St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1903-02-11
THE RESULT IN VERMONT.

system.
EDITOR OF CALIFORNIAN:
need not tell you that we are some
what disappointed that the YES" vote
prevailed last Tuesday. We fully real
lied that the temperance people OF Yer
mont were last fall caught asleep or rest
ing on their oars, never dreaming but
that the prohibition boat would drift
safely along as it had for fifty years; but
the enemy of righteousness is always
alert and this time was no exception.
The campaign was all too short Tor a
thorough arousement of those through
out the entire state who believe in prohi'
bition. Il is hard Tor the people in other
parts Of the state that three of the cities
gave majority for license, about four
times as large as was the license majority
ia the entire state. After all the analy-
sis of the vote has in it much to encour-
age us to believe that the pernicious
license law thrust upon the state may be
repealed by the next legislature. 1t GER
tainly will be if the temperance people
do their full duty.
1t is to be hoped that in considering
what next to do there will be no unholy
alliances or compromise on the part of
those who really desire the overthrow of
the liquor traffic or the licensing of the
evils resultant therefrom. There is an
increasing number of good people who
believe that to license the liquor traffic is
sin. What may seem temporarily to be
a defeat must be overcome, for reforms
never swing Backward We consider the
license law which is to go into eff, ct in
Vermont in March to be one of the most
detective forms of license, and yet bad as
it is it is no worse, certainly not so subtle,
as the system known as the dispensary
or municipal control of the traffic. This
system has been adopted by only one
state, South Carolina. The chief pro.
moter OF this law there, the one who did
more than any other for its enactment
and now does more for its retention, is
Senator Benjamin R. Tillman, widely
known because of his record in the United
States Senate, which record will show
his manner of judgment and wisdom
We have spent much time in South
Carolina studying the working and
effects OF the dspensary law. The guam
tity OF alec hollc liquor sold in South
Carolina has increased under this system
We have the opinion of prominent MN
listers, educators and reformers of South
Carolina that this law is an utter failure
from a temperance standpoint, that it
brings the government more completely
under the control OF the liquor traffic and
does not lessen drunkenness. The restric.
tive features of the law are universally
disregarded. The amount of liquor soli
constantly increases under the dlspensary
system. To illustrate:
In the town of Manning before the dis
pensary was introduced there were two
licensed bat-rooms; the bar-keepers de-
positt their receipts in certain bank.
When the dispensary took the pace of
the two bar-rooms the keeper of the dis
pensary deposited his receipts in the
same bank, and the dispensary receipts
the first year were more than twice as
large as the deposits of both the bar
keepers the year before. and this sum has
increased each year, and drunkenness has
increased in a corresponding ratio.
The first dispensary in this country so
far as we are a BILE to learn, was establish
ed in Athens, Georgia. In Georgia it is
not state law, but has been introduced
into some localities. The large amount
of liquor sold in Athens, Georgia, under
this system and the large profit made by
the same plainly show that there has
been no decrease in the consumption of
liquor, but rather an increase. The con,
ditons are quite as deplorabIe and cor
rupt as they are in connection with any
license system.
During one day of our stay in dispen-
sary town there were FIVE arrests tor
illicit selling, and one OF those arrested,
selling for self profit, was member OF
the city council, who had to do with the
tispensary funds, thus showing that the
corrupting influence of liquor selling is
not eliminated through municipal or
governm mt control.
Lady Henry Somerset in her last
annual address before the British white
ribboners after citing several instances
regarding the results OF municipal or
government control said; ut is clearly
| shown how erroneous it is to believe
that any reform can come by the mono
poly OF the sale of spirits resting in the
hands OF the state, il the increase form a
part of the imperial treasury"
Those temperance people who advocat-
ed the dispensary law ten or fifteen years
ago now frankly state that they made a
gtievous mistake and are eager for its
repeal.
Let me reiterate, hope there will be
on the part OF Vermont temperance peo-
pie no mistake committed by favoring
the dispensary or any other form of
licensing evil, but that there will be a
strong, hearty, united effort to reestab-
lish the prohbitory law, which hitherto
has done so much for the prosperity of
the state and the promotion of all that
is highest and best tor the home and the
community,
L. NJ N. STEVENS.
Portland Me-, Feb. Q, 1908.