Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1903-01-23
THE CHIEF POINT
OF PROHIB. ATTACK.
THE DRUGGIST FEATURE OF THE PEND
ING LOCAL OPTION LICENSE BILL.

| VI Nv 49, -
THE DRUGGIST FEATURE OF THE PEND
ING LOCAL OPTION LICENSE BILL.
A Necessary Substitute for the Town Agency
The Two Systems Comparisons Most
Loose and Dsmoralising, the Other the Best
Guarded Known Anywhere What the Law
ish Free Rum Sale Now Seen in the Agencies
Means and Portends- Why Prohibition II
Surely Dead Anyway-And the Real Issue II
Between Local Option and the State Dispen'
sary or Socialistic Scheme.
Section 81 of the referendum act distinctly
states that licenses of the fifth class (druggis,s
,shall" be granted In towns that vote not 70 u,
cense other liquor selling 6y the r selectmsn oT
VOTERS and majority of the physicians.
It would probably bother any advocate OF the
license law to point out q town In vermont ~
which ve per cent OF the yoters c os licenses
of the fifth class and this provision regardiime
one twentieth Of the legal voters with major OF.
ity of the physicians would unqu ,inm drS
stores, paying a "ten dollar high license ~
practically every town In Notwithstanding
ton Free Press.
Does Mr.. Barber or any other ihtelllgeht c!ti,
zen of Vermont believe for moment that the
provisions of the license bill Will be rigidly en-
forced, or that the druggist who has q ten dollar
license to sell will observe to do according V
the letter of the law? Our town agencies a.
they now exist are practically under the same
restrictions as the ten dollar licensed druggist
will be under the new law; and they are ac'
cused of indiscriminate and illegal seling.-A
j. Croft in st. Adams Messenger.
This is a most outrageous invasion OF the
right of every town to regulate its own affairs
1t makes it mandatory upon the selectmen &c
grant EN- as the he Charges that
this section takes the right away from 70 pei
cent of the voters in every no license town hl e
determine whether licenses OF this class shall
be issued.-NIiddlebury Register.
All liquor laws entitled to rank as
civilized, except in Maryland, provide
for supply for medical purposes
and indeed such provision is unavoid-
able so long as at least nine tenths OF
the allopathic physicians prescribe IL
auor more or less. AS result all drug
stores already keep liquors in stock,
and the great majority of them sell it
more or less loosely, without law and
without restriction and without regu-
lation. Most of the large towns have
them, which are only drug stores in
front and m-shops in the rear, and
not one of these but would prefer
prohibition" to the proposed license.
In the small towns, instead Of "prac-
tically every one," as the Free Press
says, there is hardly one in five that
has a drug store or can have one kept
by registered pharmacist to whom
only this license can be issued, simply
because one couldn't get a living from
any possible trade he could get. This
provision of the proposed law simply
takes the place of the town agency. and
is especially necessary in no license
towns where there can be, as careful
count shows, just about the same
number of druggist Licenses as there
are now of town agencies.
The prohibitory brethren can "hol-
ler'' after their habit; but does any
rational human being doubt for mo-
ment that as a substitute this druggist
| license is fourteen hundred times bet
ter and better guarded than the town
agency system? just compare:
The druggist license can be issued
only to registered pharmacist, of skill
and training such as entitle HIM to ad-
mission to what has come substan-
TALLY to be one of the learned profess
sions. A town agent may be anybody
except an inn keeper whom the county
commissioner may pick up, any man
out Of a job who can induce him to
make the appointment.
| Before the druggist can get this Ii
cense five per cent of the voters OF the
town and its physicians have to sign
recommendation for him. The town
agent doesn't have to be recommended
or approved by anybody except the
commissioner at the other end of the
county.
Still further, the druggist must find
three substantial townsmen who will
put up thousand dollars of good mon
ey on their faith in him, in the shape
of bond agreeing unqualifiedly and
without a particle of chance to dodge,
that the third time he sells drop of
liquor except on doctors prescrip-
tion, they will pay the $1,000. Do
you believe anybody but trustworthy
man is going to get such a bond? How
is it with the town agent? The coun-
| ty commissioner may" and sometimes
does, require from him, with two
sureties, 5000 bond, for faithful per-
is practically 10 such thing AS I'M
| TAI VII vi performance ou MS palb anu
no provision anywhere for prosecuting
him and less chance, ordinarily, for
proving guilt, never amounts to any
thing.
The druggist when he gets his license
can sell only on a Doctors prescrip-
ton, stating specifically the ailment
for which it is given. The town agent
can sell practically as he pleases, or at
best as the county commissioner pleases.
The law says it shall be only for me
dicinal, mechanical and chemical pur.
poses, but makes no provision for de-
termining these purposes. In some cases
purchasers have been required to sign
certificate, in others they are expect
ed to tell white lie," as it is gener-
ally regarded, with their mouths, but
in most nothing is required but the
cash. And all over Vermont to-day
rum is being dealt out at these agen-
cies without an ''Ah, yes or MOI to
men to whom the lowest dives would
not sell even under prohibition.
If the druggist sells without the pre-
scription he is liable to lose his regis
try as pharmacist, his very means of
livelihood. If the agent sells lawless-
ly he is liable to no penalty at all, save
that the commissioner at the other end
of the county may, if he chooses, re-
move him from office.
The druggist, if accused of an ille-
gal sale, can only defend himself by
producing the prescription for it; any
other sale is illegal. The town agent