The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-03-06
ReSubnlission.
(Randolph Herald and News.)

(Randolph Herald and News.)
Judge J. NJ. Tyler of Brattleboro, one |
of Vermont s most respected citizens
and hardly to be classed as a "rum- |
my writes The Reformer in support |
of that paper s stand against the sub
stitution of state prohibition for local
| option. He says:
/ "There is an aversion in the minds
fof many men to a prohibitory law.
/ They say it is an exercise by the leg
islature of arbitrary power. This may
| be unreasonable. but it is a fact to be
considered. The same men viii willing
| ~ abide the result when the question
OF license or no license has been fairly
submitted to the voters of the town.
| Local option has the advantages
lover a prohibitory law that when
flown has voted no license it has that
town S moral support. No license has
steadily gained ground, and has been
defective in suppTessing the liquor traf-
fe.
| - \ strong point in favor of local OPP
ton is that for weeks before each
March meeting the question of license
or no license is widely discussed by
lpeople in every town in Vermont. The
evils of license and intemperance are
portrayed and men are induced to 90
to the polls and vote no license. These
discussions tend to make drinking I'M
popular and to advance the cause of
temperance in the state. Notice the re
IsuIt: According to Walton 5 Register
in 1908 ninety-two towns and cities
voted license, but the number so vot-
, ling decreased year by year until in
{ 1914 only 20 towns and cities voted Ii
{ cense. With a prohibitory law this an
lnual canvass of the state against IL
cense and the saloon viii be given up
for there will be no field for it. Tenn
tperance will continue to be taught in
Y the schools and it will be preached and
: written about, but as a living issue be,
fore the people it will no longer exist
: for the state will then have taken it
! out of their hands
t What makes this especially pertinent
c is the fact that Mr.. Perry, the repre-
q sentative from Brattleboro, was the in
: PRODUCER of the bill for submission OF
Il prohibitory act to a referendum
t which has passed the house and Is
L now before the senate. The Reform
err says that if Mr.. Perry had any in
Itentions of fathering such PROPOSE
ton he successfully concealed them be
. fore his election. Had he announced
:, his position he would not have beer
Il elected, The Reformer AYERS.
n This is in line with good deal o.
e the so-called sentiment in favor of re
t submission. Unquestionably there doe
Iexist throughout the state cOnsiderabl,
- opposition to the local option law. Mucl
L of it rests upon deep-seated principl,
s. that might almost be called prelude,
e the idea that even a faulty prohibi
% tory law, which accomplished less il
:, the direction of real temperance thar
any form of license, would be prefera
1t bic to the latter. This sentiment is il
IL ,reconcilable and can never be dissipat
,e ed under any array of facts, Blu
7 what very many people want, regard
- less of names, is the system that vii
lie give Vermont the least evil result
IN from the sale and use of intoXicatin
" liquor Some of these people stood 70
70 state prohibition in the old days be
cause they believed that with all it
p weaknesses it was better than loca
y option would be. Some of these hay
IS, watched the local option law in opera
as ton and find that it is an improvement
:, as a temperance measure They Sc
the traffic limited and localized to
VI degree it never was under prohibition
IS They see the legitimate wants of til
us people for acknowledgements entirel
es unrelated to beverage uses-supplie
in legitimate way. They see an al
sence of the friction, the favoritisn
the graft, the humbug the hypocris,
the lying, the continuous and eontemp
o' ible farce that attended the so-calle
ot- enforcement of state prohibition. The