Bennington banner and reformer. (Bennington, Vt.) 1903-19??, 1903-01-29

4. J. ferguson VI iouil+AS Voi' III "'i
address in Bank hall at North Ben
nington last week, spoke in part as
follows:
The report of committee OF our
House of Representatives in 1910, when
Vermont was under a license law, CON
tains the following allusion to that
law: People say our law is not en-
forced and therefore should be re-
pealed, - and to-day we hear the same
statement, after so years of experience
under a so-called prohibitory law.
Free, honest discussion is good, but
base slander is contemplate. When
the speech of people is unreliable Or
conflicting, the only thing we can do is
to fall back upon an investigation OF
the facts and the results, and in doing
so at this time propose to ignore, al
though it is a hard-hearted thing to
do, the moral side of the question, to
stoop to the thought of Shylock and
discuss the question from a mercenary
standpoint.
They tell us that there is money in
it for the public and that the revenue
would help us to make roads. 1t may
be that we would get some roads made
in that way, If we had sufficient funds
coming in from other directions to
provide for the expense incurred by the
results which always follow from IL
cense law.
Monmouth, H., decided TO have
5000 out of six saloons allowed to
her to 'help OUT on her roads, and
within one month of the establishment
of the six saloons they voted an an
nual expenditure of IS, 300 extra for
police force, and within short time
had to build new jail a compari-
son OF the city taxes and revenues re-
ceived from licenses in towns OF about
the same size in Kansas and Missouri
all disclose the fact that, notwithstand-
ing the receipt OF large revenues from
saloons where permitted, those cities
pay practically double city taxes as
compared with the cities having no
revenue from that source. Time pre-
vents detailed statement of the places
and figures. 1t does not take a phil
osopher TO see that, assuming that the
license bill means more rum, which !
shall attempt to prove later, it means
more crime, more poverty, more insan-
itv. greater prison population, etc,
and incident to this increase comes the
increase expenditure, which the license
revenue fails to equal. We have also
been told that the expense of our gov
ernment incident to the prohibitory law
and its enforcement is greater than IL
cense states. 1t is easy to make such
a statement, and possibly few people
would investigate to see whether or not
it was true and therefore be deceived
Bv consulting the National Census OF
1890 the facts may be ascertained.
You will find by calculation that the
courts, jails, police and almshouses,
wherein the results of the liquor traffic
find expression in expense, costs pro-
hibition aud license states as follows
Vermont, 9Oc per capita
Kansas, 93c
Maine, llSc
All prohibition states.
License states pay for the same thing
as follows:
Rhode Island, 1927 per capita
Dist of Columbia, 2.93 "
Connecticut, 2.lS
New Jersey, 2.Ol
California, 3.23
And the state of Massachusetts, whose
liquor laws they want us to adopt, pays
for the same thing s3.47 per capita.
Thus it will be seen that she pays more
than four times what Vermont pays to
provide for the results Of her liquor
traffic. How much do you suppose
they have left for good roads out of
their liquor fee?
They say there will be no more rum
and therefore TO more crime, yet Ne
braska's increase of crime under lie
cense from 1881 to 1889 was l67 per
cent, while Kansas, during the same
period under prohibitory law, de-
creased her crime 5 per cent.
Michigan's first ten years OF license
law increased her crime 120 per cent.
Connecticut's first eight years of Ii
eense law increased her crime III per
cent.
Maine's prison population to-day
under the prohibitory law, is ID to
each 10, 600 of her inhabitants. Massa-
chusett's prison population is 80 to
each 10000 of her inhabitants. But
they say that a license law can be en-
forced while the prohibitory law cam
not. This is also as false as false can
"a -, lo44o, o.-idanaa pf this fact |