Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1902-10-16
AvERMoNT LIQUOR SYSTEM.

pelieT this tall VIII be as lolloWs;-
First, the passage of high license
local option act, with referendum pro-
vision.
Secondly, the passage of a modified
form OF prohibition, or a system either
original or adapted from some existing
system that shall be less Objectionable
to temperance people than high license
and legalized saloons run publicly, for
private gain.
The Republicans OF the assembly,
whatever their personal inclination,
will not disregard the party promise
to submit a local option act. They do
not dare to repudiate it, for the ghost
of Clement still haunts them, and they
see all manner of distress ahead if
they default. So they are going to
discharge the obligation squarely and
honestly, leaving no room for the
making of political capital by those
anxiously watching an opportunity to
criticise. The bill they will pass will
be fair and honest high license-local
option measure, patterned closely af-
ter the Massachusetts, system. The
referendum clause will be so drawn as
to disarm the plea OF unconstitutional
ity. The date at which it viii be sub
mitted to the voters will be far enough
removed for the recent agitation to
have subsidized somewhat, and for a
calm discussion and consideration to
take place on the issue itself, apart
from any personal or political ele-
ments.
1t will be far enough removed, too,
for at least a short trial of the law that
| is to be substituted for the present
brand of prohibition, which is recog-
nized by even so radical a supporter as
Judge Ross to be popularity discredit-
ed. Whether this new system will
stop where the judges bin leaves it,
with liquor to be dispensed at cost by
agencies under the control of a single
state commissioner, for necessary pur-
poses only, with the most distasteful
provisions for enforcement eliminated,
such as disclosure proceedings, in
junction and contempt processes, max
ing the holding of government inter-
nal revenue certificates prima faeie
evidence Of selling, obliging state at
torneys to secure the approval OF pre-
siding judges as to their faithful en-
forcement of the law before they can
draw their salaries, Withholding concur
rent jurisdiction of justices of the
peace in liquor cases--all these
things are cut out by Judge Ross bill
whether the legislature will stop there
or will 90 Il step further and permit
the sale OF liquor for other than neces-
sary purposes in some way that will
fall short of actual license, yet will
satisfy the demand of the hour, is the
most pressing question confronting
the majority.
The plan is TO leave the liquor
statutes at the close Of the session so
modified and perfected that when the
local option act comes to submission
it viii fail in comparison with the
then existing system, which latter, it
is hoped, will be sustained by the
voters, and the question settled for
good and all.
The majority of the Legislators are
prohibitionists in principle, as
opposed to high license. They do
not favor the open saloon, run for
private gain. They would prefer to
have the liquor traffic confined to
sales for necessary purposes, as at
present, but if there is a practical
certainty that the voters will choose
local option in preference to this
they will yield one point more and
grant the sale of liquor as beverage.
under the most stringent regulations
known in any state, but the traffic !
must be controlled directly by the
state, the selling be done BY salaried
officers, with the element of personal
gain entirely ruled out. II is the |
opinion that if liquor must be sold as
a beverage, it can be done with less
danger through state servants who
are held strictly to account and whose |
income does not depend on the
amount of their sales than by handing
over the traffic privileges to the com |
mon class OF saloon keepers, whose |
object Is to dispense all the liquor
they can without endangering their
licenses.
Besides prohibition and local option
the South Carolina dispensarv plan
and the Norwegian system are com |
inc in for consideration s.. /