The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-09-01

ptaces 81 worship. ara winch l0rol0
saloons In localities where specifed
conditions a. to population. police pro-
lection, etc, are absent, notwithstand-
Ing that saloons may be desired by the
people Of those localities. Dwelling
upon the last mentioned point, might
ask them how the. inherent right 0t
local seif-government and the es-
sentials Of democracy are imbedded In
and sanctified by our existing liquor
1 laws, which attach several Statewide
Limitations to the licensing of the sale
OF liquor, and subject every wet COM
munity to the control OF single
state court. vested with the power or
determining whether any or few or
many saloons shall be therein estab-
lished and maintained The court of
original Jurisdiction Is created by
Statewide action, and the appellate
court Is not only thus created. but en-
tirely deiocalized. might also ask
them II Statewide prohibition is to be
barred as destructive of the right OF
local self-government and the prin-
ciples or democracy, upon what ny
pothesis the almost countless nation
wide laws and Statewide laws are to
be justified, having reference to great
varity of matters which. like the liquor
traffic, are confessedly within the po-
lice authority OF the federal and State
governments. such, for example, as
laws forbidding the sale of unsound
and adulterated food. the indiscrimin-
ate sale of morphine. cocaine and
other dangerous drugs. gambling In
various forms, etc / cannot think
that gentlemen who are graveiy ad-
vising as to governmental rights and
political doctrines will content them
selves with reiterating that the tre-
mendously important. matter OF the
liquor traffic, the abuses and evils OF
which are admittedly fragrant and
serious. should be forever left to the
determination of the local vote (al-
though many of the men and most
] OF the women of the locality may be
utterly opposed to the saloon) simply
because there are on our statute book
certain local option laws relative to
fencing. roads, fish and dogs The
amending doom OF communities where
the saloon flourishes is certainly not
to be decreed upon the strength OF
any such faliaefeus reasoning.
/ Assumed to Have Failed.
1T Is still claimed that Statewide
prohibition will fail in Virginia be-
cause 1t is assumed to have failed else
where This assumption Is easy to
make, but it's correctness Is yet to be
established. Judge Pritchard and
others who live in North Carolina de-
clare that 1t is not true so far as that
State Is concerned. Mr.. William Allen
White and others who live in Kansas
declare that 1t Is not true SO far as
that State is concerned. West yir-
ginians are coming forward to de-
clare that 1t is not true so far as that
State Is concerned. There Ia a great
volume OF similar testimony from most
competent sources with respect to
those and other dry States. II. al Is
I the case. openly conducted distilleries
and saloons have wholly disappeared
from North Carolina and other dry
States. prohibition surely cannot be
/ deemed failure In those State merely
because federal and State laws are
j not yet sufficiently effective to com
pletely prevent secret Illicit operations
/ and the importation of liquor from
loutside. There Is remedy for this,
Federal Protection.
| The laws should be made effective.
and the quickest way Of doing 1t il
for enough powerful States. including
! Virginia. to Join the prohibition coll
umn to insure the adoption OF policy
| by the federal government in CO.
1 operation with the States by which
dry States will be afforded tho COM
j plete protection to which they are en-
titled. Nor can prohibition be deem
| ed failure in Georgia or any other
State merely because occasional nom
enforcement Of the law may permit
saloons to remain temporarily open
in few localities 1t Is very rare
that any advance really worth while
is made all at once. Every large
achievement Is usually the outcome OF
a process working gradually and often
slowly. This Is the record of human
endeavor and human law. II some
of the most important legislation
f~k~ l. fv-A
society had been discarded because 1t
did not forthwith prove ideally per-
feet WA would taday be subject to a
host OF evils which have been elimi-
mated.
''Let me illustrate this: Generations
ago Virginia enacted Statewide law
forbidding faro banks. Nevertheless
for long time, places where faro
was played were to be found here and
there. As late as about twenty Ave
years ago. when ! was a member Of
the State senate, there were at least
two such luxurIously appointed places
| in Richmond. not diff1cult OF access.
But I am confident the law Is now so
successfully enforced as 70 preclude
the probability of a faro bank being
1 again conducted In Richmond or else-
where IN Virginia. In my Judgment
there is nothing in the conditions pre-
|
ing in the past experience Of Virginia
in dealing by legislation with a variety
OF SUBJECTS analogous to the liquor
traffic. which should discourage the
adoption Statewide prohibition
here. It Is my deliberate conviction
that the experiment Is least likely to
fail in this State, whose people have
never been surpassed in their respect
for law and their capacity for its en-
forcement. But should the prediction
of the most pessimistic be realized.
those voting for prohibition will at
least be consoled by the reflection that
they did nothing to prevent an expert
ment from being tried which promises
so much substantial good.
The Monetary Aspect.
while II Is still claimed on the
4 other side that the question to be de-
termined Is a moral question--that to
destroy distilleries and saloons would
In some undiscerned and subtle way
promote immorality---those who seek
the defeat of prohibition are not con-
tent to rest their case upon that high
| ground. They stress the monetary
aspect Of the question. The urge. as
opponents OF prohibition under local
option have similarly urged. that the
loss of revenue from liquor. should
tne 49, ! q 40