license law offers and the whiskey aG
vocate urGes-the value Of the traffic to the
| community, in the revenue derived from it
and the alleged consequent reduction of
taxes, money to pay for public Improvements,
etc. 1t reminds Us OF the offer of Pnryne,
the famous courteZan OF Athens. Alexander
had destroyed the walls of Phelies The in
| famous woman offered to restore them. pre-
| vided she might incribe upon them, Destroy
ed by Alexander, restored by Phryne, the
courtezan' The offer was Indignantly re-
jected 10y an outraged public. So should
| Cecil citizens by Il understanding mo
rebuke this dastardly attempt of rum to cor
rupt the source of authority. the people, hy
| Offering them Il bride.
Citizens Of Cecil Are you willing to let
the rum interest pull the wool over your eyes
and cheat you? The proposed license law is
a very clever device to do that very thing 1t
is lauGed a. II pet temperance measure-a
sure cure for tue ALLEGED speak easy evil.
Masquerading as n goOdtemperancc measure
it is wholly i'll the interests OF rum.
%. 1t goes into operation, il adopted,
December /. next, thus cutting off in the in
terests of whiskey six months of the four
years for which Cecil citizens carried local
option. That, it il said, was a necessary
concession to the strong petition sent to An
napolis last year But what petition short
OF majority of the citizens of the county
was competent to force such II concession
| (2). This law creates commission and
invests it with such extraordinary judicial
powers as. if attempted to be exercised will
in the judgment OF legal experts raise the
question OF its constitutionaity. The result
will be a law not enforced or no law at all
so that whiskey says to the county. Heads
| win, tails you lose"
49, This law provides for certain 'whole-
sale houses where liquor may be sold in
quantities as small as pint, not to be drunk
on the premises. This will create "iug ="
traffic and result not only in the multipca-
tion OF speak eases but in the transforming
of homes into whiskey hels. Was this feature
: of the law intended to provide n convenient
source Of supplies forspeak easy proprietors
Here again the law is strongly in the interests
of rum and against the morals OF the county.
a.. The drug store feature, so obnoxious
in the local option law to the reformers with
in the whiskey camp is retained in the new
License law, with whatever possibilities of
mischief may be in it-and the opponents of
local option allege that the drug stores are
arch-violators OF the law. The proposed lie
ense law takes them under its fostering wing.
This law is wholly in the interests of rum.
Vote for it and you will soon find yourself in
the sad predicament Of Juliana in the old
verses intended to point medical moral but
which hold Just now Il moral of another sort
for Cecil county.
"Sighing in a shady grove with my Juiana,
Lozenges gave my love, Ipecacuanna.
Full twenty from the loZenge box the impru-
dent nymph did pick;
Then very gently, signing said, My Daman,
am sick"
Vote for this license law and start twenty
two drink factories and you will soon be more
than - sick The safe thing-the wise thing
the right thing for any citizen, is to vote
next Tuesday
against LICENSE"
Then, as duty number two, see to the en-
forcement of the local option law thus adopt
ed. J. MCELMoYLE.
Elktop, Nd, Now 3rd, 1898.
hole ir,;t ota