The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1916-03-02
ers with which the people never in
.ded to vest them.

MITTED.
The proponents of this measure are
not asking the members of the Legisla-
ture to pass upon this most important
question, to the extent of saving that
the liquor traffic shall be abolished or
continued. But it is apparent to any
one who has kept track of the progress
of the age. that public opinion on this
question has undergone revolutionary
changes within recent years. From the
dawn of history it has been held with
out question that the abuse of in
toXicatIng liquors was necessarily
harmful to the individual and to the
community, but that the use of
alcoholic beverages IN moderate guam
titles was not harmful to the individ
ual and in some instances might prove
of actual benefit; that this view is no
longer held by the most modern
scientific public opinion is evident to
every one who has studied the ques-
ton.
1t is now generally maintained by
those best qualified to pass judgment
that the moderate use of intoxicating
liquor is never productive of good and
is very often the cause of physical and
mental decay and degeneracy; that
used in even moderate quantities, has
been tested by laboratory experiments,
and universally it has been found that
the mental alertness of the subject has
slowed down when alcohol was taken in
moderate quantities; and the skill and
effectiveness of men who do muscular
tasks have been found to fall off when
alcohol has been administered. Not
only is this true, but the old conception
of the value of alcohol incidentally ad-
ministered has undergone a reEsIu-
tionary change, and where it was dsed
by the gallon in hospitalssin other DAYS
it is now used by the gill, and the larger
number of the most skillful physicians
and surgeons of the world have abandon
ed its use altogether.
In harmony with this modern know
ledge of the injurious effects of alcohol,
its use has been barred on the railroads
and in most of the large manufacturing
institutions of the nation.
Inasmuch as 1t is generally conceded
that alcohol is always harmful and
never beneficial, it is p rfectlv proper
that the people Of the state should be
permitted to abolish its manufacture,
transportation and sale for beverage
purposes if they so desire.
THE PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT CON
STITUTIONALLY
That the state has a right to do this
we think no one can question. The
Supreme Court of the United States has
frequently sustained this contention.
AS far back as 1915, in the decision
upon the license cases in which Rufus
Choate and Daniel Webster represented
the liquor traffic, Chief Justice fancy
said
IF any state deems the retail and
internal traffic in ardent spirits injurious
to its citizens and calculated to produce
idleness, vice or debauchery, | see moth
ing in the Constitution of the United
States to prevent it from regulating
and restraining the traffic, or from pro-
hibiting it altogether, if it thinks
proper.
In the decisions rendered in the same
cases, Justice Mclean said:
The acknowledged police power of a
state extends often to the destruction
Everything prejudicial to the health or
morals of city may be removed.
Merchandise from port where a con-
tagious disease prevails, being liable
to communicate the disease, may be
excluded; and, in extreme cases, NAV
be thrown into the sea. This comes in
dire conflict with the regulation of com
merce, and yet no one doubts the local
power. 1T is power. essential to self
preservation, and exists, necessarily, in
every organized community. 1t is, in
deed, the law of nature, and is possess
ed by man in his individual capacity.
He may resist that which does him
harm, whether he be assisted by an as
sassin or approached by poison. And it
is the settled construction of every
regulation of commerce, that, under
the sanction of its general laws,
no person can introduce into a com
munity malignant diseases, or anything
which contaminates its morals or en-
dangers its safety. And this is an
acknowledged principle applicable to
all general regulations. Individuals in
the enjoyment of their own rights must
be careful not to lnjure the rights of
others"
In harmony with these early decisions
have been the decisions of this great
court continuously down unto this day.
Perhaps as strong an utterance as has
ever been given upon this question is
that made by Justice Field in 1890. in
rendering the decision of the Supreme
Court in the case of Crowley VS.. Christ
ensen, IN which he said:
"The police power of the state is
fully competent to regulate the bust
ness. to mitigate its evils, or to sup
press it entirely. There is no inherent
right in a citizen to sell intoxicat-
ing liquors by retail. 1t is not a
privilege of citizen of the state or of
a citizen of the United States. AS 1t is
a business attended with danger to the
oil