Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-07-08
..oUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND"

@|DU1 Of SIUnI, OUI UF MIND.
SIN discussing the prohibitory law
recently, the Montpelier Argus said:
zone of the queer delusions of the
prohibitionists is that by driving the
liquor traffic into hiding, where it
cannot be observed and regulated,
great victory has been won. They
reverse the proVerbial process of the
ostrich of hiding its own head, and are
thankful that they can hide the head
of the liquor traffic.
All of which is true enough if our
friends the prohibitionists could be-
persuaded to see it IN the same light
that we do. But they are not will
ing to be convinced. 'Out of sight,
out of mind" is literally true with
them. When they do not see saloons
wide open and bars busy they con-
graduate themselves that prohibition
is putting an end to the rum traffic.
The Orleans County Monitor thus com
ments on the Argus editorial:
s'No law has ever been made but
that is being constantly violated
ard the effect of the prohibitory law
of Vermont is exactly the same as that
of every other law on the Vermont
statutes for in "driving the liquor
traffic into hiding, where it cannot be
observed' it is serving ihe purpose
for which it was enacted just as other
laws which as we have stated only
partially attain the object for which
SAey were intended.'
Therg you have it, in those words
''for IL driving the liquor traffic into
hiding wher6it cannot be observed
it is serving the purpose for which it
was enacted Just as other laws which
as we have stated only partially attain
the object for which they were in
tended"
Now, the Monitor cannot mean what
it says. 1t cannot mean that the pur-
pose of the prohibitory law was to put
the liquor traffic out of sight. We
don't get rid of anything by legislating
it into dark corners. Neither can the
Monitor mean that it is the purpose of
other laws to put certain crimes out
of sight. But by saying this the Non
itOr merely confirms the statement of
the argus that zone of the queer de-
lusions of the prohibitionists is that
by driving the liquor traffic into hi
ding, where it cannot be observed and
regulated, a great victory has been
Won" That's the same argument
that was advanced by the Burlington
Free Press e while ago. "Out of sight,
out of mind'' The prohibitionist can
roll his eyes to Heaven and murmur,
"There is no rum in sight. My duty
is done. Prohibition is success"
Does that stop the rum traffic even to
the partial extent that the prohibi-
ZIONIST claim for their law, or does it
merely sink it into new depths of
degradation, link it with additional
crimes, associate it with dark corners,
identity it with all manner of infamies
and with all kinds of foulness, leave
it utterly in the hands of men who
love darkness better than light be-
cause their deeds are evil?
The test of a prohibitory law is
whether it stops men from drinking.
II can be argued one way and another
with all manner of specious reason
ing by those who favor prohibition
for the other fellow. But, stripped of
rhetoric, the purpose Of the prohibit
ory law is to make it SO hard to get
drink in Vermont that men will stop
drinking. Do you know of anybody
who has stopped drinking on that ac-
count? Don't you know that the
very fact that the traffic has been
driven into secret places affords an
army of weak-kneed men a chance to
drink i2 secret, men who might not
have the moral courage to enter a sa-
loon at noon tide? Don't you know
that the town agency system is the
mOSG ny pOCIIllCdl farce ever p0fD6-
trated in the name of temperance,
and that another army of men gets
its rum there every day ftfor |
medicinal and mechanical purposes?u |
Don't you know that the transporta-
ton lines are bringing into Vermont |
hundreds of thousands of dollars
worth of liquor every year, yes, more |
than a million dollars worth every |
year, to be drunk in secret, in bed |
rooms, cellars and barns? Don't you
know that, since it has been impossi-
bic to get glass of mild beer at bar |
in certain places in Vermont, the con-
sumption of whiskey and spirits has
increased at an alarming rate? Don't |
you know that men who never used |
whiskey but occasionally drank a
glass of beer have become addicted |
TO the use of strong spurious liquors |
through the operation of this prohibi- |
tory law? Don't you know that |
young boys, passing through that /
harum- scarum period of youth when |
it is considered manly to SOW few |
wild oats, denied the opportunity to |
get glass of beer that boys would |
first drink, are getting drunk every |
night In crowds on bottles and jugs of |
whiskey?
This is the result of ''driving the
liquor traffic into hiding" Ask any
night policeman what he knows about |
the liquor traffic being driven into
hiding. The curse of Vermont is bot