The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-23
SPLAIN DENOUNCES LIMITATION BILL
 AS CONFISCATORY
Rev. M. A. Sullivan of Immaculate ConCep- tion Church Demands Reduction in kun- Der of Saloons, Speaking With Con-
 sent of Right Rev. Bishop Milan

| it's most unbearable annoyance. In | this connection I would like to ask why it is that from the two great po-
 iitical parties that constitute per of Connecticut there comes no plea or recommendation of any kind for q 1 limitation law or for any excise leg | islation. Search the Republican and the Democratic platforms of the last campaign and see if there is in eith- CT any hint of legislation affecting our excise system. Search the message
 of Governor Baldwin Ca man who stands for all that is best in right liv- ing and high personal conduct) and l see If there is in that document any
 word to indicate that he has discov- cred any need or public sentiment for limitation law or other excise 1 legislation. And surely man of his extraordinary intellectual grasp, l man whose range of vision is com prehensive enough to take in every thing from the need of a public utili- ties commission to experimental leg | islation on the aviation subject, might be expected to discover if there was State for such legislation A man too, who wasn't afraid to measure strength with the great African hun ter would hardly lack courage to rec ommend such legislation did he find l any need or any public sentiment for
 
 note the magnificent address deliv- cred in this capitol a few weeks ago l by U. s. Senator George P. Mclean, an address the echoes of which are still ringing throughout the State and bringing to it's author the praises of all who admire depth of thought, breadth of view and fecundtty of ex- pression. Is there in that remark able procurement any word to in- dicate that he discovered any public fiy,rn for 1,pif fn Tor ',
 as is here proposed? On the con- trary, we find Senator Mclean de- ploring the overplus of legislation that
 marks the sessions of our various
 law-making bodies and by implication if not by direct expression advocat- ing a let-up in this everlasting tink ering with existing laws. And to you and me and all of us who know Sem ator Mclean for a practical man, one who views humanity and human con- ditions as they are rather than as the advance agents of reform would have them to be, 1t Is not a far jump to
 conclude that he had these excise tinkers distinctly in mind when he
 made his address. Where then, may
 l ask, in view of all these things, do
 ment that they assert is back of them
 in their demand for limitation law
 such as is here proposed? Where
 do they find the excuse for asking your committee to recommend such
 limitation law to the general as-
 sembly? Probably where I would
 find it did I stand up here and tell
 your committee that public sentt-
 ment in Connecticut demands that
 Mir Spooner over there or MT. Orr
 over here be hung, drawn and quar-
 tered, or that in the interest of your
 peace of mind and the peace of mind
 of the entire legislature both be sent
 on a six months excursion to Kala-
 mazoo. They find it in their minds!
 Fortunately, however, the minds of
 your committee are more practical than the minds of these men and the
 little band of reformers behind them
 who like the three tailors of Tooiey Street resolve that they are the peo- pie of Connecticut. No, Gentlemen. there is no considerable degree of
 public sentiment in Connecticut for limitation law such as these reform CTS ask your committee to recom- mend, unless we are willing to accept the ipse dixit of this little apostolate of reform as constituting the public sentiment of this State; and in view of the large numbers of people and the considerable amounts, of capital engaged in the liquor and beer trades and their allied industries I for one am unwilling to acknowledge such ac- ceptance.
 And now, Gentlemen of the Com mittee, is 1t true that a reduction in
 the number of drinking places in Connecticut will effect any reduction
 of drinking itself. In my judgment, and in the light of the investigations I have made on the subject, I say it will not. If it were true that the de- sire to drink is 8 result of the oppor- tunities offered for it's qualification. then it would of course be true that would correspondingly lessen the de- sire to drink. Experience, however, has shown that the desire to drink has no relation at all to the opportuni- ties that are afforded to drink, for we find that the desire to drink is just as strong in the normal man who is not a total abstainer that lives in a prohibition community, where theo- retically the opportunities for drink ing are reduced to a minimum, as it is in the normal man who is not a total abstainer that lives in a license community. Tn other words. fewer drinking places can have no effect in decreasing men's desire to drink or the total consumption of drink. for men who have the desire or the in- clination to drink will find in a small Ter number of drinking places such opportunity to satisfy their desire or inclination as would be afforded in g. larger number of drinking places It is possible, of course-indeed. it is highly probabie-that fewer drink ing places in a community may make it more inconvenient for a man to satisfy his desire for drink: he may have to go a little further or to a i little more trouble to secure his i drink when he wantg it: but even { our prohibition friends will admit in | the light of experience and in view of | the United States government statis- 1 tics showing the sales of liquor in our l prohibition communities, that hell !. get his drink when he wants it even i # he does have to go little farther l or to a little more trouble to secure i it. Men like John E. Cough and 1 Francis Murphy and Father Matthew. . who have done more for the cause of l temperance than all the lawnlaking | and political prOlnibitionists that ever spouted their geyser springs of gab, 1 realized this fact: and their expert ence taught them, as it has taught 1 all men whose interest in the temper ance cause is humanitarian rather ! than professional, that men can't be 1 made tempe through the enact 1 ment of laws or the wiping out of a certain number of saloons Carrie , Nation may put an occasional saloon out of business with her little hatch ct, and the prohibitionists may cause an occasional tidal wave of drought to roll across the face of America: but | Carrie Nation never made a real con- vert to temperance and the most suc- cessful prohibitionist never made a dent in the total consumption of drink. It is unfortunately true that we have no great amount of statisti- cal data bearing on the relative con- sumption of drink in our American