Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1901-06-06
sAnti, Saloon League Column
/, NorE.-This column is controlled
directly by the Vermont Anti-Saloon
Why W. Do Not Favor Local Option

The right or wrong of any proposed
course OF action may seem perfectly clear
to us, vet when an effort is made to con-
vince another, il is not unfrequently found
an almost helpless task. II is natural to
ask, "Why ~ Because the two persons in
question are not at all alike. "As a man
thinketh in his heart, 81 is he" Each
man largely makes his own little world;
he sees only what he chooses TO see; he
may school himself TO hear only what his
selfish interest dictates; he may refuse to
believe what does not suit him. he learns
to call evil, good, and good, evil, or TO put
darkness for light, or light for darkness.
So he inverts all truth that conflicts with
his wish, which in the end means that he
himself is perverted and cannot see the
truth. To such, piety is hypocrisy, ear
! nestness is fanatieism, agnosticism is free
thought, godlessness is emancipation from
spiritual bondage. They sneer at con-
scientiousness as being 'priggish," all
honest endeavor to do ones duty is "smug-
faced can't" II one seeks to be true as a
Christian citizen, it is called "Pharisaical
humbuggery." A man who has always
been impure cannot understand innocence.
A selfish, mean man cannot appreciate
a generous, noble man. Such persons viii
not investigate because they do not wish
to be convinced. They have no argument,
but a sneer. II any witnesses are examin-
ed they are false witnesses. II their case is
in danger, they raise a great cry, throw
dust into the air, and so draw away atten-
ton from the main issue. Personal inter-
est, politics, custom, appetite and environ
ment greatly bias the judgment OF many.
The personal liberty cry, as related to
the drink habit, has a catchy sound, but
the individual liberty cry is the anarch-
lists cry and should be put down by law
abiding people. Civil liberty is possible
only a. individual liberty is subject to its
requirements Were the cry consistent,
II should be raised for free run as against
~licence. Liberty means freedom OF choice,
and conditions Of a happy choice. But
drink robs a man OF this, therefore liberty
demands the abolition Of drink.
We are opposed to local option as a
measure for dealing with the drink traffic,
because, LIST, it has been tried and found
Intellectual. It has been on trial for sixty
years. Nearly every state and territory in
the union has tried it. Most Of the states
! now have local option laws; yet the
amount consumed per capita has doubled
under the operation Of this law. The law
being unsound in principle, cannot be en-
forced. The liquor traffic cannot be con-
trolled by local boundaries. Says Judge
Pitman. seThe state is the normal unit OF
sovereignty and it is opposed to sound
THEORIES of government to transfer to local
factions the decision of a question of such
general importance" Ex-Secretary Bay
ard pronounced local option "of very
doubtful constitutionality and positive in
e~xpedieney," declaring it TO be quite as
unsafen applied to the drink traffic as to
the punishment Of criminals.
I'd, 1t would be a backward step to give
up our present law. Supreme court
Judges have declared that the right to pro-
hibit inheres in the right TO license. The
enormou cost and the destructive evils OF
the traffic none deny. To prohibit that
which ruins both soul and body IS evl-
IDENTIFY more commendable than to
seek to regulate the amount OF evil TO De
done. To deny ones self for the sake OF
the inexperienced or weak, makes a high
er type Of manhood thar in those refusing.
II vet remains to be shown that the pres
emf law is not as well enforced as any Ii
cense law. Compare the consumption OF
malt liquors for one year in two represent
alive local option states, Ohio, 1914 gal
Ions, Illinois, 17.s6s gallons, per capita
with two representative prohibition states,
Iowa. 1.454 gallons, and Kansas, .Oo9 gal
Ions. Much is said about the non-en-
forcement OF the law. Is the fault In the
lawP Usually not, but better men are
needed to enforce it.
Sd, II keeps the question in an unsettled
condition. The frequent discussion OF a
question of local interest, which will, so
long as men are what they are, engender
more or less OF bitterness, is something to
he deprecated. II nothing of advantage
10 the community is to be gained, it is
| folly indeed 10 keep tine pciuui"m S"M5
ing from one side to the other, only that
evil may take its turn with the right
4th. License is likely to result from 1t,
and to legalize the traffic is to become a
mariner in all its evil results. II ], a free
man, vote TO give a man standing with a
loaded rife the right to shoot into a crowd,
and he shoots my boy or anybody else,s
boy. am not | a sharer in his guiltf Is
there any lessening of guilt Il, instead oil
using a rifle, he is licensed to drug the
bow. until. in some way, either by the
working Of the poison or some quicker
method. he takes his own life? The only
way l can keep myself clear in the matter
is by using all lawful means to keep 1t oui
OF the reach Of those in danger of destroy
ing themselves or others by its use. Be
~Iieving that the Almighty has made me
in common with all other men, my
brothers keeper" | am bound to keel
from him whatever | have learned he may
10 tev,ptad into using to his own ruin OF