The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-09-05
PROHIBITION AND TIGERS.

PROHIBITION AND TIGERS.
..rhe many sincere advocates Of the prohloi-
lion method Of dealing with It cine liquor trac'
IRE necessarily allied with stratum or ti'e
populatou which Is lower morally thah ths
licensed retailers under the local option system
Times Dispatch,
The law OF Virginia and the Ten Command
ments have declared murder crime In virginia
both legally and morally. This declaration has
mn prevented murder It has not prohibited
men from killing one another Ergo 1t is rank
failure Therefore the state of Virginia and the
law Of God have made men criminals and are
responsibIe for all murders, all adulteries, all
shsfts all robberies and all crimes In the cate
rory save the sale of liquor by blind tigers
For this crime the men who advocate Statewide
prohibition are responsible and because there
are bootleggers there should be no Statewide
prohibition So reason the wet interests.
The advocates of Statewide prohibition are no
more responsible for the blind tiger that exists
rnder Statewide prohibition than the wet inter-
ests are responsible for the presence of blind
tigers under the licensed and legalized sale Of
HQ0OI. Inc 5QuCE pIDpl55 dlAeI p"A ~
advocates local option, which it insists IS at
stake in the present campaign. Does the liquor
peoples temperance party assume responsibility
for the existence Of the blind tigers In Richmond,
for the fifty illegal liquor sellers that were con-
victed Of the sale of liquor here last year? The
1fmes-Dtspatch says all prohibitionists allied
with scum of society that is Tower morally
tod 4srar
will exist under Statewide prohibition BY Just
the same process of reasoning the TimesDispofch
and its liquor allies are now allied both with
the licensed retailer OF whom they so proud
and the scum of blind tiger society that is now
fostered in Richmond under the licensed saloon
system.
The charge amounts to an assertion that a
law Is subversive of the best interests OF the
6tate because 1t brands legal criminals those
pefsons and institutions that are already crimi.
mails by any standard Of morals, society, or
business. The saloonkeeper is outlaw and a
pariah the*face of the earth, not because OF
NJ personality. but because Of his business The
church will notreceive him to membership So
dsty will not admit him to It's circles. Big
uAADAAeos Will hol S1HpioS uiilis VI luoSe WIZ
consume his products. He Is placed already In
he class Of those who are legal criminals by the
unusual and strict provisions under which the
saloon business is carried on. There is no other
business which is so branded as is this; there
10 no other industry which must operate under
such restrictions. Therefore Ii is that the brand,
ing OF this nefarious business as legally crimi.
+hr uho,,t th A..
history of temperance legislation that will be
writ large On the pages OF Virginia popular
government on September %
The attempt to charge the boouegger to the
advocates OF the prohibition law Is as puerile
and specious as to charge murder TO the Heav.
emily Father and the atrocities of uncivilized
warfare to international law prohibiting the use
Of certain. especially cruel, methods
Law came that crime might be made mani
testify cripinal--not that the Iawabiding ele-
ments of the community might be charged with
responsibility for lawless outrages The law does
not make criminals, but brands as criminals
those who violate it,
OF course there will be bootleggers under pro-
klbition. Just there are bootleggers under
present laws. The wet interests that deprecate
the prohibition law are the most powerful agen-
cies In supporting the blind tiger. The presence
Of blind tigers in Richmond if Statewide prohibit
tion goes into effect, will not be the fault of
i prohibitonists. who will be, as they have always
md everywhere BEEN the most potent agencies in
Expressing such night owls The presence of
baese pests then. as now, will be because anti.
trohibitionist nuIlifiers will give aid comfort.
and protection to them
To whom are the blind tigers now in Rich
h0nd to be charged viii the Netcs Leader and
r. 1nnapatriot. the TimesDispasch, answer