Middletown transcript., 1907-09-07

coupled with severe penalties for illicit
sals. has proved the most efficient check |
upon the abuse of the liquor traffic. 2
Where When Z How can an abuse be
A man may regulate his diet,
his bnsinees, his pursuits Of pleasures;
but can he regulate bis natural pro-
pensity for falsehood. deception, and
taking unfair advantage of his neiglbore?
We may regulate by law the sale 81 dry
goods, groceries, and vegetables, but can
we regulate the traffic in obscene literature,
lottery tickets. &C.? We may regulate
parks and Fairgrounds, but can We regu-
late gambling hells, prize fights and dens
of infamy ? s'ReyenueF' What right has
public treasury to derive revenue
from a scheme that invariably generates
disorder and wretchedness among the
people2 The revenue in.such case amounts
to far less than the costly damage wrought
by the licensed vampire that lives and
fattens on the very life-blood Of the body
polite. Better no revenue than a phle-
thoric treasury by giving license to
Pandora TO open her jar and pour out on
the community disorder. riot, crime,
misery, pauperism, insanity, death and
endless ruin. There is revenue that may
burn the bottom out of the treasury that
holds ii, scorch the fingers that gather it,
and damn the soul that feeds on it.
''Severe penalties" Where is the
justice or reason Of authorizing an in
dividual TO do an act for which we pro-
pose to punish him2 Why give legal
authority to incite to arson, violence and
crime and then severely punish the agent
who has done no more that he has paid
the public treasury" for the right of
doing 2
He says lin many respects the question
is sumptuary one." What question !?
Certainly not legislation on the traffic.
or the privilege Of voting by ballot as to
the sale, or prohibiting the traffic alto
gether. There is not an iota in the whole
matter Of local option or prohibition that
touches the abstract question OF indivi.
yidual rights or immunities, aside from
general interests involved.
He says 'tthey focal option laws) have
either aggravated the evils they were
intended to prevent, or have fallen in to
contempt and uselessness, and been. re-
pealed." The facts in the case are just
otherwise. How so marvellous per-
version of history could be perpetrated
by SO great man, when the facts demon
strating his mistake are at his very door,
we are at O loss to divine. For instance,
in Maryland, adjoining bis own State,
and right up against Washington, his
official residence, there are satisfactory
illustrations Of the power OF Local Option
laws to mitigate in all respects and to
abate in some cases the very evils they
we're intended to prevent. More than
half the state is under Local Option laws
today, and portions there of have been
for long time, and We do not know OF
a single instance in which the evils OF the
traffic have been aggravated, or in which
the law has ''fallen into contempt and
uselessness.
He says ''open drinking being stopped,
secret drinking ensues." Perhaps so: but
we iterate that local option has nothing
to do directly with the habit Of drinking,
whether "open" or "secret." It deals
only with the sale. One can drink as
openly under prohibition as under license,
if he can get the drink. Our learned
critic, doubtless, means open selling being
stopped, secret selling ensues That may
be. If so, then the next step will be to
stop the 'secret" selling; whereas, we
are now only striving to stop the "open"
selling. Thomas L. Ponlson.