Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1911-02-17
uliooleburY Register
a Com m unicatIon.

VergenneS, VI, teDruary 10, 1911.
To the Editor:
Dear Sir:-Going over Vermont, as I
have, every three months, during the
past thirty years, have found quite a
few voters who call themselves conserv-
alive on the rum question and all the
rum cranks, conrending that the men
who get drunk will have rum anyway,
and that if license be granted the town
will make more money out of rum.
Both of these ideas are wrong.
In the first place, very few drinkers
will send away or go more than short
distance for it, but if it is handy near
by and the drinker meets friend, they
go in and treat each other and get
drunk. Seventy-fve per cent. of the
rum sold is through treating, and
seventy-five per cent. of the drunkards
made become so through treating.
Very few sots will send away for it,
as they have not the money.
1t is a grave mistake to say that the
towns make any money out of license.
No town has ever made cent out of
license, when the costs it makes, and
should be counted against it, is con-
sidered as it should be, together with
the untold suffering and dis-race it
causes that cannot be estimated on a
money basis.
To dispose of this moneymaking
I -
Franklin, New York, close by. Frank
lin County has population of As, us by
the Supervisors Report of 1908. There
are nineteen towns in the county; the
poor are supported by the county.
Eleven of the nineteen towns of Frank
lin are dry, namely: Bangor, Bell
mont, Brandon, Burke, Chateaugay,
Unstable, Dickinson, Duane, Fl. Cow
ington, Mora and Westville.
All the moneys derived from license
in each of these eight towns are paid to
the treasurer of the county of Frank
lin, and the same is kept separate. The
money from each town is divided by
him into two equal parts. One of these
parts he pays to the treasurer of the
state of New York, for state purposes,
and the other part to the supervisor of
the town from which the money came,
where the same is used for town pur-
poses, after first deducting three per
cent. allowed for his services.
For example in the town of Altamont
$4887. so is paid for licenses. Three per
cent. taken from this amount, $146. 62,
is retained by the treasurer, and the
balance, $4740.88, is divided, and
$2370 "A is paid to the treasurer of the
state, and $2370. "A to the supervisor of
the town of Altamont
None of this money goes into the
county treasury to pay the county ex-
penses caused by the traffic, and none
of it is available in any way in any
incorporated village in the licensed
towns, although such villages have to
bear almost the entire expense caused
by the drunkenness and disorder on &C.
count of the traffic in the town.
The disposition of the license money
is the same in the various towns through
the state.
Altamont has twenty licenses
for which has been paid S 1887 sc
Brighton has four, costing SIP Sc
Bombay has five, costing $50 OF
Harrietstown twenty-seven,
costing 5425 OF
Franklin four, costing 600 OF
Malone thirtyfour, costing 1852 81
Sanata Clara three, costing $50 OF
Waverly four, costing 1900 OF
Total for 101 licenses in these
eight towns, $25187 81
Three of these licenses have been sur
rendered, leaving SO in force on May
18th, 1910.
Why is half of this money given back
to the towns permitting the traffic?
In People VS.. Murray, 149 N. Y, a
page 1896, Judge Andrews, writing tn,
opinion of the court, answers this ques