The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1902-10-10
Those License Arguments.

The Wing despairing of the enforce
nent of prohibitory law i'll Cecil county,
has broken faith with the temperance
people and gone over to the whiskey
crowd. At least lack of enforcement is
used as an excuse for the move. but doubt
less any other claim would have answered
the WAig's purpose as well, as an excuse
can generally be trumped up to pailiate
the conscience when an act is committed
that it is known will call forth censure
from all good citizens
The burden of the Whig'S plant is,
seThe speakeasies revealed in the light OF
day, the illicit whiskey trade f1ourished
and the miserable dsns of nightly resort,
unstayed, unprecedented and unassailed,
poured out their streams of liquid poi
son." And yet why cannot this very
condition of affairs be pointed TO as hold
ing sway in the county at the present
time under the license system with all its
regulations and restrictions. Will the
Wing or any other champion of rum at
tempt to claim there are no speakeasles
in the county, or to bring it closer, in his
own town of Elkton, at the present time.
where these same miserable dens Of
nightly resort" pour "out their streams of
liquid poison" unprecedented and un'
assailed ?" Aud is that brand of speak
easy poison which is poured out in these
"dens of nightly resort" in violation of
the provisions of the present license Law,
any less illegal now than then?
The admission is made that the license
law is Objectionable and defective, and it
is also noticeable that no attempt IS made
to point out wherein it is in any respect
better than the prohibitory law. If the
law prohibiting the sale of intoxicants i'll
the county was failure because of its
violation, then why is not the law re-
stricting the sale of liquors failure for
logical for one side it must be logical for
the other. Because the laws against the
whole category of crimes which might be
mentioned are violated, are these laws 10
be repealed and crime licensed by the
payment of bride to the state or county
for the privilege of committing it
under certain conditions9 Such argu-
ment ~ in favor of the liquor license
law is as unsound and illogical as the
traffic itself is debauching and vice
engenderng.
The appeal, too, has swung into line
with the grog shops and besides asserting
that they are calculated to promote the
morals of community, sees in them a
handsome profit accruing to the county
by the granting of licenses. 1t asserts
that license is preferable i'll moral as
we'll as material point of view" The
brand of morals developed by these
license schools are the sort that make
women and children pass those places of
instruction on the opposite side of the
street when the classes are in session, and
cause selfrespecting men to avoid the
pupils while they 1.-THE pupils are under
the influence of the instruction" there
imbibed.
But the "income to the county" is
urged by the Appeal as its strong card,
though no mention is made of the in
creased expense for the accommodation
in the Jail or aluis house of an addi-
tional number of criminals and depend
ents thrown upon public charity by and
through the resultant use of this ''moral"
stimulant.
Until better and more logical argu
ments can be presented TO the people of
the county as reasons for their support of
the license system, it is safe TO presume
lhey are more than convinced that pro-
hibition offers better safeguards for the
peace aud moral welfare of our citizens
than the palpable fraud and sham of
license, with its so-called stringent restric-
tions aud regulations.