Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1908-12-30
Is There a Moral?

'he hght has been directly against
the sale of whisKey in saloons.
Abingdon, town in Southwest
Virginia. ON the Norfolk and
Western Railway, for the past
two years has been the only place
IN large area of country where
whSkey could be- legally sold.
Indeed, from Roanoke. Va. to
Chattanooga, Tenn, 400 miles,
Abingdon is the sole place ON the
Norfolk and Western Railway
where whiskey is legally sold.
I On Monday last there was an
election held in Abingdon. The
question Was whether or not the
town should discontinue the sale of
wmskey in municipal dispensary.
- mes have been doing far sew
eral years past. Welding TO the
town treasury an annual income of
$4,000. In few years the town
debt has been paid off. streets i'm
proved to a great extent, and many
other municipal improvements paid
for out OF the proceeds uf the dis
pensary. The municipal tax has
been abolished, and the town is
being run on the revenue derived
from the dispen>ary. The result
of the election there on Monday
last was majority of 36, in a total
vote of 800, in favor of the contin-
uatiou of the dispenSary.
What Is the situation in Abing-
don! 1t Is nothing less than that
every taxpayer and voter of the
town Is engaged in the business of
selling whiskey, and majority of
them have deliberately declared il
To be their will that they will con
tlnue 10 engage in the business of
selling whiskey. Every taxpayer
and resident of Abingdon derives a
profit from the sale OF every bottle
of whiskey that i sold by the dis
pensary. They profit thereby tn
the extent OF being exempt from
paying any of their individual
money towards running their
municipal government. Hence.
by the Abingdon election, we are
led 10 the irresistible conclusion
that the people out there, knowing
that a certain per cent of the
human race is going To indulge in
the use of ardent spirits so long as
they are manufactured, are willing
60 countenance the legal sale of
liquor in their midst, provided it is
sold by the bottle in 4 dispensary,
and not by the drink in n saloon.
and with the additional proviso
that the town-thereby meaning
every taxpayer and resident there
of be participant in the profits
derived from the sale Of whiskey
Is there a moral to this situation
at Abingdon! Does any one doubt
that Abingdon would have voted
dry but for the fact that the
town was being financially benefit
ted by continuing to be wet! Are
we to believe that people, in the
decision of question of this char
acter, are 10 be swayed by consid-
erations Of personal monetary
profits to themselves If the latter
is true, then we would ask is the
world growing better, or is il
growing worse!
In the eyes of many people Of
the world the citizens of Abingdon
have done an act that they should
be ashamed of. The Exponen
does not subscribe to this opinion
We believe citizens of Abingdon
did right in choosing the lesser o
two evils. They we're confronted
with a condition. With them i
was condition that presented TIVE
evils, the legal sale of whiskey an(
the illegal sale of whiskey. 1t wa
only necessary that they shoulc
admit the truth to themselves, anC
to their consideration. Had the!
voted the dispensary out the!
knew that there were people il
/ Abingdon who were going to con
. tinue the use of ardent spirits. O
; course a majority of them woul,
prefer to effect legal purchase O
it, but, if, to obtain it, it wer
, necessary to become lawbreaker
= the aforesaid citizens knew tina
{ they would become such, and tha
l without a single serious though
: as to the graveness of such an act
h. Tho vOrSt that A hinUdon can n