Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-09-17
LICENSE US. PROHIBITION.

| going on Will T0SdTU W UAO 1OPOoi VI
our prohibitory liquor law.
Laws for checking intemperance, he
said, are not self enforcing; and when
the enforcement of the restrictive
features in license law is tried in
Vermont, if that day ever comes,
then we shall find ourselves face to
face with the same old obstacles that
have impeded the enforcement of
prohibitory laws-appetite, greed of
gain, desire of popularity, lust of
Office. week kneed complacency, the
embarrassments of friendship, kim
ship and pecuniary obligations, and
the like-and we shall assuredly hear
the taunt, "Restrictions do not re-
strict" as we now hear that s:Probibi-
ton does does not prohibit"
The essential part of Mr.. Wright's
sermon was that in which he showed
how the very same delinquencies of
officials occur under high license as
under prohibition. AS proof that
of liquor sold, he quoted the state
ments of leading wholesale liquor
dealers in Omaha, Quincy, ILL.,, and
Chicago, one of whom says that ''High
license has not hurt our business, but
on the contrary has been great ben
| eft to IT'D Another advocates $500
license, as barring out prohibition,
and giving the business legal stand
ing. Another says: Gin our opinion
| high license does not lessen the con-
sumption of liquor. In our state we
think it bars out prohibition. Another
says: "High license gives us longer
lease, and pacifies great many who
are unfriendly to the business" And
still another writes, eve cannot see
| that high license lessons the consump-
ton of liquor, and 1t strengthens the
legal standing of the business"
The Chicago Daily NeaUs has recently
said that Give years of experience of
high license in Illinois has shown that
it in no way checks the consumption
of Intoxicating liquors nor lessons the
evils or crime from their use. The
dives and dens, the barrel houses and
thieves resorts, are as bad and as fire.
quent in this city o-day as they ever
were. Call high license what it is, an
easy way to raise a revenue from vice,
but let there be an end of endorsing it
as temperance or reform measure"
Facts were given from the twin
cities of ST. Paul and Minneapolis
showing that liquors are sold there
without license, are sold to minors
and intoxicated persons, are sold
openly on Sunday, are sold all night,
that the officials are open to impeach-
ment because of their total failure to
enforce the law, and that the police
wink at the gross abuses which exist.
Investigations made in Omaha and st.
Louis proved similar state of things
to exist there.
The lesson drawn from all these
facts is one nearly always overlooked
in discussing the abuses which exist
under our prohibitory law, and the
conditions which SO often make one
think that the law is farce and a
honesty. In view of such facts, and
of the oft-repeated charge that by
pc erisy, and perjury and official cor
ruption are rife under prohibition, Mr..
Wright asked, ''Is there exemption
from these evils under license? Is
there, under license, no deception, no
hypocrisy, no adulteration of liquor,
no sharp maneuvering to get the
better of the law and the officers of
the law, no collision between officials |
and those whom they should indict
and arrest, no bribery and corruption,
no slip of justice between the cup Of |
Indictment and the lip of conviction,
sentence and payment of penalty? |
Do people never vote for license laws,
and then inconsistently invite, and
share i'll the violation of the restrict
i've provisions of those laws?'
The point touched upon by Mr..
Wright is one too often lost sight of.
The facts gathered and presented by
him go to show that the same corrupt
system of protection would exist
under high license that so manifestly
exists in our larger towns under pro-
hibition. This fact may be accepted
as assured: A prohibitory law can be
enforced when we have officers who
are determined to enforce it. This
has been proven by two states attor-
neys in Windham county in recent
years. There is no reason to suppose
that a higher state of morals or a
higher sense of official responsibility
would be DEVELOPED under high license