Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1903-02-13
THE REFERENDUM.
How the Montpelier Daily journal Views
the Situation Since the Battle.

| the Situation Since the Battle.
An intelligent understanding of con-
ditions existing In this state forbade any
reasonable expectation that the license
act would be held up.
To the opponents of the law the graft
flying feature of the vote Is the narrow
margin by which the act has been made
operative on the first Tuesday of March.
The opponents of the prohibitory law, by
way of discredltng that statute, have
long pointed to the circumstance that 1t
came into force on majority of some
what about one thousand votes. Their
exultation over their temporary victory
will be tempered by the blistering unc-
ton they have customarily addressed to
the souls of prohibitionlsts. 1t is some
thing of descent from the 10000 ma
jority on the wings of which the prophet
of license was soaring to victory.
The opponents of prohibition have
loudly maintained that the overwhelm-
ing majority of the people of Vermont
are in favor of licensing the sale of in
toxicating liquors. Where, in the vote
of yesterday, is the evidence of the truth
of this claim? In round numbers, the
aggregate vote was 10000. In the late
state election the aggregate vote for gov
ernor was about 10000. So it was in
1900, the year of the last national cleo
ton. This may be taken as the measure
lfnf F,,11 yata N1nn ntn n "
was 10000 below this measure. What
is the probability, under existing con-
dtions and circumstances, as to the pre-
ference of these 10000 non-voting citi-
zens. 1t is entirely reasonable to assume
that the great bulk of them were not in
favor of license. Circumstances are all
on the side of close approximation to
full vote by the license supporters. The
truth of history sustains the contention
that apathy and negligence would be
among the mo" votes. These 10000
absentees, for the most part, would have
voted mo" had they gone to the polls,
or had the opponents of license in all
cases been as Jealous and enterprising as
its friends in support of their cause.
The rum claim that Vermont is for
license has been utterly discredited. 1t
is made clear that the voters of Vermont
are opposed to license; it is clear that
had reasonable time been allowed for
discussion and deliberation the license
act would have been held up; it is clear
as the MONDAY sun on an unclouded
summer day that the people of Vermont,
In an overwhelming majority, are stoutly
opposed to license. The truth is indis-
putable.
| AS to the consequence of Tuesdays
vote: The burned child shuns the fire.
Admoniton not to play with fire may go
UNDECIDED. When the youngster has felt
the smart of smuggling, he will be taught
caution that admontion without expert
ence does not enforce. These children
of Vermont have long been admonished
| to beware the fires of license. The peo-
pie who voted mo" in the line of duty
will now await with composure the out
come of the experiment with license,
abiding in the confidence the evidence
the vote of Tuesday inspires, and in the
consequences that will follow contact
with the fires of license, that the freemen
of the state clothed and in their right
mind, will approach this subject at the
next election.
While voting NO. many citizens
have been Of the belief that experience
with "the real thing" is the only remedy
for the license fever, and are taking phil
Among the 10000 nor-voting freemen
there were probably many who are tired
of the everlasting jargon on this subject,
and in whom Indifference had been bred
hibtion. They are not for license, they
are not for prohibition in its present
estate. They are for better and a more
rational system than either.
| Prohibition, in the meaning of the
term derived from the old law, is evil
IDENTIFY a thing of the past. License and
local option are things of the present.
OF the latter the state will have two
years of experience. Experience will
bring enlightenment, and afford the data
for formulating a new system of regu-
lating the traffic of liquor and its use,
and that system will be what the Watch
man and Journal and other papers of the
state had been advocating, system Of
rigid control.
And the last state of Vermont, sue
ceeding prohibition and license, shall be
better than the first or the second.
Crain-Mastin.