Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1902-04-25
DR.. Parkhurst's Errors.

DR.. Parkhurst's Errors.
There is no man that means to be
more truthful in making statements,
than Rev. Dr. Parkhurst of Zion s
Herald, and few that can discuss facts,
accurately known with more ability
All the more remarkable, therefore,
and illustrative of the cloud that pro-
hibitory advocacy almost inevitably
casts over the mind of any one who en-
cages in it, is his reply in the Herald
to Mr.. Clement. Promising that he is
Vermonter, has lived in that state
more than half his life, has travelled
over it as an itinerant minister, and
since his removal has visited it several
times yearly and knows personally the
convictions and sentiments of the
people" the reverend editor says
'sThere is no demand for the repeal of
the prohibitory law, except perhaps IN
Burlington, Rutland, Bennington.
Barre, Montpelier, Bellows Falls and
two or three other large places. 1t
is by no means probable that the half
dozen cities and towns named would
vote for the repeal of the prohibitory
law. Indeed, they probably would not.
That law is sacred to the people-an
enactment imbedded in the conscience
and in profound religious convictions. y
The truth is that not merely one of
these Gowns" Bellows Falls, but a
dozen others, large and SMALL includ-
p1,Dh
"voted' on the question, in order to
test public opinion, and not in single
case has the result failed to be a ma
jority against prohibition and in most
cases two-thirds or more. Care has
been taken in selecting towns for these
tests to take the strongest temper
least we personally know it to be the
fact-and believe it to have been in the
others-that all the work all the
effort to get an artificial expression,
was on the prohibtory side, with APP
peals so signed as to represent each (
church, sent to every voter, and can
while on the other side there was no
work at all In fact every evidence it .
is possible to obtain indicates that the /
people of Vermont by heavy majority
is against the present law The best
proof of it is the fact that its advo-
Gates dare not submit it to a referen-
dun test-the very one by which it
was adopted-as was proved by the ac
ton of the last legislature. And no
one who knows SO much
about the state-could be more fatuous
or absurd than that of Dr. Parkhurst
in treating the habitual action of our
as proof of the sentiment
of the people. Is it necessary to tell
him that the 80 votes cast for the high
license local option bill in the last leg
islature represented 10000 majority of
the voters? That so far as that vote is
an evidence it showed two-thirds of the
people in favor of a change? And that |
there has not been vote on the sub .
iect for 20 years that has not in like
way evidenced majority against pro-
addition? In fine, that it is an abso- I
ute certainty that the law could not I
stand for a single year under an hon I
,st and fair system of representation =?
And the Reverend Doctors climax V
bout the "sacred'' embodiment in Il
conscience and religious convic-
ions''-it is well calculated to bring i
smile to what the Brandon Union calls Il
he bacteria that thrive on the pres II
mt systematic politicians. lawyers,
heritfs and various officials as we'll as
be semi-official blackmailers enriched 81
y tribute that under more rational Il
egislation would go to the public. ID
1t has been estimated that the reve- u
ue that might have been derived from III
licenses in the 80 years "i
ne present law has been in force az
ould have sufficed to give Vermont N
complete system of macadam roads. pi
The rumsellers have paid it all. The
My difference is it has gone into the.
ockets of the political plunderers in 80 80
cad of the public treasury. -
And the number of rumsellers aver q,
yes one and a half to each thousand p
population, where in license states it "
usually one to each thousand. c.
No doubt the law has just such sup VI
'rt as the Doctor describes. But WI
mt let him fool himself with the be-
If that that is what it lives on
When the partisan papers get through IN