The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-03-01
WOULD NOT CORRECT EVILS
No License Vote Would Not Improve
Conditions.

No License Vote Would Not Improve
Conditions.
Editor OF the Banner:-In re the
two vital questions" TO be settled at
the town meeting next Tuesday per
haps a word from the "old war horse
might add gayety II not value pro or
con.
think your contention against Bro.
Archibalds argument in the matter of
the new court house carried at least
one blow hole" Addition to the
west, without touching property on
either side, is possible under author
ity of the egislature-which we would
have to await-but what makeshift.
It's like sewing a ruttle or a hem on
the bottom to lengthen ones panta-
loons-rather inelegant but still feas-
ible and practical.
The present court house Is and al
ways was a miscOnception. It is an
eyesore architecturally-it is men
ace from a sanitary view point-its
Accommodations are antiquated and in
| adequate-there are no consulting
rooms. no retiring rooms. no jury
rooms. Attorneys cannot retire and
! consult with their clients, The jury
if taken out during a court argument
ii must needs so to a hotel room or
be paraded about the streets, and
when retiring for deliberation upon a
verdict must be taken TO a hotel at an
| extra expense to the county. The
Judges. also, must hold their seats or
walk abroad or seek their rooms in a
hotel while awaiting a verdict or dur
ing suspension of court business.
They should have a retiring room
suitably furnished. An addition to
the west end of the court house
could not be arranged to include these
Accommodations
OF course am sorry to differ with
or contend against our good ministers
land temperance workers In re the To-
cal license question, because they are
not only sincere, but perfectly correct
in theory. If Intoxicating or spiritu-
Gus liquors could be abolished utterly
both the manufacture and the use
thereof-possibly the world would be
better. Medcs would have to find a
substitute for alcohol, however, and
until such were found, much physical
lsuifering and even death would affiict
the race in enormous ratio But so
long as rum" is a local question
so long as il is manufactured and sold
especially so near our border, and peo-
ple may have 1t by crossing the state
line or having 1t delivered by freight
or express to their dOors-it is a con
dition, not theory that confronts
lus. A condition cannot be argued
away or voted away or banished III
any way so long as it is local, and
not under our absolute control.
| remember when. possibly twenty
years ago. a temperance wave swept
over this burg. The sale Of liquor
was utterly stopped The hotel keep
ers turned their guests out and board
: ed up their doors. The town was in
deed dry" And what happened
) Lshortly afterward? Plague spots rose
; up in every direction. Beer and whis
+ key came in over the line between
, two days. These packages were ad
dressed to nobody but they toun'
their way into holes in the wall. No
, body sold 10 anybody The beer ant
whiskey we're there There was
, cigar box with a slot in the cover
! Drop a quarter through the slot AM
: lhelp Yourself. 1t took trouble to fin
i. these holes and a tortuous way O
:. sneaking in, but having got in an
contributed a quarter to the confirm
Q ton box, one was apt to consume tn
worth of It at least Then, too, Their
was a fight in about every drink.
d But the worst of it lay among thir'
y IN individuals that visited the "Fa
s liners Inn" by team, or Walloomsac b
l. trolley, even in nominal prohibition
2 DAYS. Ii was wicked stuff they sold
y those dens. BY the time those
. teams arrived in the Center village O
s their return to town the liquor was e
ie ercising its most benefcent inhuenc
"a and on an average a fight TO every tW
W teams was pulled off, to the eyidel
g. endowment of our summer resident
= or the hilarious singing and shoutir
and racing horses lent variety to the
N peaceful slumbers. OF course, Il
NJ trolley cars between WalloomsaC ar
Bennington had their full share of I
turning jags. II was pleasant for Il
women and children and sober folk
I these cars to sit and listen to the
"A badry, profanity and obscenity
81 drunken beasts. The conductors to
q enjoyed their helpless conditiC
among a gang of pluguglies that tel
n porarily owned the car.
Under license we see drunk
man Keeling through the streets ocC
sionally. but not often. But when h
there been a street broil or turm'
n that sckened us in the day or distur
ed our peace in the night hours? V
are sorry for those who spend ha
earned wages for rum rather than II
ment and rations, but mo license W
not change their condition, their cha
acters or their inclinations.
That the state, like a hog that h
it's two feet in the trough alreat
must needs climb in bodily and sho
der us away from the feed utterly,
no argument In favor of biting
our nose to spite our face.
Very truly
j. II. Livingston
Hamburg Steak and Onions.