St. Tammany farmer., 1906-12-15
High License Not the
Remedy.

liquor license IN New Orleans seem
to be advocating the proposition
with more judgment than do peo.
pie in rural districts, where saloons
are few and loafers scarce. Instead
Of sending the licenses up to pro-
hlbltory rate, they propose a meas
ure fair to the municipality and
dealer alike. The proposition is to |
advance the rate from 500 to $3.50. |
an increase that will financially aid
the city and oppress 60 one. 1tis
understood among observing Een
OF affairs that the liquor traffic can
not be suppressed as long as it is
manufactured, and that it will be
sold under police supervision or
secretly. People will have 1t who
use it, without the least regard for
statutory laws or legal enac:ments.
High license will no more suppress
or Lessen the sale of liquor than
prohibition, nor shut the doors Of
the lowest dive. In fact, an unusu.
ally heavy license is more apt to
close the doors of we'll regulated
saloons than Of dives, where be
who enters. is sure to leave shorn
Of the contents Of his pocketbook
| and dazed by the poisonous decoc-
tions called whisky.
Truth believes it better to let IL
quor be sold by licensed saloons
than by blind tigers. In either
case, liquor is freely cold, but from
the first the State and parish de.
rive revenue to aid 10 defraying
criminal expenses, and in the other
no one is profited except the dealer,
and as much liquor is drank in one
instance as the other.
Truths fight is against the low
dives, where men are murdered
ard robbed, an6 which are breed
ing places of crime and hiding
places for criminals. Such dens Of
immortality and vice should be sup.
pressed quickly. vigorously and
permanently; but We claim that
high license is not an efficient In
strumeut for their destruction. Dive
proprietors can meet the demands
Of the collector OF high license
much more readily and with less
hardship than can the keeper oi
an orderly, we'll kept saloon, and
the one feasible method Of destruc
tion IS suppression by municipal
authority. When the city closet
the door Of den the police will see
to it that it stays closed, and there
will be no demand made upon The
blind tiger to come from bis lair. q.
liquor may be had by all who cal
for it from we'll regulated, law-abid'
ing saloons.
We have studied this matter from
every standpoint. We have seer
rowdyism and drunkenness in places
where prohibition ,s the rule, vic
tins Of dives. where high license
prevailed; but where municipal
authority exercises it's power and
privileges earnestly and vigorously
We have noticed but few or little o.
either.
The liquor question is one easil,
controlled by municipal interfer-
ence, but neither prohibition mol
prohibitory high license have thu
least influence in suppressing it
use. Tbs is a matter that shoult
be considered from practical snt
not q sentimental standpoint. Ii
quor selling may be looked npoI
az an evil, but it is q necessar,
, evil that hss never vet been checked
or suppressed. and never will be ~
long as fruits and cereals grow
from which i: may be n ade.
The only remedy for closing th'
low dives ie municipal Interference
They will thrive on high license,
while decent saloons will perish
Baton Rouge Truth. -~