Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-04-17
PROHIBITION IN VERMONT.

For At years Vermont has promo
tied the manufacture and sale of IN
toxicating liquors for beverage pur-
poses. For Al years the thirsty ele-
ment has periodically presented it
self before the legislature, pleading
for more drink, and pathetically in
sisting that the state was call going
to the dogs'' because they had no sa-
looms. Without break, these petit
from the back door. '"There is about
as much likelihood of the legislature
repeating that law as there is of pass
ing a law to hang themselves" said
Deputy Secretary Of State Phinney to
me the other day. For 40 years Mr..
Phinney has been sergeant at arms OF
the legislature, and knows what it is
| generally made of.
There is probably no civilized COM
monwealth on earth that has less law
and less need of law than Vermont.
There are only about 80 police officers
in the state. In all Vermont there is
not a known gambling house. There
was one, and possibly two, at Burling-
ton, but they have been forced to
close up. There are but two known
houses of ill-repute in the whole
state.
In license state the sheriff of a
good sized county expects to make
$4,000 or $40, 900 each year in caring for
the prisoners. For the entire state of
Vermont the total expense Of all jails
| for 1898 was less than $1,000.
In license state, ordinary coun-
ties expect to pay something like
| hundred thousand dollars in court ex-
penses, criminal prosecutions, etc.
For the year 1898, the whole state of
Vermont had to pay less than $780,
600 for all court expenses, including
tails, sheriffs, criminal prosecutions,
clerks, attorneys, judges, etc.
The leading claim of the liquor pro-
paganda regarding prohibition in
Vermont is that cit costs SO much to
prosecute the liquor men that the
taxes are running the poor farmers"
AS a matter Of fact, during the past
ten years, the fines and costs collected
have paid all expenses OF prosecution
and returned about $230,000 into the
state treasury besides.
Take the financial view. Open the
peoples ledger-the reports of the
savings banks. The increase in pop
ulation since prohibition went into
effect has been 6 per cent. The IN
crease in sa wings banks and trust de-
posits has been 1854. Counting men,
women and children, % out of every
100 inhabitants OF Vermont have ac-
counts in savings banks, more than
one out of every family.
There is OF course some liquor
drinking in Vermont. The railroads
cross the state line at q diff erent
points. The state is surrounded on
three sides by license territory. There
is no law forbidding anyone from i'm
porting a reasonable amount OF liquor
for private consumption. Merchants
in Massachusetts, and New York give
bottles OF whiskey as premiums to
their Vermont customers. The law
provides clown agents" to furnish
liquor for all proper purposes. There
are, of course, numerous bootleggers,
but the extent Of this traffic is ridicu-
lousy exaggerated. During the last
eight years I have visited every state
east of the Rocky Mountains except
Maine, and I have never seen a Ii
cense state whose liquor laws were
not far more frequently violated than
are the prohibitory laws of Vermont.
If some bibulous traveller fishes a
drink out of some Vermont wood
pile, he brags about it for the next
five years, and writes communications
to his newspaper telling about how
ssplenty liquor is in Vermont"
visited all the cities Of the western
half of the state, where illicit liquor is
saiu to be the most plentiful. In all
these cities there is not place where
stranger can get liquor without re-
sort to strategy, except at st. Adams,
Gov. Smiths home, and there one
must make diligent inquiry, for the
bars are all hidden in back rooms or
upstairs.
[ entered the state from Troy, ar
irving at Bennington zone of the al
legged wide-open cities) at midnight.
''You can't get much to drink, but you
can sell goods up this way you bet!"
exclaimed a drummer with me. [
found town Of 1900 people, with
500, 900 schoolhouses, a free library of
1000 volumes, a solid marble depot,
savings bank with nearly 100000
deposits, a local historical society that
no JornoCt