The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-10


 Half a Century of TrimI--The Resu1t.
 For. half -century--for a longer pe- riod than any other State---vermont struggled with the problem of prohibi- tion and endured these induisitorial and tyrannical laws and all to no pur- pose. It was not because there was not law enough, and severity enough. that the law failed. With all the in- genious machinery especially contrived for it's enforcement there was during its fifty years of life few places in the State where as much liquor was not sold as would have been sold under li- cense. The reason for this is not hard to find. IL is because the laws were wrong in principle, and inexpedient.
 To the State the fruits were bitter. It's development was arrested. its pop ulation stationary. and its prosperity blighted. The per capita deposits in the savings banks of the State in 1902 were only s12f.S9 as against $199.ST in license Massachusetts, and the com mercial agency reports showed the per capita of failures to be higher than in license States of similar characteristics. On the moral side there was no offset ting gain. Immortality steadily in- creased, as did intemperance and con tempt for law. TIe ja.ls of the State were fuFL The Illicit sale of liquors of the worse kind was general and unre- strained. At the end of the hftieth year, the report of the United States Commissioner of Internal Revenue showed that one United States license to sell liquor was issued for every 120 voters in the State--a number greater than the average in license States. These were taken out because the illic- it seller respected the United States in- ternaI revenue laws, which are certain of enforcement. and did not dare to open a place without one, while he did not hesitate to take the chances in vio- lating the prohibitory law. These in- ternal revenue licenses were not ta- ken out foY amusement. Those paying for the licenses sold under them. Speaking of the situation in this re- gard, The Rutland Herald says: "'Biind pigs abound. and in the large towns outnumber any other sim gle class of places of business. Bogus drug stores. with bNrrooms in the rear l are a notable feature of the appoint- pents of these towns and cities Drinking. therefore, goes on in Yer l mont as though there was no law against 1t; its extent is augmented by the secrecy and risk attached to it. but little or none of the liquor sold Is fit to drink, and every drink purchased is toast to disorder and violation of the law"
 And in support of this statement. City Attorney William Wishart of
 Barre. said:
 You can never stop the sale and traffic of intoxicating liquor in this State. It Is now worse than it ever has been. It is absolutely impossible to enforce the law. You can't enforce
 1t. Let us be honorable, and change this farce of a prohibitory law that has
 been underground and put it above board and regulate it.'
 The Campaign for License. The scandals and demoralization growing out of prohibition at length SO offended the moral sense of the Com monwealth that the question of license became paramount issue. and prohi- b!tion went down before the will of the people expressed at the polls.
 The history of the campaign which
 terminated February in the over throw of prohibition is interesting and instructive.
 Arrayed on the side of license was the progressive element of the State sup ported by men in all ranks Of life. of the best thought and highest morals men devoted to the advancement of temperance and to the welfare of their | State, who had become profoundly i'm | pressed with the futiNty and bad re- | suits of the law, and sought a more | rational system.
 l Allies of the ProhibItionssts. i Arrayed with the Prohibitionists
 were the illicit liquor sellers who pre- | ferred proh ibition because, it was cheaper than license. which many of l them could not pay, and because they 1 preferred the unrestricted sale under
 prohibition to a regulated trade under | license. These allies of the prohibit
 tionists spent their money, and worked
 with might and main against the pro-
 posed license law. So notorious did
 this alliance of the illicit liquor sellers
 with the prohibitionists become that
 The Boston Globe, of February 5th, | said:
 Tn the Vermont contest the humor- ous feature of the situation is, that
 the liquor men are not happy, not
 withstanding what might naturally be
 supposed to be their triumph. They 1 conceive that under prohibition they
 can carry on a liquor business at much l less expense than under the newly
 enacted license system. This is in It.
 self very significant comment on the
 folly of prohibition. It is none too I