The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-02-20

many men, aye, how many wives have
been murdered. and how many houses
destroyed 10y strong drink And yet
the opposition newspapers become
very solemn and greatly concerned as
to the peace and quietness of the State
and preach a sermon on the horrors
of an election held for the purpose of
taking away from the saloon the pro-
lection of the law. and OF branding
il as criminal. or indeed as The United
tSates Supreme court has said, as the
greatest source of poverty, insanity,
vice ana crime
Count up all the ennities, all the
assaults. all the murders, all the ruin
resulting from elections on the liquor
license question ever since the passage
OF the local option law OF Virginia,
nearly thirty years ago. Give full
weight to everything. and then put in
the other side Of the balances the
enmities, this assaults, the paupertsm,
the insanity. the lost sons and daugh-
tiers. tho ruined homes, and the
actual deaths by murder and other
wise, caused by the liquor traffic in
Virginia for one single year, and the
ruin wrought by the liquor traffic in
a single year far. far, outweighs all
the bitterness and strife of local OPP
ton elections for the entire thirty
years.
When any newspaper, a defender of
the saloon, begins to moraltze ana
shed tears over the trouble caused by
q prohibition election, IT Is necessary
tc dtscredit either It's sincerity or its
intelligence, for no intelligent, we'll
Informed editor can state sincerely
that the strife produced by a prohlbi-
ton election can be compared with
the evils which exist as the product
of the saloon. which evils are present
daily and their source In known. and
yet these wet" newspapers do not
denoance this ever-present source, but
do become very solicitous OF the
peace OF the community when tt LIS
proposed to make an effort to re-
move the greatest disturber OF the
peace.
This objection to the passage Of the
bill is rooted in either hypocrisy or
ignorance, and is a reflection upon the
man who offers II.
Personal Liberty Argument
Another objection TO the oai as that,
were the people TO vote to abolish the
license system, 1t would be an In
fringement upon the personal liberty
OF the individual citizen, who has the
personal right 10 drink liquor to his
comfort, and furthermore and
especially it is urged that not sonly
the rights of individual citizens, but
also of individual communities are
ignored by the passage OF this bill, and
it makes 1t posi- bic for the citizens OF
ore section OF the State to impose Its
views upon the citizens of another sec
ton. which section may be bitterly OPP
posed 10 the action proposed to be
taken.
1t is almost puerile for the citizens
of any part of a State to raise this
objection TO the laws passed by ma
1ority of the people of the entire state,
and II is worthy Of note that this
argument Is used very rarely exec Rs
as TO the liquor traffic. The people Of
TiaewateF Virginia are obliged 10. live
and to work under the laws passed By
the representatives Of the entire State.
although they may realize that the
conditions surrounding the fish and
oyster industries cannot be fully un-
derstood by residents of the hill coun-
try The "moonshiners" OF the noun
tain country may desire TO be law
unto themselves, bat they are under
the law not only of the rest OF the
State Of Virginia, but of the United
States The judges who preside In
elected by the general assembly OF
the State. The entire body of laws
OF the State under which we all live
la the expression of the will of the
entire State.
There lis great reason why the law
concerning the sale of intoxicants
should be Statewide. The effect OF
the sale of intoxicants is not confined
10 the shop, or the street or the
ward, or the town, or the city where
the sale is made. The intoxicant re-
duces the earning capacity OF the
drinker and makes him less valuable
as citizen and a taxpayer. The In
toxicant increases the amount ol
pauperism. insanity and crimes. and
thus affects the State tax rate, which
lis levied equally on all sections of the
State. The sale of intoxicants is not
confined to persons who viii remain
in the town or city where the sale Ii
made The purchaser may and often
does travel beyond the bounds OF the
seity, where. she intaxicant4 was pur,
chased, or the intoxicant may be SEM
beyond the bounds OF the city into
sections of the State which have abol,
ished the sale of liquor IL Is not pos
sible with our present legislation tt
confine the effects of the sale of liquor
In legally sold. The sale of intoxicauts
In the city OF Roanoke may be just as
certainly q public nuisance to the p@o-
pie OF Salem or Christianshurg or Rad
ford as II is to the people or Roanoke
and ii is absurd and illogical to say
that the people Of Salem and Chris
tiansburg and Radford should have ne
voice in the matter Of the sale OF
liquor in Roanoke. If Roanoke hae
an epidemic of smallpox or spina
, meningitis. the people of Salem and
Radford would have great interest In
the methods followed to prevent tht
spread of the disease, and could issue
quarantine regulations against Roa-
noke, and moreover the State board
of health could step In and supercedt
the local board of health. Salem car
Quarantine against smallpox. and ths
State board of health can Intervene
but Salem has no right to quarantine
against Roanoke intoxicants, and II /,
declared that 1t would be unfair anC
tyrannical 10 pass q Statewide Pro
hibitory Liquor I4awt OF course there
is no logic in such an argument: bu
what ayails logic as against the clamol
of covetousness and appe tito to be al
lowed 10 override the best and high
est interests of the Statee Were 1t Il
be admitted for the sake OF argumen
that Radford has no right to prohibi
the sale of liquor in Roanoke, is II no
Obliged to be true that Roanoke has
no right TO ship liquor TO Radford con
trary to the wishes of the people O
Radford2
or Concern to All.
/ tt 10 clearly evident, therefore, tina
! the manufacture and sale of intoxi
cants in any part of the State is
matter of concern to every other par
of the State, and there liz nothing OPP
pressive or tyrannical in the passag ri
! of a Statewide law abating forever
I the greatest public nuisance the vtorl(