Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1905-03-03
MR.. FlTTs's STATEMENT.
The Facts and Their Bearing or
Local Conditions.

n The statement from Mr. Fits wit
$ reference to prevailing conditions 6
5 the local hotels published in The Re
o farmer last week by request, was oh
: viously intended to infiame publ
sentiment to the effect that a n
> vote might be cast at the comm
town meeting on the license question
In view of this fact II is no more thai
!, fair to analyze' the statement 70
/. which there was insufficient tim
Hast week.
Either the allegations are true o
they are untrue-or at least no
proven. If true, no seyerer accuse
ton could be made against the II
cense board and against Attorney
General Fits himself than to say, q!
he does. that he made no formal com
plaint and did not ask that the IL
censes be revoked or the licensees
be prosecuted, but was willing to lei
thm off with reprimand and 8
warning.
Section "a of the license law speci-
fies among the conditions that shall
be printed upon the face of the Ii
censes that mo liquor shall be sold
or otherwise furnished TO a minor
nor to person who is known to the
! licensee to have been intoxicated
within six months" OF course after
once putting to bed a young man
as alleged in the statement, every
subsequent sale in the two months
specified by him, would have been a
violation of this condition.
| Section AZ says a license shall be
revoked for breach of any condition
of the license as specified on the face
] he cd ic do
tory, and the commissioners have no
discretion under the law. They are
bound to revoke the license if any
such condition is violated.
Section 81 provides that not only
shall the license be revoked, but the
guilty seller shall be fined from $50
to 5000 or imprisoned three to twelve
months or both. And section "a
makes it the duty of the grand juror
or states attorney to prosecute in ey-
cry case, while Mr.. Fitts's oath of
office as attorneygeneral makes it
his duty to see that the law is en-
forced, and section of the very act
creating the office he holds gives him
the same authority throughout the
state" as the states attorneys have.
His statement, therefore, if true,
means that he and the license board,
In disregard of the duties imposed by
the law, have combined to make
farce of it, Whether true or not, his
own statement of his own inaction
should be decisive evidence. And
whether true or not appears in fact |
from the unanimous testimony else
where printed of the licensees and |
the license board as to just what All |
develop, showing that these two |
hotels several times let lodgings to
the persons in question, just as their
registers show they have done to LAG
other persons living in Brattleboro in
the past ten months, and as it is the
business of hotel to do.
II the facts are as stated by sMr
Fits there would not be any excuse
or legally for permitting
-hese hotels to hold their licenses an
other day. But because the penalties
Tor infraction of the conditions of
license are so sweeping and severe
md are deserved by the guilty, they
should be imposed only on the guilty
md guilt should not be lightly
)oro choose to vote No License next
Tuesday, the opportunity and the /
light are secured to them under the /
ocal option law, even though in face I
# the fact that not a single complaint,
Xcept this distorted and baseless
me, has been received by the proper
authorities concerning the conduct of
he business in town. even though
onfronted by the stubborn fact that /
uch change can mean no gain I
whatever for temperance but on the {
ontrary loss of all the restraint that !
an be, and has been so successfully /
xercised by Vermont authority even e
hough, besides the certain moral r
,ss, the whole practical question is v
'hether $500 year equivalent to e
early per cent tax and S2.S2 for S
ach average family now going u C
own and state treasures from the b
censees, shall be diverted to the f
ockets of the New Hampshire IL Il
ensees who will have no additional Il
cense fee to pay for it. c
If Brattleboro citizens decide to /
Ike this course, let it be with their Il
yes open and on the general No r,
rinciple, not being misled by this Il
atement of Mr.. Fits, so fully dis II
roved. or by Others equally baseless s.
lat are circulated by word of mouth d
distract public attention from the h
al situation. N
There is strong reason for believ- n
G that the New Hampshire license NJ
after denying the B
rattleboro protest against the Ii ii
nse on the island, granted this Ii ii
nse under certain restrictions, liz
nong which is the one that no re
luor shall be sold to residents of al
is town who are excluded by the til
'attleboro license board from buy br
g liquor here. &C
Under prohibition the minors and
5 other persons now excluded from in
rect purchasing in Brattleboro were er
most indiscriminately sold to. In as
probability a No vote would en- W
ely sweep away that gain in an
olishing the license board as the
ecific authority to deal with the
w Hampshire board, exchange A.
mplaints and information and keep ~
lines taut. as is everlastingly ia
cessary in this most difficult work 'e
local government. 1t is a matter "a
provable figures that between the Oh
vn agency and the known Illegal no
ling on both sides of the river the 20
al liquor traffic in the later years =
prohibition was well up to and
,bably exceeded the per capita av-
ge. $40, of the country or the ,
rid, and this in addition to the
mense individual importations by
press or freight There is little
ibt. absurd as it seems at first
'ught, that IL exact comparison
lid be made, it would be found
{ there has been actual improve
mt under license in lessened
cunt of liquor consumed. This
st be so unless Brattleboro people
beyond the average. a heavy
nlipu paopla which fS carfafprv