The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-15
RAILROAD TPPLING.

of MT O'Brien at Washington, that lui ther steps will be taken to compel the New York. New Haven and Hartford Railroad company to cease rom serving it's travelling patrons win liquid refreshment. It will be remem- bered that MT O'Brien wrote to the States attorneys and reminded them that the company was selling liquor on its Express trains, in the parlor cars and in the diners, without warrant Tn | law, and suggested to them that if they | would officially notify the officers of the company they would cease from their illegal practice Shortly after MT O'Brien left to instruct Congress in the way it should walk.
 It appears from investigation that the States attorneys have done noth- ing in the matter. We take it that the attitude of MT. Williams of this coun- ty is the attitude of his contempor- aries in the other seven counties of the State. He says that he has nothing to do with the prosecution of the liquor laws; that that lies with the county commissioners The county commis- sioners, on the other hand do not find, as we understand it, that it is their business to undertake the en- forcement cf the law. They appoint legal prosecutors in each town in the county. It is for these officers to see that the law is obeyed or bring prose- cution MT Niles, the prosecutor for the town of New Haven. declares that
 his authority terminates at the terri
 torial limits of the town and that the most he can do is to order the law obeyed within those limits He would
 be obliged to prosecute if complaint
 was made to him by citizen of the town. but he does not believe that the
 result would be satisfactory because
 of the unwillingness of persons to tes-
 tify and on account of the limited jurisdiction.
 As temperance proposition we have little if any faith in the enforce
 Haven Railroad company The amount
 of drinking done on the trains Is
 necessarily limited to the few who
 travel in the parlor cars, As a busi-
 ness proposition. according to the of
 flcials of the road, there is no money
 in the trade either of providing lquor
 or meals while en route The practice
 of ceiling liauor has grown up grad
 ually and has heen regarded by tho
 officials as a convenience demanded
 by the public They make no defensC
 of the practice MT O'Brien says tht legal department of the company as
 sures him that when it is asked to oui the business it will do SD, but that un
 til complaint has been made that fl | law-breaker it will let things talk, their course As we have already in timated, the practice of selling liquo and wines on railroad trains is just 8 sound in principle as is the practice c selling them on terra frma 1t com petes with no other merchant and ap parently gives great satisfaction to al increasing number of people Shoul, MT. O'Brien succeed in his crusade W do not believe if would result in an substantial good from a moral or tenn perance point of view
 ] MT. O'Brien and his temperanc friends, on the other hand, have 9 perfect right to demand that the law of the State shall be obeyed by tn Q New Haven Railroad company N e matter what his motive is, obedienc Q of the law is a principle of good gov I ernment and must be respected b
 those who live under it. IL is true tha s there is at present no feasible way fo n the railroad company to take out | n cense. A federal license would do it n D good. for if is a creature of the Stat . of Connecticut If it undertook | ' make terms with the State it woul
 encounter the local option principl
 and find itself constantly in conflit
 with the towns where no-license pel y tains In this respect it can perhar
 claim that il is as much slime
 against as shining, but there again |
 plea is irrelevant. The law is the la7
 md it is of narticular importance th;
 the greatest corporation in t'ie Stat
 should chey it Arbitrary suar rension l. it or aeliI crate defiance of it. whicl e ever it is. T .akis for popular rostles 's mss and gives the disconten nd anutl Y CT string to play upon The prop "A thing for the railroad company to q u knowing that it is acting in violatiC T. of the law, is to stop the sale . liquors on all trains until it can effe = some understanding with the Gener Assembly with regard to a special
 cense. O'Brien may he fussv. but lav
 breaking is serious business
 n -