Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1912-10-18

Why is it that Canada or England
itself are uot torn asuDder by local
option agitation. "a, is The United
States. Is il because the liquor i'll
tcg,sts control the British government
or is il because England and Canada
4 have found that the best way to handle
the liquor problem is through strictly
manufacturing factor is absurd.
prohibition?
my enc who would answer Tie for
mer query III the Affirmative would
ia laughed our Of town. The mere
thought that so great q government
a. that could be- controlled by one
manufacturing factor j. absurd.
/ Any one who would not answer the
second query in the affirmative would
be wjllfuily peTycrting the true facts
/ in the case. If il were rot true, if it
were not more efficient. Why would
! ENGLAND and Canada and France and
Germany and Spain and Italy and all
T the other European countries be
Employing il" In other words. if
local option were successful. if il were
the real solution to the problem, why
/ The answer is perfectly plain. It
is the same answer that residents of 90
ont OF evtiy hundred dry towns in the
! nit,d STATES reach alter their city
I has been dlN few months, and it is
the reason why - per cent. OF the dry
towns vote back The saloon the first
/ chance they get. 1t does not take
them two years TO discover it is fail
ure but it takes them two years to
rectify the mistake because the law
does not give them an earlier oppOr-
tunity.
The people of England and Canada are
of the same race as the dominant blood
of the people of the United States. The
next important racial mixture is prob
ably the German. All these countries
license the saloon. They are several
times as old as the United States, con-
sequently they have had several times
as much experience with this problem
and the methods of handling it.
If they have chosen regulation, if
| This longer experience has taught them
That regulation and not prohibition is
most efficient, most satisfactory, would
i, it not seem that the same would be
true in the United States? If expert
ence teaches anything, does not it
teach that they and not the local option
agitators of the United States are
right?
| OF course, some one says the Ger
mans do not drink to excess. Certain
ly they do not, but why? Is it
because of local option or prohibition
or is it because of regulation? There
can be but one answer-it is not local
option, not prohibition, but regulation
Is it not possible for American so.
ciety to do what the German has done
Would you care to admit otherwise
even if you thought that you, an Amer.
lean citizen, could not do your part in
molding society as the individual Ger.
man does? Is it not throwing black
mark on American society when that
society says it cannot handle the liquor
problem as does the Canadian or the
British or the German, or French
Spanish, Italian or any of the rest OF
them, and handle it as efficiently and
satisfactorily?
T. NJ. Vance was right when he
charged the American people with en-
deavoring to dodge their social re
spOnsibilties through local option
History and the experience of other
nations bear him out, but the history
and experience of these nations, and
even the experience of our own nation
where the faulty theory has ben tested
do not bear out the local optionist; in
fact they strengthen Mr.. Vance's
charge.
But some one says the American
people do not regulate their saloons,
as do the British or the German or the
rest of them. Whose fault it it? Is
it the Germans, or the Briton's, or the
Are not you to blame?
That leads to another and per.
fectly logical question: If you admit
the American does not enforce the reg.
ulation of his saloons, do you suppose
for one minute he will enforce their
prohibition? If, as an American citi
zen, you are willing to admit as you
will admit if you vote for local option
that the United States is unable to dc
that which every other civilized
country in the world is able to do, why
do you believe in forcing farther ant
admitted failure on the people of Olym
pia, theory which every other civil
lied nation has thrown into the dis
card?
Are not these logical, inevitable
questions you people of Olympia will
have to answer to your own satisfac
ton before you can vote wisely on this
local option question?
The local option agitators are start
ing at the wrong end of the problem
as most agitators usually do. They
try to cut off mans appetite without
attempting any cure whatever of thai
appetite. They say to a man, "Yor
must not drink" instead of saying t
him, You should not drink" ant
teaching him and his children and hi:
children's children why.
The way to handle the saloon is mo-
to attempt to prohibit it but to enforce
its regulation; the way to reach the
moral problem involved is the way
Canada, England, Germany, France
Spain, Italy and all the rest of then
are reaching it, through the home, the
schools, the city government, the ele
walton of society in general, not the
mere chopping off of one of it's bad ell
ements.
The STANDARD holds no brief for the
saloon. 1t is not fighting for the
saloon, is not defending it or holding
it up as a virtue and not vice, but
it is fighting theory that is known