Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1904-08-05
4" Bottled in Bond"

one of the country" papers, appear:
an article under the title of Bottled
in Bond" in which an effort is made
to induce the belief that the U. S. gov.
eminent is in partnership with the
liquor dealers in promoting the sale
and consumption of whisky. In other
words, that the government in keeping
liquor in bond, testing its quality and
guaranteeing its purity, actually rec
ommends its use; when the object OF
the revenue law of 1897 was simply to
protect the public against spurious,
dangerous products, that had become
quite common through adulteration OF
once pure whiskey, or its manufac-
ture by chemical action OF harmful
substances.
All temperance organizations have
found the drinking habit so firmly en-
grated upon social forms that it is
difficult to make bare semblance OF
restraint, and the government realiz.
ing that it would be equally impotent
in fighting a custom which most men
would regard as a curtailment of per-
sOnal liberty, very wisely, We think,
has endeavored to regulate the use OF
the alcoholic principle involved in
minimizing the injury that would
otherwise be involved in prohibition
that would place the product largely
in private stills without. any incentive
for purity Of product or effort to pro-
tect the public from imposition.
In the article under consideration,
the writer admits, after statement OF
the so-called culpable act of the gov
eminent, that he or she is unable to
do justice to the subject, by way OF
reasonable argument, and with what
must be admitted is very grotesque
sense of humor, declares that to do so
properly would imply "long vacation
and to be fed in brain-food a year,
which conditions do not exist, and
being unequal to the task of appropri-
ate comment, an easier resort of sub.
hitting questions is open," and then
asks: Why license business against
which the Supreme Court of the Unit.
ed States has ruled for fifty years?"
Because that body has said the people
have right to license, regulate, man.
age or restrain the liquor traffic, and
that is what is being done, in con.
sentative way, subject to control in o
more radical form by the people.
Another query is, "Why take rev.
enue from arson, theft, suicide, pow
erty, idiocy, murder and insanity"
To answer this questions intelligibly
we would have to determine whether
stimulants incite these crimes or not.
Their effect is to Danish dull care, and
used in moderation tide over times OF
depression which might result in all
OF this train OF misdeeds and misfor.
tunes. It is probable, however, that
the thief would steal, and the murderer
kill; the suicide end his life and idiocy
and insanity prevail, without mental
stimulation from ardent spirits, and it
is just as probable that an individual
may be poor in purse, although never
addicted to the drinking habit. 1t is
as unfair to attribute all the sin in the
world to this one cause, as it would be
to attribute all the deaths to drugs
taken for relief from the many mala.
dies to which human flesh is heir.
1t is the abuse of alcoholic bever-
ages which should be condemned, and
it is the use of them which should be
regulated and restrained. Morphine is
deadly poison taken without the
regulation provided by law in physi-
clans prescription, when it becomes
an anodyne to assuage pain. If our
friends. the so-called temperance peo-
pie, would modify their fight upon
"liquid damnation," by moral suasion,
instead Of invective, and the treatment
OF all phases OF the so-called evil from
the standpoint of Reason, we think
results would be Of much more satisfac.
tory to themselves and benefit to hu.
manity.