The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-03-04
OPEN SALOON DISCUSSED
BY SUPT. J. N. BARSS
Continued from first page.)

at the state OF New England society
through the "back door," as he said.
He proposed to deal with nothing but
facts, and said that he would do no mud.
throwing, His attacks were not directed
against the saloon keeper, but rather
against the system which allowed him
to conduct wicked traffic that produced
criminals.
Superintendent Barss went back to the
early history of nations and explained
how the downfall of every government
had been brought about through the
curse of strong drink. The pages of
history, he said, hold message of warn
ing to the American people. He men
toned each in turn the governments
of early Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome,
showing how the abuse of liquor had
been responsible for reigns of debauchery
and immortality. The experience OF
| France has been identical with that of
other nations. Emperor William of Ger
many was among the first of present
day rulers to recognize the ruinous dep
relations of wine and beer in the rank
and file of the armies and it was the
! kaiser, who first Enumerated a campaign
| against this vice America. too, has
suffered and continues to suffer through
| the pernicious activities OF the saloon
and in reciting the history of other ma
tions, the speaker sounded note of
warning to the men who cast the bal
dots
| Discussing the question from an edu-
cational standpoint the speaker proceed
| ed to give some arguments concerning
the effects OF liquor on the body polite.
The international alcoholic commission,
which met in London few years ago,
when learned medical men from all over
the world eongregated, emphatically as
serted that alcoholic liquors produced a
deleterious effect on the consumer. Ii
was labeled as a depressing narcotic, and
the commission destroyed all theories TO
the contrary by declaring that alcohol
is a poison, the use OF which should be
restricted as much as any other poison
IN the catalogue. Its only antidote is
more alcohol, Agreeing that it might
act as II stimulant, the speaker said that
il afterwards leaves the body depleted
and that it reduces oxidation. Mr.,
Barnes claimed that alcohol first at
tackled the nerve eenters and told OF
instances in his work at the state indus
trial school where young boys developed
murderous tendencies through their in
ability to collect their thoughts and
maintain a normal condition mentally.
The speakers reference to the indus
trial aspects OF the issue brought
number OF astonishing facts that caught
the audience perforce. He called atten-
tion to the enormous harvest of human
lives which the railroads are yearly reap
ing in this country, and told of thirty
nine railroad presidents. who arrived az
the conclusion that much of it was due
to the use Of alcoholic stimulants among
railroad men. Speaking OF the facts
which have presented themselves to in
siirance men Mr.. Barss produced tell
ing figures showing the effect of alcohol
on mortality statistics.
Keenly alive to the opportunity for
sound risks. he said, the insurance COM
panies even in our own state had OBJ
tanned figures almost appalling in their
investiga tons. young man possessing
good habits at the age of twenty years
has forty-f four additional years to live.
The moderately regular drinker at this
age is given only thirty-one years more
to live, according to the rate table com
piled. while the heavy drinkers insur
ance rate is based on the assumption |
that he will die at the age Of thirty. |
five years. Alcohol is killing 5000 men !
in Vermont each year. declared the |
speaker, or at a rate of seventeen per |
day men are paying the human sacrifice
for their excuses.
Lattery, Superintendent Barss as
sailed the idea advanced by some that |
Vermont's local option law was proyid
ingtm with better whiskey than in |
the old prohibition days, and that there
were fewer arrests under the present sys-
tenn The speaker told of his researches
during the last few years and of the very
data furnished him by several
of the county sherifTs TIE Jail books,
said Mr.. Barss. plainly tell the story.
At the outset MIR. Barss wrote TO all of
the county sheriffs in Vermont for sta
tistics of the jail records for the last
twenty years Eleven out of the four
teen were able to reply, and nine ont
Of the eleven were thoroughly studied by
the compiler.
From 1890 until 1900 1900 men were
imprisoned for intoxication. During the
next decade, the number amounted to
800 In the years spanning the decade
from 1890 to 1900, as many as ia men
were imprisoned for illegal selling. The
next ten years saw 1853 offenders placed
behind the bars for the same crime
Murders, breach of peace convictions and
statutory ofrenses increased almost in
proportion. In the two decades, Yer
mont's population increased only 61s per
cent, while her crime, he believed, in
creased 1876 per cent.
Further light on these figures was shed
when the speaker told of the conclusions
reached which were based on the thirteen
years preceding the local option system
and the eight years of its regime. The
Increase in crime during the last-named ,
period was far greater than double that I
If the preceding thirteen years.
To refute the statement that Yer
nont's increase in crime was due to the
influx of foreigners in Barre, Montpelier, {
Bennington and Brattleboro. Superinten-
lent Barss said that less than per cent. {
If the inmates at the state industrial
school had two foreign born parents, I
his according to census taken at the |
chOol in December Police records show
hat fifty per cent. OF the inmates at {
he state prison in Windsor during the {
,ast twenty years had been native-b born |
Termonters, while eighty per cent. were
Americans. The only just criterion of !
he relative arrests in the years of pro- {
Iibition and local option is found in :
of the figures, said the speah ]