The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1903-06-11
A LICENSE MANS CRITICISMS.

In letter to the Phoenix O. H.
Davenport gives his impressions of the
workings of che new license law in
Brattleboro, Mr.. Davenport, it will
be remembered, was a strong advocate
Of the proposed change in Vermont IS
liquor regulations and his address on
the subject in Montpelier last winter
was a strong, fair minded argument in
favor of the license system. AS
might be expected from the man, Mr.
Davenport expresses his ideas as freely
against the failures Of license as he
did against the shortcomings Of prohi-
bition and for this reason his opinions
are of decided value. He says:
Friends of the new local option
license law note with dismay, and
some of them with qualms of repent
ance, the multitudinosity on our
streets of the n-with-a- Jag since
the licenses went into operation. L
myself stood on the streets couple of
hours the other forenoon to see five Of
them stagger by, and candid and in
telligent citizens tell me of seeing
many times that number on some
days, and especially Saturday even
ings. 1t is not to be denied that the
situation is serious.
This is frank admission, and
though it refers to Brattleboro alone
any casual observer in Montpelier,
Barre, or doubtless any other license
place in the State. must of necessity
tell the same story if he is disposed to
be fair and candid The police of
Montpelier state that drunkenness has
decreased under the new law. This
may be true, for the officers who are
on duty night and day have wider
field for observation than does the
ordinary citizen whose business re-
quires his attention by day and de-
mands fair amount of sleep at night.
IJ is true however, that during the
hours when the streets are most fire.
quented the spectacle of men Keeling
under the influence of liquor is far
more frequent than in the days of
prohibition.
Continuing Mr.. Davenport says
1t also goes without saying that the
new system will die a yearling if
these conditions continue. Nor need
we be surprised, nor should we COM
plain, that prohibitionists chuckle, or
even if many of them are disposed to
let things go at their worst in the be-
lief that it will only render more Ger.
tain a return to what they believe to
be the only right way of dealing with
the subject. This, in part at least,
is only parallel to the attitude of
many license men under prohibition,
and it only makes palmer and more
Imperative the duty of the believers
in the new law as a measure of the
best public policy
The Journal does not seek to be
classed among those who chuckle"
over the shortcomings of the new
system. Rather it desires fair and
impartial trial of license and strict
enforcement of the laws in order to
determine what is best for Vermont.
Mr.. Davenport suggests that the atti
tude of prohibitionists toward the
new law is in part parallel to that
OF license men under prohibition.
This is doubtless true, but this senti-
ment has not, and will not for years to
come, even approach the point that
marked the conduct OF leading license
men during the past decade. It is
only after long years of agitation or
when the success Of some pet hobby is
at stake, that men abandon all respect
for law.
Mr. Davenport advocates the policy
of police officers running i'm every
drunk they see, and further that
every person ought to hand in the
name of every intoxicated person he
sees or knows of to the license board
This, he adds would not be any
busy body meddling' on our part but
only plain duty to neighbors and the
community; for the man drunk is a
menace to life and property generally.
as we'll as to family, and we have no
more right, knowingly and repeatedly,
to let him run at large than the ma
MAC
That is all right in theory but if
the police run in every intoxicated
man they see the jails wouldn't be
big enough to hold them, and besides
the police officer who did that sort
of thing would cease, in the eyes OF
the public, to be guardian of the law