Semi-weekly herald., 1908-02-17

everybody In the county to vote on
the subject will change the situation,
for the farmer vote will be almost
unanimous In favor of prohibition. 1t
is confidently predicted that when this
law goes into effect Cuyahoga tCleve-
land). F'ranklins (Columbus) and
Hamilton tCincinnatD are the only
counties in Ohio in which liquor will
be soldS But Lucas county (Toledo)
is doubtful.
The Legislature of West Virginia
has recently adopted resolution by
vote of 81 to ~ for the submission
of a constitutional amendment pro-
hibiting the manufacture and sale of
liquors as beverages in that state.
and 1t is asserted that the heavy vote
in its favor is fair index of public
sentiment The constitutional amend
ment will be submitted In November:
it has been indorsed by both political
parties. and will be carried by an
overwhelming majority.
This viii make the prohibition
Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama
Prohibition campaigns are now going
on in Mississippi, North Carolina and
Texas, and the former state will GER
tainly be added to the list before the
end of the year, while the other two
are probable.
The prohibition movement in Mis-
souri, and Indiana are gaining great
headway and the legislatures of those
states are expected TO take action
within another year.
There are now thirty-six local op-
tion states In which In from one-balf
to two thirds of the counties the sale
of liquor is prohibited by the vote of
the people. In Tennessee liquor is
sold only in four towns and in North
Carolina in only three.
Charles S. Gleed of Georgia told me
the other day that there has recently
been a decided Improvement in the
enforcement OF the prohibitory law in
Kansas towns-notably Atchison
Leavenworth, Kansas City and Wich-
tia. Il do not know that there is
much difference anywhere else" he
explained. The difference seems to
be due mainly to the discovery of a
legal remedy which was first tried in
Kansas City, Kan, and has since been
applied elsewhere. 1t is based on the
theory of condemning the property in
which a saloon is conducted This
has made it extremely dangerous for
proprietors to permit Illegal business
of any kind to be conducted on their
premises.
Il am satisfied in my own mind
that the law was never so well en-
forced as at the present time although
there are. of course. violations of it
at many times in many places. The
law, as you doubtless remember, is
not directed at any individual or any
personal privilege as to liquors. In
other words, II is not a sumptuary
law. Its sole scope is to prevent man
ufacturlng and selling of alcoholic
liquors for certain purposes. This
means that a private citizen may
have hogshead full of liquor in his
own house without in the slightest de-
gree violating the law. But he must
sell for the prohibited purposes: or.
rather, he must not sell for any other
than the purposes permitted-namely,
for medicinal, mechanical and scien-
tific purposes. For those three uses
drug stores selling for medicinal pur-
poses violate the law to consider
able extent, but in violating the law
the druggist is not necessarily guilty,
and in any event 1t is exceedingly diff
iicult to prove guilt in the case of
druggist. There are ways. however,
of reaching fake drug stores, and |
am of the opinion that the drug stores
OF the state are conducted very close
to the line of the law. One thing is
certain. drunkenness ia the state is
very infrequent If the object of the
prohibition law is to abolish drunk
enness 1t is certainly as successful as
any law | ever heard Of"
During the year 1907 the state of
New York collected S9.697 .504 from
the liquor traffic. without reference to
the additional sums collected by mu-
nicipal and village corporations. This
is the largest sum ever paid into the
treasury of that or any other state in
the union from such source. al
though, as rule, the liquor traffic is
the most prolific source of revenue in
the different states and municlpali-
ties. 1t is an interesting question as
to what the southern states which
have recently abolished the license
system, are going to do for revenue.
No provision has been made for ad.
ditional taxation as substitute for
the receipts that have been derived
from the saloons. The advocates of
prohibition have argued. and 1t has