Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1903-08-28
LICENSE IN VERMONT.
A Birds Eye View from Neighbour
ing City.

An editorial in the Springfield Re-
| publican says:
The high license, or local option
substitute for prohibition In the state
of Vermont has not been working ir
harmony with the predictions or tc
the satisfaction of those who advo-
Gated the change. 1t seems to be
generally admitted that there has beer
great increase in drunkenness, OF
disorder and crime and Of violations
of the liquor laws. The champions
of license have been put upon the de-
fensive and the prohibitionists are
manifesting a feeling of vindication
which strives in vain to express itself
with due soberness.
| All may be true that is alleged or
admitted regarding the workings OF
the new policy during the first four
months of it's trial without proving the
charge to be a mistake. The state
had for half century lived under a
| totally different policy, which had been
far more effective in keeping drink
under cover than in suppressing 1t. A
change which brought the traffic out
into the light must have proved to
some extent demoralizing at the start,
both among the people and in the
place of authority. There has no
doubt been disposition among the
celebrate the change by abusing the
privilege OF being able to buy liquor
sold in legal and open manner. But
the chief trouble has been with local
authority. The impression seems to
have prevailed that the new laws
would enforce themselves. Where
towns voted no-license, public OFF,
Gals have acted, it Is said, as though
that was the end or the matter, and
that. as state prohibition had gone by,
there was no local prohibition to be en-
forced. Where towns and cities
voted license the authorities have
leaned back in their chairs as If to see
what course things would take If left
to drift. AS a result there has been
much illegal selling, failure on the part
of license holders to observe the re-
strictions of the laws and consequent
drunkenness and disorder.
Now the case of license advocates
has reached the point where it Is rec
ognized that something must be done
II the new policy is to keep its place.
And something it appears, is begin
ming to be done-as in Rutland. which
led in the agitation that brough. about
the overthrow of prohibition. The
Herald, chief organ OF the license pol
icy. announces that at last the wheels
of justice are moving" that yiolaters
'of the license law are answering for
their deeds in the courts" and that
we have now turned the corner"
There has been. il is stated, "a partial
paralysis of machinery" provided for
the enforcement of the new law. and
disposition to let matters drift. but
public opinion has been opposed to
any such course and should now stand
back of the authorities in a vigorous
application of all the restrictions i'm
posed by the license act.
There is nothing inherent in the re-
stricted license policy which makes
for undue drunkenness and demoraliz-
ation--and certainly not more than at
taches to prohibition when applied
where public sentiment is not strong
enough effectively to enforce it. This
must be obvious. If worse conse-
quences result. the fault is more like
~ to be found in failure to apply the
restrictions and restraints of the law,
than in the law itself And this Is
doubtless where the trouble lies in
Vermont II those parts of the state |
which could not enforce prohibition |
cannot either enforce n restricted IL |
cense policy of their own local and vol |
lntary election. then they, rather than |
the policy itself, fall under condemna-
lion.