Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-06-23
THE WORKING or THE LAW.

THE WORKING or THE LAW.
| The outlook summarizes various state
mcnts and statistics recently published In
the Vermont papers in regard to the re-
suits of our local option law, as follows:
Ncrmonts new law has, according to tho
| Internal Revenue records, banishcd that
| traffic from 90 of the IA towns in which
| il existed in the last year of prohibition.
| 1t has reduced the number of liquor sell
crs in the State from SIS to 3l6, ana from
DC to % the number of prosecutions for
violation of the law dockctcd in nine of
the fourteen counties The number of
sellers not paying the state license APP
pears by the record OF Federal special
taxes paid to be only 7S and of these
! al hut a dozen are in no-liconsc towns.
Perhaps the largest moral gain Is the
clrinatlon of what District Attorney
Jerome calls "tho administrative lie
that appeared in the town agency"
traffic provided by the old law. AS OK
pccted. the advent of license at first
| brought an apparent increase of drunken
noss. As casurcd by arrests ii was over
double the recent average in the first
three months after the new law got fully
/ into operation. This WAS perhaps to be
accounted for to some extent by more
efficient police action ana 10y open appear
ance of what had before been hidden.
months period aimee has shown steady
and progressive improvement Of sub
Stdutially - per cent. over tn" proccdlnE
one. so that for the quarter ending Feb
ruarv 2S. OF which the returns are now
Ian in. the total of arrests was 6e1, as
against LIZ for the quarter ending
august 81. In this last three months per-
iod seven of the fourteen counties show
a lower figure of arrests reached than the
average under prohibition.
The statistics of the latter part of the
year certainly indicate that the second
year will record a close approach to COM
plete eAtirpation of illcsdl traffic. This
eXtripatiou has already been accomplish
ed in license towns with very fow OK
ccptions-not over four. so far as the In
formal Revenue shows. Montpelier. the
capital Of the state, for instance, now
has hut nine sellers. where under pro-
hibtion she had nineteen. Burlington
now has nineteen. besides druggists. to
sixty urd"r prohibition: Bennington eight
now to thirtV-t'vc under prohibition; and
50 on among the cities and larger to"ns.
Among the small towns Island Pond.
brandon Manchester, Pnultn'Y, and Put
ncv. as samples now confirm ton liquor
isollcre. whore under prohibition the num-
her was tw"utv-cight. circular inquiries
of local authorities regarding the work
ing Of the new law bring unfaVorablc re-
plies from only I'VE out of the whole
Ullnl''f t'1 lH1'fs' l'NllS. All illf rest III
varying degree report great improve
= mont in conditions. especially as regards
sales on sundays. to minors and to con-
hrmcd Iruulards which were almost
without restraint under prohibition.
THIS assertion that sales on Sundays
to minors and to drunkaris were almost
without restraint under prohibition is IF
curse wide of the truth, but let it pass.
1t will occur to many that the record
such as it is, OF favorable results from
the new law. by no means tells the " hole
story. The object of restrictive liquor
laws in repression Of drunkenness pau
perism and crime attributable to indul-
gonce in strong drink Some Of tho dues-
tions not answered by the figures given
above are; has anything been gained for
temperance by lesscning the number of
places in which liquor is sold. as long as
tho opon saloons dispense ten times as
much liquor as was sold behind closed
doors and in dark closets? Has drunken
ness, not gagged alone by tho number of
arrests for intoNication made by police
mon instructed to arrest intoxicated per-
sons only when they are creating dis
turbancos Of the public peace; or by the
reported figures for three winter months
as against three summer months, but by
the actual facts as seen and known by
, lain observers, been lossonod or increased
10y the opening Of tho saloons? Are thu
iiis fuller or frcor of persons arrested
for crimes and misdemoanors resulting
from their appetite for liquor? Taking
the state through are fewer or more men
hoC ominC drunkards under the new Law
than under the old ono? In short is the
law on tho whole, REFRESHING or incroas
ing the traffic in intoXicants and the ter
rlblc evils resulting from that traftc?
hc?
The present law TO all present appear
ancos, VIII stay for two years longer. II
= that time it will have mad the fair tria
winch its friends demand and most of it'
j. opponents conCedc. And it will there
:, after have to stand or fan by the actua
:, results accomplished by it.