The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-10
From the Louisville Courier-Journal. ffN RISONERS in jail will get 'D more dope from friends o
 side News Item.

side"-News Item.
 Unfortunately for the reformer who
 demands the realization of pure ideals and is impatient with all who challenge the practicality of his programme, upon i the score that human nature is not re-
 sponsve to regulative legislation which aims at making saints of sinners, It IS often necessary in this mundane sphere to make choice between evils because choice between good and evil does not exist The sincere advocates of ab-
 stinence who are encouraged by self
 seeking politicians to preach the prohi-
 bition propaganda should not continue
 innocently unaware of the prevalence or deadly drug habits even in cities where there are licensed saloons. How much
 greater the consumption of the various
 stimulants and narcotics would be if prohibition should prohibit it is impossi-
 ble to say But as trere has never been
 an illustration of prohibition prohibiting,
 then it might be well for reformers to
 look into the question of the illegal dis
 tribution of drugs to drug victims with
 view to ascertaining why the laws
 against selling poison indiscriminately are not enforced, and with view to procur- ing their enforcement.
 Since it is the history of the human race that after a stimulant has been in vented or discovered, its preparation does not become a lost art or it's distribution an unprofitable business, the reformer who expects to eliminate the use of all alco- holic beverages and injurious drugs must be one whose brand of optimism IS much finer than his brand of common sense.
 Mankind will be benefited not when we clutter the statute books with prohibitive laws that are rendered imperative by be- | ing better than the people they would 1 regulate. and better than their advocates | and framers but when we have laws | whose enforcement is acceptable to a ma
 jority. The hypocrite who makes platform l speeches for prohibition while refreshing l himself daily, or many times day, upon | the beverage he declares should not be distributed is a double-dealer and a bad 1 citizen, as is also the man who votes Tor l prohibition but does not intend to become l an abstaner Legislation conceived in hy- I pocrisy and born in iniquity may be salve l to the souls of sincere advocates of ab- 1 stinence, but it cannot be of any especial
 benefit to the weak or materially ham, | pering to the wicked for the reason that l the hypocrisy that makes its enactment
 possible makes its enforcement lmpossi- l ble.
 Drug legislation, unlike liquor legisla-
 tion, is not hypocritical. That is to say, neither a majority of the members of a 1 deliberative body nor majority of the voters who elect members of delibera- l tive body are victims of drug habits, yet 1 in every considerable center of population l there is a wide daily distribution of drugs | to persons who are either slowly or rapid 1 ly Killing themselves by using them. The 1 enforcement of laws prohibiting the sale l of cocaine, chloral, opium and other in
 furious drugs should be much easier than 1 the enforcement of laws to prevent the sale of intoxicating beverages. The men, tal attitude of peace officers, grand jurors and petit jurors toward the drug fiend and l the distributor of drugs Is different from 1 the mental attitude of law enforcers to- l ward the man who drinks, or sells, beer l or wine or whisky. There can be no con l tention, and there is no pretense, that a 1 moderate use of cocaine is harmless or l beneficial, or that there is food value l to morphine. If we cannot prevent per l sons from having bad habits the law | should encourage them to temperance in l their dissipations and discrimination in l their selection of posons. Covering the | statute books with laws framed by the fanatic in sorry partnership with the faker and leaving the blind tigers DOT