Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1903-05-22
dMindham county 9eformer
pRArrLEBoRo, FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1908
Some Things to Remember.

Now that the new license law has
been fully installed and the licenses
granted the novelty of the situation
will soon be past and the danger is,
according to the peculiarities of hu-
man nature, that we shall soon stop
thinking about the new law at all and
become careless of its enforcement.
But the law, carefully as it has been
framed and sound as are the principles
upon which it is based will be of no
use or help to us unless we remember
to enforce it. Constant vigilance on
the part of every citizen and hearty
cooperation in the various provisions
of the law are necessary If we would
work through it the good to the COM
munity which was designed.
Under the prohibitory law the liquor
traffic was sometimes likened to tiger,
hidden in the underbrush by the road
side, securing its victims by secret and
unexpected onslaughts. Under license
it has been likened to the same ami
NAL, securely fastened in cage with
strong iron bars, full in public view.
This sounds very we'll. But unless
the keepers are faithful and see that
the strong iron bars are kept in place !;
if they let those bars down for any rea-
son, then we shall soon have live
tiger loose in our streets and we shall
be at his mercy.
Since the granting of the licenses,
numerous arrests for drunkenness have
been reported throughout the state. In
Brattleboro, during the past week we
have had eight. This fact, while I'M
pleasant, is not necessarily discourage
ing. 1t does not signify that more Ii
ouor has been consumed. 1t does sig
nifty that "drunks" have not been con-
cealed, but have been promptly ar
rested as they deserved. Where the
selling of liquor is legalized the only
way to keep down drunkenness is to
deal with it summarily, as severely as
the law allows; and to enforce the va
rious restrictions intended to prevent
the abuse of the use of liquor with i'm
partial rigidity.
Just now, at the very beginning, these
things should be remembered and
brought to bear on local conditions:
That it is illegal to sell liquors on
Sundays or election days or between
the hours of II p. m. and a. m. lex
cept in cases of pharmacists holding
9Th class licenses); that it is illegal to
sell to a minor, a habitual drunkard.
an insane person or pauper, person
who has within year been helped by
the town, or to person whose hus-
band, wife, child, brother, sister,
guardian or employer has given writ
ten notice to the licensee forbidding
sale to such person.
Just now it should be remembered
that it is illegal to sell or furnish Ii
quor to person who is known to the
licensee to have been intoxicated with
in six months. This structure should
now apply to all those persons who
have recently been fined for drunken
ness in our local police court.
1t is the duty of every citizen to see
that these restrictions, introduced in
the new law for the protection and bet
terment of the community, are remem-
bered and enforced. Under prohibit
ton we excused the disregard of the
law by saying that it was unjust. We
have no such excuse, now.
Keep up the bars We objected siren
uously in the past to having the drink
evil skulking in our back yards and
alleys, a secret foe; we should object
as strenuously to having it roaming
our streets-an open, yet no less dead
ly foe.
This is vital matter and these
things should be kept faithfully in
mind by every citizen. No one should
shirk his individual responsibility.