The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1899-02-24
w. CT. U.
CONTINUED from last weeIl

How absurd the supposition that the
liquor traffic can be thus conducted in
harmony with social order and national
we'll being. The Samlag system does not
effectively restrict the sale Of spirituOus
liquors.
Having objected to the foregoing meth
DDS, what do recommend?
Answer. A well metured system Of
local option.
l. This is the next step from Prohibi-
tion, sometimes amounting TO Pr"hibi'
lion in limited areas, and under this
system the best features Of the licens'
system can be Incorporated.
,. Local option, appealing directly to
popular ideas, can he obtained where
Prohibition cannot be enacted; and when
Prohibition comes under mo license v
vote, il has the weight Of direct popular
sanction.
3. There is no State IN which there
are not some cities and many towns with
sufficiently advanced sentiment to vote
and enforce mo license In Mass
achusetts two thirds Of the towns and
cities can be depended upon to vote no
license year after year Some have done
SO every year since local option WAS
adopted. Some cities of thirty thousand
to fcrty thousand inhabitants have always
done so, and Cambridge, with over
seventy thousand inhabitants, has sue
cessfully maintained this attitude forfve
years. This is a great gain. Boston
and some other cities, with large foreign
populations, always vote Eyes. y but it is
probable that mo license" would be a
nulli,y, or nearly so, in those cities.
5. In short, it may be said, that under
local option as much Prohibition can be
obtained as can be taken care Of; that is
as much as the local sentiment will sus'
tain.
6. lsit said that this Is Prohioi tion? II
is not prohbitOry statute, but one oI
local consent-a mixed system with
contingent alternatives of Prohibition
and license.
T. Local option is good educationa
measure for advancing the people to
higher plaue by the popular discussions
which prcccde each popular vote.
s. Is it said that local option implies
that the Legislature granting it shirk
its responsibility, aud shifts it upoI
$ others-the beople: Very we'll; bu
e when it is not possible to bring Legis
latures up to their high responsibilities
4 is it not well to get what we can frou
them! Is it not an statesmanship not Il
enact laws the enforcement of which is
very improbable? Are not our Statue
books already encumberep with law
q which have been long and widel.
unenforccdg Though sometimes eithe
= timidly or hypocritically pleaded is
e not true principle in legislation not Il
e run far ahead Of public sentiment?
y There are several important features o
local option which regard us yer.
disirabe.
: (a) Iwuuld have the question whethe
= liceuSes for the sale of alcoholic liquor
y shall be granted voted upon, not oftcne
than once in TWO or three years, and tn
voting should be By counties 50 AS /
n give good contiguous area in whicl
IS the policy may be tested. Two or thre
years is better than one. because whei
Il a new policy is to be tested more time
needed u prepare means and measure
u for enforcement.
(b) would have druggists plac
e under close restrictions. liable to inspec
tion at all hours, and would make th
penalty for the violation Of their licens
sufficiently heavy to be- deterrent.
(c) In case town or city or countr.
o votes in favor of granting licenses,
J would have lhe number Of the license
limited to one tor five hundred inhabil
+ ants in rural towns, and one for on
thousand inhabitants in citirs Of one iAou
sand inhabitants and upward;