Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-03-24
of liquor is a practical system OF

sale of liquor is a practical system or
not.
At the outset. the Tribune freely takes
the stand that the use of and traffic in
liquor Is a necessary evil and does not
rank with the trade in staples. which
are the necessities for the maintaining of
life. Except as a medicine. no man can
honestly say that liquor is in any form
is a good thing. No man becomes better
from its constant use, no good thing is
accomplished by its sale. Men will drink.
however, and the whole question then
resolves itself into ono Of cxpediency and
tho query is. how shall this traffic best
be regulated?
We nave always claimed that no one
knows his own town like the man that
lives in it and no one is competent to
pass on conditions therein except a
majority of its voters. 1t IL therefore
manitcstly Impractical for a State sur
vey and control Of local requirements
to deal satisfactorily with a towns in
innate needs. The principal of local
option allows self-government Of a prac-
teal character. as the results referred
To plainly show.
Properly speaking, the present law is
not a license measure AT all. 1t re-
scmbles the Federal law in that it gives
| nobody permission to open a bar against
| the will of a majority of voters. 1t does
say that if any town wants a system of
licensed bars or saloons. those licenses
may be issued under certain restrictions
and provisions. The law is really a pro-
hibitory law just as much as II license
law.
The evidence is conclusivc on the score
that the small towns of Vermont do not
want the saloon. With one or two unim-
portant exceptions, the forty license towns
are license because local conditions do
mand a certain consumption Of liquor.
a demand that is filed in a measure of
sobricty by tho licensed bar. Where So
briefly has been notably decreased. as in
Rutland, the good sense of the voters
has promptly asserted itself and tho
saloon has been voted down. The fact
that no tow nave turned from a No
to a Yes vote demonstrates that the
prohibitory side Of the present law is
a practical and satisfactory embargo on
any public trade in liquor.
The Tribune deplores as n short-sighted
and arbitrary policy tho rumorcd pro-
paganda looking to Il repeal of the local
option law 1t t. IL declaration of intol-
erance that is un-American, Un-progress-
i've and un-Christian. It harlS back. in
principle. to the spirit of III" middle ages.
where strong, merciless men. adhering
to the childish notion that religion could
he a mater Of fiat, tortured, DESTROYED,
banishei and enslaved those Who differ
ed from them in creed, seeking to impose
by force the barren, joyless religion that
lived ny might and cruelty.
In like manner those who desire Ia
say by Hat that a ma iority, even though
misled and mistaken, shall not prevail
in a matter of regulating evil. strikes
hands across the abyss of ages with
the bitter Intolerance and narrow tyranny
of the darkest days in history. II it is
right to enforce the will of Baltimore's
seven voters against the protest of Bur
lington's 500. why not lust as right t.
impose it by force other than civil? Aud
if burlington objects too strenuously, let
her he reduced by force of arms,
That is tho logical conclusion of rca-
souing that, if given a bare ma joritv Of
towns. not people. Vermont shall roll
back tne wheels of progress fifty years
and impose minority rule on her larger
own and cities.
Let the local option principle stand.
perancc man told George WASHINGTON
of themselves.
Amend tho law in points where abuses
have developed, such as the second-class
license, sa jacquard the peoples sobriety
with every regulation that is proper, but
do not, in the name of municipal liberty,
undertake to reform by arbitrary logisla-
tion towns. that are perhaps doing the
best they know in handling their local
| problems, with some prospect of final
and satisfactory resolution.
VERMONT"S FIRES.
Hrom the st. Johnsbury Republican,
According TO returns to Treasurer Ba,