The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-07-02
LIQUOR AND LOCAL
SELf-GOvERNMENT
IN PARTNERSHIP
DATED BY ONE PARTNER But
ACKNOWLEDGED AND RE-
JOTCTD IN BY OTHER

ACKNOWLEDGED AND RE
JoICED IN BY OTHER.
Rev. DR. James Cannon. Jr., writes in the
current number of the Virginia Issue:
Nothing was more pronounced in connection
with the meeting of the Local Self-Government
association at the Academy of Music May IA
than The insistence that the association has no
connection with the liquor traffic 1t was the
boast of the wet newspapers that not
brewer a distillcr. a wine
chant. nor a saloonkeepeT, nor bartender was
connected IN any way with their meeting, and
OF the classes mentioned above was seen
on the platform IN person Furthermore. the
speakers denied absolutely that any partnership
existed between the association and the saloon
The Chorus of Regulators.
DIR Mcclure stated there was not man pres
ent who had any interest in the liquor bus
mess"
The Honorable Judge Christian stated In in
PRODUCING Mr.. Joseph G.. Taylor "He has
axe to grind. and / do not believe from the
bottom of my heart that he ever kept bar
Mr. Joseph Taylor said. This meeting and
the causes which brings together are not con-
cerned and will not be prosecuted in the IN
terests of the saloon or of the liquor bust
ness"
what remarkable chorus of Reputation Of
any sort of partnership or connection with the
liquor traffic. is II possible to Imagine such an
illogical such ahsurd situation with refer
ence to any other trade business? com
pnny Of prominent citizens meet in public as
sembly and listen TO Of their number de-
liver speeches In opposition 70 the abolition of
the saloon. They go to great lengths, they form
an association, they adopt platform, they
listen tn speech denGuncing and vil{fying those
who favor the abolition Of the saloon and adopt
resolution which characterizes such persons az
hypocrites And vet they utterly deny and repu
dealers and refuse to have them as part M their
dealers Al drefuse to have them part of their
company.
Why Ostracize Them?
Verify they protest too much. Wherein are
the men who favor the continuance of the liquor
business and who drink liquor themselves any
better than the men who manufacture and who
sell it? Why should these gentlemen from the
clubs and from the West End SO loudly pro-
claim that there are no liquor dealers in their
number? If as Or, Mcclure declares. tho abolf-
ton Of the liquor traffic Ia not democratic; II
as he declares it would be economic biunder
If, as he declares, THE demand for stilnulants
is universal and # there is this necessity for
stimulation" then why ostracize the men in the
traffic. Why deny and repudiate all partner
ship with those who minister 10 this necessity
for stimulation? ?" why IS it that liquor dealers
aud their families are barred. generally from
the society circles dominated largely by
leaders in the Local SeIf-Government associa-
tionP
No Dodgiug of Responsibility.
II would be amusing We're it not so weak and
cowardly to see men try to dodge the logical
consequence Of their conduct They may not
have any brewery dstillery stock, they may
not even have any income from houses rented
10 saloons, medical or legal practice with peo-
Pile In the liquor business. they may not even
participate In dividends made from bank de-
pose of saloons. yet every man who raises his
voice in favor of the continuance of the liquor
traffic in favor of granting license to a man
to Sell Intoxicating liquors provided he pays
to the State and city a certain sum, that man
is responsible up to the limit of his influence
for the continuance of the saloon and his effort
to separate himself from the dealer in intoxi-
cants ls as indicated above not only illogical
and futile, but it Is sEobhish and cowardy, No,
gentlemen. you may deny and repudtate your
partnership with the liquor dealers but You arc
responsible not only for the existence Of the
fa, NC ale ffyyt
suits of the traffic, for the lawful harvest or
disease poverty, and insanity and vice and crime
Of every kind and of the eterna! damnaaon OF
many Of the liquor dealers and their victims.
Like PLATE, of old you may wash your hands
and say that you innocent that the Jewish
mob was responsible, but all the hand~WaShing
has not taken him out of the pllory Of the
ages, where he stands today as the man who
knew better but became a partner in crime.
Like Macbeth the day will come when you viii
wash and wiring your hands and cry. out.
damned spotW but oil the washing and wringing
and weeping will not remove the blood stains
Of the murdered Duncan, The day Will come
when God will require at your hands the blood
of the men and the women and the little chill
dren damned by your partnership with the
saloon and Il viii be useless in that day to
protest that there not a single liquor dealer
who was member Of the association
The Other Partner.
But what about the other partner? Is he as
much ashamed OF the Virginia Local Self-Gov-
eminent association they are Of him? What
about the brewers and the dstiliers and the
wholesale liquor dealers and the saioonkeepefs
and the hartenders? Have they been angered
by the population of the partnership by the
members of the Local Self Government associa-
ton? Having seen and read the statements of
Dr. Mcclure and Judge Christian und MIR. fay
tor as Indicated above what do tho records show
as TO tho view OF the liquor dealers?
They have not yet held their public meeting.
IT Is not likely that they ever Will hold a
public meeting and proclaim their right to sell
Intoxicating liquors. They have learned their
Lesson fairy well. They have accepted their
brand or shame and a children OF darkness
they do their work largely in the dark. They
know that their only hope$of success lies In a
conceairneut of their real aims and purposes and
of the results or their business. They never fight
i'm the open. They never fight fair. II is not
to be expected that men who engage In bust
ness which has as the only for its
.stence appetite and covetousness should be
animated by any motives except the sordid and
the selfish.
These dealers la intoxicating liquors form