Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1909-02-19
To Be, or Not to Be7


sale of Intoxicating liquors should not be
legalized in our town. 1t seems almost
pity that by existing legislation the
question must be fought again so soon in
the battle of the ballot.
Three years ago the town went for
liquor by small majority; the next
year the margin in favor of liquor was
still smaller. While last year the dis
honorable traffic was denied legality
and now the signs indicate that the
citizens of this town as a whole have had
enough of 1t.
But, while indications point to a "no"
vote again this year, it behooves all who
have the best interests of the community
at heart to see that we are not taken
unawares, or that we become deluded by
false sophstry or misleading statements
in regard to the sale or no sale of liquors
within our borders.
The saloon is an enemy of society. 1t
need not be assumed that this is the only
menace to our civic and domestic we'll
being. Many are the evil powers that
prey upon us. Social purity must needs
be guarded, an equal standard or moral
| ity set for men as well as to women;
laxity In the definition of the Law needs
correction. Vice and wrong. doing in all
its guises, whether stalking abroad or
skulking beneath cover, must be put
down with no uncertain hand. There is
much to be done all along the line. But
the particular evil to which we should
give our attention at this time is the sa-
| loon.
Drinking to excess in all its horrors
made and kept countless thousands poor,
kept them degraded, kept them slaves to
an appetite so intense when once created
that the necessary things of life were de-
MED the children that the drunkard
might have his fill. Alcohol may be, as
some will have it, in the nature of food;
but when one member of family takes
his food in that form the rest of the fam
lily must needs go hungry. Innocent
ones are impoverished through drink
broken hearts of parents and wives and
friends, untold woe that figures can
never tabulate.
The open saloon is worse than the
highwayman who demands your money
or your life. The saloon demands your
money and your life. Why not close ii:
Is the saloonist's lust of gain stronger
than the public sense of self-preservation,
together with the Christian sentiment of
the country? Humanity demands "A
slider, what goes into saloon: The
young, the vigorous, with all the world
before them; they 20 III endowed with
all the attributes given by a gracious
God, Whose hands are filled with gifts.
What comes out of the saloon: Men,
scared and scanned, weary almost be
yond rest, with body weakened and
mind prematurely enfeebled by the
whitening curse of the drink that enters
a mans mouth to steal away his brains
one wandering aimlessly to the home
that is no home for him or his; another
blearily seeking causeless quarrel with
someone, anyone, SO long as his desire
for contention is stated.
Intoxication makes one man weak il
the limb, ID poor imbecile who would lie
down and let the world walk over hi.
sodden carcass. To another it impart.
an unnatural and forced gaiety, chang.
ing without provocatlon to violent spasm,
of ungovernable rage. To each who
drinks to excess ruin will surely fall
But the major part of drinkers-thos
who do not drink to the extent tha
makes violent madness or drunken
stupor-they want their liquor They
also take unkindly to the idea that any
man should "infringe on their rights
No man may say to them that they mus
not drink. ut is none of your bust
ness, mind you that. Prove that it il
none of our business; prove that the sin
the sorrow that results from getting int
the state that is so dangerous, so needless
of the scandal involved, the bad exampl,
shown the young and all the evil o
moderate" drinking, is a goodly thing
The boundary between the moderate
drinker and the drunkard is but slight
The substance that lies between the sip
per and the drinker is all but a minu
quantity. And what thinking man dare
to tread such ways?
OF late the country as a whole ha
moved toward temperance. 1t is no
now considered an oddly for communi
ties to vote for no license. The tide ha
turned. Let us make no backward stel
vote No.