Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1900-05-11
The Local Option Question.

ultimo the Rev. T. ID. Richards publishes
some comments upon my article OF the 18th
ult. He makes many of the same errors in
relation to the bearing of certain decisions
Of the courts, the relation of the liquor men
TO this discussion, &C., as Mr.. Choate did
which matters were treated in my communi
cation of the 4th instant. The personal jibes
of the Rev. Mr.. Richards as to the paucity
Of my taxables and the voluminous charac-
ter of my knowledge of the violations OF the
local option law are duly appreciated, but
II is difficult to see what these matters have
to do with the case. The public is entitled
to plain statement Of the facts and fair
discussion, and 1t is not so foolish as to re
ject such because offered by one who does
not happen to be heavy taxpayer or pos
sessed of the same business tact and shrcwd'
ness in the matter of money saving as many
others, including the Rev. Mr.. Richards.
Some people might question the good taste,
II not the propriety OF the act, of minister
of the gospel, who, after dedicating his life
to the work of saving souls, ignores the
Bible teachings, "Take no thought for your
life what ye shall eat or what We shall drink !;
nor yet for your body what We shall put on.
Take therefore no thought for the
morrow; for the morrow shall take thought
for the things of ITSELF" and, among other
things, avails himself OF the services of
his handsome stallion with or without
State license) to increase his revenues,
whereby he is aided In "living sumptu.
ously in his private life" or In laying up
treasures on earth instead Of in heaven, as
the meek aud lowly Jesus taught us TO do
But it Ia also difficult tn see how such things
have anything to do with the case, unless
1t be to explain the paucity OF his powers OF
moral suasion and the consequent necessity
In his opinion Of invoking the strong arm OF
the State to leGislate religion or temperance
into the people like hyperdemic injections.
Many persons believe that good old'time
religion is the only thing that will insure
temperance, but some people who profess
Christianity often get away from Its basic
principle or really doubt the facts upon
which their faith ought to rest. In this
connection | am reminded OF an anecdote OF
an aristocratic old dame who when listening
TO her spiritual adviser heard the Savior
spoken OF as King of the Jews--"Was he a
King then ?" she exclaimed. "Well ! am
glad to know 1t, thought he must have been
q gentleman, and never did believe in that
story of his having been carpenter"
The following statement will be found in
my article of the 18th ultimo "But the
friends of the present law insisted that the
trouble was not with the law itself, but the
manner of its enforcement, that conditions
had changed and that both the practicabillty
and usefulness Of the present law would
now be fully demonstrated. II these pre-
dictions are verified within the next eighteen
months, all may be we'll for time at least,
but if on the other hand these predictions are
not verified, or only partially and unsatIs.
factoriy verified, an issue will be presented
which should be openly and squarely met
by the eople and a satisfactory plan ar
ranged for It's settlement by the next Legis-
lature There ia ample time and opportu
nifty to observe the course of events, and to
consider at the same time the advantages or
disau vantages of the various features OF any
new law proposed while the one now upon
the statute books ia undergoing its crucial
test"
We have thus presented "a a basis OF dis
cussion the operation OF the local option law
from the date of its adoption to the begin
ming OF the last term OF court, that is his
tory-what may happen In the future, both
as TO the operation OF the law under our
present officials and their SUCCESSORS, Is pure
speculation, the discussion OF which would
be mere waste of time. We know that
under a given set of conditions history Is
dreams OF Messrs Choate and Richards as
TO the near future should prove realities,
what reason have we to think that the his
torical evils, which almost every one knows
To have been incident to the operations OF
the law in the past, will not promptly re
occur with another change OF officers, whlie
the tai payers continue TO carry the burden.
| used the term "internal revenue license
as 1t is used in common parlance. MT.
Richards very properly calls attention 10
the fact that the United States issues no
such license, but on the contrary, imposes
tax upon liquor sellers. The State OF Iowa,
after trying various means To prohibit the
liquor traffic with poor success and great
loss of revenues, passed law in 1894 which
imposed lust such tax Ia very high one)
upon saloons, and to meet the objection oil
many worthy people to license system,
this law, among other things, provided that
this act is mot TO be construed To legaliZe
the "business OF dealing in liquors, nor Is
the tax to be construed 10 be license nor
To protect the violator Of the prohlbitory
laws from any penalties, except that certain
penalties are to be suspended upon the con
ditions herein described" Under this law
the counties aud municipalities OF Iowa re-
ceived over million dollars in liquor taxes
IOT tut year lOOO1 anu hNOtNoo WV Va fShN'
ture of large amount in prosecutions. Mr..
Richards does not seem TO object TO a tax
system OF this kind. Would some common
sense adjustment upon such basis as the
Iowa tax law meet with his approval II
so the matter can possibly DO adjusted by
unanimous consent, unless such disposition
OF the matter would too seriously interfere
with the biennial bush whacking expedl-
tons OF the Anti-SaloOn League 10 which 1t
preys at pleasure upon either or both OF the
old political parties.
Mr. Richards is pleased TO say that "sump
tuary laws are almost universally condemn
ed as they ought 10 be, because they seek TO
forbid man from living sumptuousy In
his private life The local option law does
not forbid you to drink all you wish
but IL does forbid you 10 sell a man drink
II the local option law does not accomplish
the purpose Of preventing people from drink
ing, IL Is q farce, and If by the above legal
fiction it does accomplish that result II is a
mere evasion, and Is 10 effect one of the
sumptuary laws which, according TO Mr..
Richards, "are almost universally condemn
ed as they ought to be-" Practically speak
ing II Ia merely matter Of tweedle dun and
tweedle dee The validity Of the law is not
being questioned and such rehnements
snOulu DC lett 10 LnOSe WHO Will lubibt upon
occupying space with lmmaterial matter.
The question Of the cost of the present
system 10 this county will probably be the
subject Of another article, but suppose that
the amount of the fines collected for viola
ton Of the local option law should be suffl
cient TO meet the costs Of prosecutions which
has not been the case heretofore, does II not
amount practically 10 an indirect tax" up
on liquor sellersY And II 80, could not a
different system be adopted for tho purpose
of collecting such tax so az 10 give the tax
payers the benefit Of II instead Of having II
consumed 10 court expenses That the fines
under prohibitory law are equivalent 10
an indirect liquor tax, appears 10 be proven
by the following statistics:
The Prohibition State Of Kansas, as com
pared with the other States and Territories,
is 18th 10 population. In the year 1896, the
fines collected for violations Of the local op
ton law in that State we're $186 .454, while
Pennsy wanna, which received State, county
and municipal revenue Of over eleven mil
lion dollars, collected only $685. In fines