Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1909-02-19
great mass of our Virginia people, no
matter what may suit others.
Reasons For Prohibltlon

great mass OF our Virginia people, n,
matter what may suit others.
Reasons For ProhibitIon.
The pressure for a change in tn,
method of work comes from tw,
causes:
First, the desire of dry communi
ties to be free from the constant threat
of another election. This natura
desire, and yet if the law is being prop.
erly enforced, and good results have
been obtained, there should not be very
great danger of an effort to hole
another election, and even should ar
election be called, it will furnish oppor-
tunity for the cultivation of a stronger
public sentiment against the traffic. and
the result should not be doubtful.
Whatever might be the result of such
election in some special cases, the fact
remains that the law must commend
itself as effective and beneficial to a
majority of the voters in community
or there will be dissatisfaction and un-
rest.
To call for the passage of State
wide prohibitory law, simply to prevent
communities which have already voted
out saloons from voting them back again,
would seem to your committee to be
a confession of weakness, and a lack
of confidence in our predictions con-
corning the permanently good results
to follow the closing of the saloons.
Tired OF Appeals.
Second, A number of our friends are
exasperated by the continued appeals
to the courts by the liquor people from
the results of elections which go
against them, and their repeated at
tempts to invalidate the Ward suffrage
law. Notwithstanding the liquor men
have gone into these elections on the
basis of the validity of that law. For
this reason some of our friends are
urging that we resort to Statewide
prohibition, and these insincere and
tactics of the liquor people to
defeat the will of the majority of the
In answer to this position
we think there is nothing to be gained
by precipitating a Statewide contest
just now particularly as the Supreme
Court has not yet passed on the consti-
tutionality of the Ward law. These
efforts of the liquor people are futile.
and are but vain straws offered against
the great current of public opinion
which is steadily sweeping the saloon
out of our State. There will be time
to consider more fully this phase of the
situation if the Ward law should be
declare to be unconstitutional by the
Court of Appeals.
jug Versus saloon.
The third reason given for calling for
a Statewide law is that, by the pas
sage of such law, the "wet'' cities
will cease to be the plague-spots to the
rest of the State The flooding of
dry" territory by the inquitous .'jug"
trade and the consequent taunts from
the liquor trade and it's allies that
prohibition does not prohibit" presents
ground for the serious consideration of
a Statewide law. Can the 'dry" ter
ritory be protected under the present
local option policy? Your committee
can see no reason why the Legislature
could not give the opportunity for such
protection to dry" territory and still
abide by the local option plan. The
law at presen: forbids wholesale liquor
shipments into dry" territory. The
Legislature could extend that principle,
and enact such legislation as would
forbid the importation of ardent spirits
into ''dry" territory whenever it should
be clearly shown by petition or vote
that majority of the qualified voters
desire such importations to cease. 1t
is important to note that such legisla-
lation could be passed and the principle
of local option would still be preserved
intact In the consideration of this
question, it must be remembered that
there are many persons who are opposed
to the saloon and who will vote against
1t, who would not vote to abolish the
"jug" trade, because they think per-
sons should have an opportunity to OBJ
tain liquor without the accompaniments
of the saloon. 1t is important, how
ever, therefore, to keep the two evils
carefully separated. The ''jug" trade
is an evil, but the open saloon is an
incomparably greater evil. In the effort
to protect "dry" territory from the
jug" trade. we must not take action
that will bring back the curse of the
saloon upon any community, and, more
over, 1t is of great Importance to re-
member in this connection that the
interstate commerce law has not vet
been changed to give any protection to
our dry" territory from liquor shipped
In from other States, and, so long as
liquor can be shipped into ''dry" terri
tory from other states, it will be ex-
ceedingly difficult to get the Legisla-
ture of Virginia to prohibit such ship
ments by dealers in our own State. 1t
does not seem wise, therefore, to press
for this legislation at the present time.
Should we be able to secure the pas
sage of bill by Congress prohibiting
the flooding of ''dry" territory from
neighboring states. we should then go
to our General Assembly and insist
upon the extension OF the local option
principle to the shipment of liquor by
retail into dry" territory.
Not Proper Time Now.
Another consideration has had great
weight with your committee in arriving