Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1902-09-12
AGAINST THE OPEN SALOON.
An Address by Dr.. G. D. Beard of
Burlington.


true to ones own convictions. Here is an
issue that thrills and stirs, because it is an
Issue of life and death to so many. Yet
that is no reason why men should call one
another names because they differ in
Judgment concerning it. To call q man a
rascal because he honestly advocates
licensing saloons, or call another man a
fanatic because he believes in prohibiting
saloons adds neither light nor right to the
discussion. At any rate, the present
speaker claims no monopoly of either wis
dom or goodness in the matter either for
himself or for any body of men with whom
ne may agree. He simply asks you men
and women who are used to judging with
unnrejudiced judgments, and you who be-
lieve you ought to Judge in that way, not
to shirk the question, nor to suppose it
necessarily settled in your own minds; to
keep on thinking about it, and to be will
ing to hold to your present convictions, OF
else to change your minds, as reason and
love for humanity may lead you In these
issues, which are largely moral we cannot
become-we ought not to want to become
conscionces for one another. But we are
obligated, every one of us, to use our own
conscences and with Gods help to make
our support of men and movements square
with the judgments of our consciences, at
whatever cost.
Another thing, it is we'll to discriminate
carefully. Although this matter of the
saloon is so closely associated with that
other question of individual abstinence
and although both go back at least for
their final test to the law of love, or good
will to ones neighbor, the two questions
are different; and to-day we are thinking
solely of the social problem of the saloon
AS conscientious men we are bound to
face the personal question when it arises.
and ask our duty personally from the
Christian standpoint. The personal duty
of total abstinence seems clear and strong
to many of us. But a man may not him
self be total abstaner and yet may be-
lieve. heart and soul, in the abolition of
the drinking saloon from our American
society, great many do. The prohibition
of saloons in our own State does not rest,
of course, as many would misead us to be-
| lieve, on the thesis that all drinking of
intoXcants Is crime. AS a social policy;
as matter for legislation, it rests solely
on regard for the community welfare and
the question is simply, What does the best
coed of society demand?
In trying to answer the question, I shall
assume that we all know and admit the
vast evils of intemperance. These nave
| touched too many of our homes for us to
be ignorant of them. And yet it is hard to
realize at all adequately what we all
| know. Out of 2169 cases coming before
the criminal court of the county in which
] lived a few years ago. 80 Of the criminals
were abstainers, 25S moderate drinkers.
and no less than 1S72-siX- seventies of them
-intemperate men. Judges and jures
everywhere unite in saying, as the Chicago
grand jury of December, 1900 said AT
| least ~ per cent of all criminal cases com
ing directly before us have some saloon
connection" Yet it is hard to realize that.
| Physicians and superintendent Of insane
asyuirS tell us. as the doctor in charge
of one of the State institutions of Massa-
| chusctts told me a wear or two since, that
from two tc three-ffths of the insane sent
to our asylums are sent there because Of
drink; yet it is hard to realize that nearly
all of the extreme poverty of our objects
Of charity, untold horrors of disease and
accident perfectly preventable; misery in
broken homes and blasted lives such as
Cod only knows; these and much else be-
long to the long sad tale of hard I'M
deniable facts about the tendencies of
liquor drinking and the liquor traffic.
! Would TO God we could realize it,
| But, just now, L must assume all this.
And, coming directly to the question
what ought we Vermonters to Go about
it? Let me say, first, that there are some
| things which, it seems TO me, we should
AL be agreed about at the outset. One Is
that men are not made temperate by legis-
lative enactment Again and again law
have helped men to be temperate But the
proposition that we cannot, fiat wise. leg
islate men into morality would seem al
|
peated. as a sort of challenge. Let us all
say this together: a Christanixed heart
l!fe, with God so loved the world" for its
inspirational power. and Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thysef'' for its central
principle, is Indispensable to thorough
going, effective temperance.
Another thing pretty evident, is that nc
system whatever will wholly stop the
drinking Of intoXicants. The habitual
irunkard will always find a way to satisfy
his depraved appetite; and intensely selfish
people--whethcr habitual drinkers or no,
will care only to please themselves, and
get what they want whether or no. In
his imperfect world our problem general
~ Island certainly is in this case-How, in
this State, at this time, is this evil we
have to face, reduceable to its lowest
limits?
And then, it is hardly worth while to de
bate about the perfect working of the
| present rrohibitory law and agency sys-
tenn. Frothines about this law "breeding
hypocrisy, perjury and lying" Of course
count for little with thoughtful persons
1t is true with every law that it brings
! hypocrisy and lying to the surface. That
Is conspicuously true of high license laws
| The strength of crime-like the strength
| IT sin, is always the law; but the fault is
not with the law on that account. 1t is
| with the crime. And man who will lie
| to get his drink, or to sell his liquor, will
lie whenever he thinks his own selfish in
terest demands it. For all that let II
| be agreed that this law is not perfection
| There is no evidence that anyone ever eX-
pected it to bring in the millennium The
| vital question is: Is any other law within
| reach better? One thing is true of al
laws. They do not work themselves. The
worth of a prohibitory law; the worth OF
II liquor agency. the worth of every in.
stitution under the sum- is the worth OF
the men back of it,
These things being generally admitted.
will try to give you now some of the rea-
sons that appeal to me for doing our ut
Ioost 10 keep the legalized saloon out OF
| Vermont. and to continue the prohibitory
law with its liquor agencies, till something
better than high license is offered l must
state these reasons very consisely, with
out much argument. They are not there
fore dogmatic. l simply ask you to think
about them, and test them for yourselves
First. the legalized liquor saloon, be-
| cause commercial business in private
hands. is the chief promoter of the evils Of
lintamnara Hundreds M me good