Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1914-09-18
LOCAL OPTION TRIED
ANDFOUND WANTING
Used as Cover For Whiskey Men
to Hide Under-The Man Who
pays the Freight.

In the formation of the Federal
Government, after the colonies had
gained their independence, when the
Constitution was first framed, the
States were recognized as the units of
local self government within the
United States.
1t is true that in the course of
time question of state rights arose,
question involving public policy,
and inalienable persoal rights on the
one side and the constitutional rights
on the other. That question was set
tied by the arbitrament of the sword
in the sixties, and, with that excep-
tion the states have exercised the
functions of local self government in
peace, since the formation of the gov
ernment.
Local Option" is the states's meth
cd of governing the whiskel traffic,
which exists solely by grant of priyi-
lege accorded it by the state, and may
be withdrawn at any time without in
jury or prejudice to the rights OF any
man or locality.
No man or combination of men
has right to sell Intoxicating drinks.
That question has been settled by the
courts time and again.
At no time since the formation of
the popular governmcnt-govern
ment of the people, by the people
and for the people, has an organized
within a state been heard of till this
campaign for statewide was launch
ed. 1t is an open secret that no sa-
loon holds the sole patent on this
modern device. 1t should be labeled
and heralded as government of the
saloon, by the saloon and for the sa-
loon. That is all there is to it.
Local option, so much lauded by ad-
vocates of the saloon these days as
an aid to law and order, morality and
Christianity, Clothing themselves in
the livery of heaven to serve the-l,
and as a gentle, loving means where
by to rid the state of a vile, low
down, lawless characer, the bootleg
ger, and various other reforms, has
been tried out and found wanting. By
the way, what difference is there
between this vile wretch and the
respectable gentleman behind the bar
They botht sell the same stuff-pro-
Ter III each case ges the money and
his customer gets the drunk. One
handles it in barrels from a we'll ap-
pointed building, the other from bot
tie in his bootleg. The chief differ
ence is that one is licensed and one is
not. The licensed one reaches more
people, collects more revenue and does
vastly more harm than the bootleg
ger. He is just as Indifferent to the
mischief caused by the liquor traffic
as the other. If he had any con-
science, any sense of moral RESPONSE
bility, he would quit the business and
join in the hunt for the bootlegger.
The trouble with Local Option
lSelf Government), as advocated by
our friends, the enemy, is that no law
or government is provided for the
dry sections that the saloon is bound
to respect. The dry territory has
buut little protection and is benefited
only in one particular. The saloon
itself is driven out, that one nuisance
is abated. Thank God for that much.
But in this day of telephones and
rapid transportation the saloon can
and does send out it's bottled ruin
broadcast over the socalled dry terri
tory and we are subjected to all the
ills the stuff can produce. Tazewell
is a dry county, the town a dry town,
but within the borders of Tazewell
county is Pocahontas with twenty
five or thirty saloons, a blot upon
civilization, stencil in the nostrils of
every decent man. / am told YOU can
smell the fumes of the lower regions
when you get within a mile of Po-
cahontas.
take the following quotation from
the last issue of the Trumpeter. q
whiskey organ: eff the proposed
amendment should be adopted the
taxes upon the people would be in
creased to supply the revenue former
iy obtained through taxation upon
the SALE"
The revenue derived by the state
from the liquor traffic is $548. .67l .87
Who pays this revenue? The Trump.
eter tells you the people. 1t is col.
iected from his patrons right ovel
BIS counter: is that all he collects ?
oh, no.. The whiskey dealer is ar
extraordinarily fine collector: anc
whilst he is about the laudabie anC
patriotic business of collectinc rev
enue from the people he collects
quite snug sum for himself. Fl,
collects enough to pay the cost of tn,
article he sells including cost of raw
material, cost of manufactnr;n IN r ns ~
freight, profit for the distiller, prof
for the wholesaler, profit for tn.
retailer. He Collects enough to ma,
high rents on city property: enough
to furnish his home with every mod
ern convenience and comfort. enouej
to enable him and his family to liy,
on the fat OF the land; enough to fur
nlsh his saloon with everything ne
cessary to make it attractive and al
iurlng; enough to pay for bottles
demiJohns, jugs, and labels an,
enough to furnish his customers wit
vailses convenient to carry the stuf
into dry territory to be distributed
as he claims, in the interest of Law
order and religion; enough to foo,
the State, at great expense, with sa
1907; ICON hctlon; enough to hire automo