Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-10-21
y. %. o. g. Column.
/. o. G.. T. DIRECTORY OF ADD
SON COUNTY.
Failure OF HIGH LICENSE.

FAILURE OF HIGH LICENSE.
By this is meant failure from the
standpoint of temperance people who
wish for the destruction of the liquor
traffic, and not from the standpoint of
the liquor men who wish for the con-
tinuance and growth of the traffic.
From such standpoint, success means
at least some destruction of the traffic,
some lessening of its sales, some d.
mnishing of the army of drunkards and
of the number of young men drawn in
to fill up the ranks of the rapidly dying
off drunken host, some doing away of
its evils, its crimes, its political power.
Success must mean some sapping of its
life and undermining of its prosperity.
High License was first proposed as a
temperance measure. The first High
License law was the Slocumb law of
Nebraska, which was enacted In Feb
ruary, 1881. The trainers of that law
were John B. Finch, II. w. Hardy and
other temperance workers as earnest as
they were. In March, 1888, Missouri
enacted High License law and Illinois
in June of the same year. These laws
were looked upon as important tenn
perance measures and considered as
long steps towards Prohibition. Samuel
w. Packard of Chicago writes thus
about the enactment of the law In
Illinois: 81 was greatly rejoiced, l
thought it was a long step towards
Prohibition. tried to get up a celebration
over the great victory for temperance,
and offered to contribute $40 towards
fireworks for the OCCASION"
Since 81 many states have passed
High License laws, and their workings
have been watched by all, and now
their value, as temperance measures, can
very accurately be determined In de
termining the failures of High License
laws from a temperance standpoint, we
need witnesses who will give testimony of
their workings that can be depended
upon. CONGRATULATIONS and guesses and
destinations won't answer. We need
facts and the testimony of trustworthy
observers. The testimony at hand
shows that these laws are not success,
I'D in restricting drunkenness and
crime, (2) in lessening the amount of
sales, 81 in stopping illegal selling of
Intoxicating liquors, (4) in weakening
the political power of the traffic, (5) in
helping in any way to secure Prohibition,
(6) in awakening the opposition of the
liquor dealers.
The sentiment of liquor men in favor
of High License laws is trustworthy
testimony, as their favor is secured
because their pocket-books are thus
filled. The term High License refers
especially to the amount of money paid
by the dealer for license, or permit, to
sell for year. 1t ranges from $500 up
to $1,000 usually, but in some cases is
larger. Low License falls below $500.
The amount of money required for the
permit is supposed to limit the number
of saloons, while various other restric-
tive provisions are supposed to limit the
amount of the sales and In various ways
protect the people from the iniquity of
the traffic, and the evils of the drink
habit.
Let us first see what testimony we
have that cOnvicts the High License
laws of not restricting drunkenness and
crime. These two go together. Where
drunkenness prevails other forms of
crime prevail. No state abounds in
crime only as drunkenness prevails. 1t
is common practice for liquor men to
parade statistics which show up Maine
as a specially crime-bearing state. 1t is
one of the most hated states in the union
on the part of liquor men, but they
never give the source of their statistics.
Three or four years ago the United
States census bureau issued volume of
1925 pages on crime and pauperism. Its
tables are based on the last census re-
ports. 1t gives tables showing the
number of prisoners in the peniten-
tiaries and jails of the different states,
, grouping the Prohibition states, the High
License states and the Low License
states. North and South Dakota are
left out, as their Prohibition laws had
not gone into effect at that time of the
census. There were four Prohibition
states, Maine, Vermont, Kansas and
Iowa, and the number of prisoners In
them to 100000 of the population was IS.
The number of High License states was
16 and the number of prisoners to each
100000 of population was 19l. The
I number of Low License states was IL
and the District of Columbia and their
prisoners numbered 2l2 to each 100000
of population. High License and Low
) License stand near enough together to
be chummy, but Prohibition goes way
I, ahead of them with only about one-third
l as many prisoners, and that in spite OF
) the fact that at the time Kansas was
4 boarding for the United States govern
=. ment 60 prisoners from other states that
are here counted in as her prisoners
This witness shows High License to be
about as good a temperance measure as
Low License, for the measure of the
crime is a pretty accurate measure of the
T. drunkenness, while Prohibition, as 6
temperance measure, is out of sigh
e ahead of them both.
no Ln CALlLnllnl