The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-12-01

high an estimate upon his vote or too low an
estimate Supon my character" At this point
the speaker was applauded wildly and enthus-
iastcaIly.
Not An Inherent Right.
With these preliminary remarks Mr. Glass
entered into a discussion of the prohibition or
the legalized traffic in Intoxicating liquors
through tho medium of the open saloon HE
urged that citizen in the liquor business
urged that no citizen had any inherent right
to engage In the liquor business The saloon as
a feature Of commerce Is entirely different from
any other business institution A. citizen OF
Lynchburg. matter what his character. If he
mas the means can go to the proper city officiais
and demand license to conduct the dry goods
business the hardware business, the shoe busi-
ncss. the grocery business or any other char
'acter Of business except the liquor business III
ne wants license to sell liquor he does not go
10 the commissioner of the revenue and demand
It as right, but he must go to the corpora
don court and ask 1t as privilege lie must
some other things before he can get 1t. He
must prove that he is man OF good character,
and that the place whore he proposes TO es-
lablish his dram shop Is a fit place at which
20 dispense liquor. The speaker said he could
understand how the man could get along with
he character requirement. but he never could
understand how anybody could establish the
fact that any place in any community winch
appreciated the blessing OF good order was a
1T place to dispense a thing that created the
4eNsl and disorder.
Traffic in liquor has been assigned by all
civilized nations TO the police department Of
the government. 1t is a privilege, which the
State may either give or take away. The
Declaration OF Independency and the Virginia
Bill of Rights enumerate naenable rights
Of man the enjoyment OF life. liberty. property
and the pursuit of happiness Those VINO en-
sage in the liquor business and some OF our
friends on the other side who yehemently advo-
cate egalized system of the liquor traffic would
ike, said Mr. Glass, amid laughter and APP
pause Ito change these declarations to re-
ate as the naenable rights OF mankind the
possession of life. liberty and property and the
pursuit of Intoxicating drink. The speaker said
would assume. and he thought no one would
deny, that in the matter of the liquor traffic
there is such thing as individual liberty, but
only community rights. The right TO grant or
deny license inheres solely In the state, and the
people constitute the State. Therefore the ques-
ton in this community is whether the people OF
Lynchburg, after an experience of two years
without the open saloon, viii sanction its return
What is the nature Of the business that the
petitioners for an election seek to bring back
to this city, 1t is institution that breeds
disorder In the community propogates profanity
produces evil associations. depraves and de-
grades the ruman race and that, in all respects,
is unlovely and indecent. 1t is exotic, a modern
pest a thing that has no proper place in our
civilization.
that you cannot make good by removing
temptation They tell that we can't legislate
people to heaven That is true. Nothing but
the love of God. supplemented by His infinite
mercy, ever get human soul through the
portals of paradise. No. you can't lesslate peo-
pie to heaven. But you can legislate for the
orderly conduct OF society and. Incidentally. but
surely, by legislative enactments wreck much of
the devils paraphenana. on th.s earth and bar
who's Fault Is IT,"
Mr.. Glass then discussed for. perhaps. half an
hour the proposition that prohibition deex not
prohibit He asked whose fault is 1t that II
does not prohihit In cases whore it does not
prohibit 1t isn't the fault OF the law. 1t isn't
the fault of the people who vote to abolish the
open saloon. II Is the faul, tn those
gage IN the traffic and those who eondone, ex
tenuate and defend this defiance of the law.
Of prohibitory laws violated. Nearly
every criminal statute is violated. The law itself
presupposes that It win be violated and. there
fore at the end of every statute designed to sup
press crime a penalty Is attached in punish
fnent OF the criminal, The speaker ccntenaed
that trustworthy testimony convinced him thai
prohbtnry laws relating traffic in liquor are
efficiently enforced rs many other statutes
against criminal -offenses He read the testi-
mony of Governor Stubs, of Kansas. and
tracts from letter from Governor kitchin, OF
North Carolina, and cited the official figures
from the police record of Lynchburg, Danyile
ana other places to show the marked decrease
In drunkenness and crimes produced by the
traffic In liquor. The speaker showed how GOV
ernor Stubbs. of Kansas. had driven every saloon
and joint out OF that State. and had induced
the Federal government at Washington to aban-
don It's alliance through its internal revenue de-
partment, with the la~less liquor trafnc.
The Eject Oh Business
Congress Glass next discussed the talk about
the abolition OF the open saloons hurting lcgi-
innate business. He said there tang
that the average American citizen resents above
most things else. and that Was TO have some
body talk to him Ike he thought he was fool,
When man tells me-. said Mr. Glass. AS
some Of my friends on the other side have
done, that there is more liquor sold and con
sumed in Lynchburg now than when the town
was Wet and that it hurts the dry goods bust
ness or the grocery business the millinery
establishments, or the shoe trade, or any legti-
mate trade, when Danish from the city the
open traffic in liquer just feel al II my friend
thinks l am simpIeton and without sufficient
mental capacity to see an obvious absurdty"
Mr. Glass adduced official statistics OF the real
to disprove the statement that business was hurt
by the exclusion OF the saloon, and bank stalls