Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1908-06-08
w. C. T.U. COLUMN.
FALLACY OF LOCAL OPTION.


in convention and my heart goes out to
you as it always does when I cannot
be with you at the time of your annual
gathering.
AS look back over the years we
have met and planned together it seems
sometimes as though our labor had
almost been in vain, in view Of the
backward step taken by our own loved
state of Vermont Then again taking
broader outlook we have much to en-
courage US in the grand work of the
National. of which we are all important
part, and of the grand work going on
in other states. Surely we can but
feel that the tide is turning in our
favor, and that our state will at last
come to its senses and turn from the
error of its ways .
Well, I was asked to write about
1.-The Fallacy of Local Option" but
l came near forgetting that | had
subject. | do not claim but that local
option is good when used as stepping
stone to prohibi lion, but to go from
prohibition to local option is decidedly
step in the wrong direction, as in the
case of Vermont We were in the
advance guard, even though we had
prohibitory law poorly enforced, but
now We are looked upon as having
taken backward step. Where local
option fails is in the inability of the
lawmakers to carry out the provisions
of the law. 1t is not what we want, and
we shall never be safe from the liquor
traffic till we have prohibition for the
town, the state, the nation.
A discouraging feature Of this ques-
ton is the way the Congress of this
great nation trifes with it The people
of prohibition territory are asking for
law forbidding liquor to be brought
into their domain. What do the law
makers at Washington say? Wait till
after election. or it will hurt the
party ETC., so you see the way they
trife with that which is of so much
| Importance It is impossible to keep
rum out of prohibition towns so long
as man can send off and get all he
wants. Local option fails when men
can go from prohibition towns into
towns adjoining where rum is freely
sold and get all they want. Let us
| then rally around the standard of pro-
hibition, which never fails in the hands
of officers pledged to do their duty.
In thinking over this subject the poem
bv Mrs. Blodgett Of Derby Line, given
at one of our conventions several years
ago. comes to my mind and is more apt
and appropriate than anything | can
write. | was asked to be brief and
I give YOU this as it contains all in a
nuthell.'. 1t is good enough to be re-
peated, to ] take the liberty to copy it.
Mrs. Bodgetlt ha always been one of
the leaders in thought in our organ
ization, and anything from her pen is
sure to be of value and up-to-date.
Well, here, it is
PROHIBITION VS.. HIGH LICENSE
OR LOCAL OPTION.
By Mrs. S. E. Blodgett.
Said Farmer Brown to Sarah Jane,
81 amt one mite excited
About the way we won the day
I'm just downright delighted.
We whipped the Prohibs high and dry
In yesterdays election;
The old Bay State stands firm and
square
For license and protection.
Indeed" said Sarah Jane, Il thought
You went for the adoption,
Of prohibition: jim the towns
By so-called local option?''
well. so do. That's what l claim;
If folks want prohibition,
Why, let them have it straight say
But only on condition
That other folks in other towns
Shall have the right of saying
we want high license every time
The revenue is paying
Full half the taxes in the town;
/ call that local option
And when it comes to that. of course
: l vote for it's adoption"
'"But, Samuel I'd like to know,
Now haven't you notion
That no saloon at all is best
For this good town of Goshen?
Think of our boys; there's Dick an
James,
And Tom and Jedediah,
! And Brother Nathan's Abner, too,
And Jack and Hezekiah.
What if, when they start out to school
Il They pass at every corner
4 A place like that we used to have
Kept by Tobias Warner"
: : "Well, as to that, guess you re right
| really have a notion
!. That prohibition straight is best