Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-20
NO PURCHASE OF LOCAL
OPTION

|
ments by the Government. He is OPP
posed to local option, on the theory that
It is equivalent to the confscation of
private property, although that property
has been acquired under license of both
State and National Governments. Drive
out the liquor industry, argues Mr.. Glib.
honey. but drive 1t out by purchase. not
by edict.
John Jones had dog and he paid a
ordinarily, but one day 1t went mad. sent
| its venom into three or four children,
! killed a wife or two and otherwise in.
| flcted great damage on the community.
Don't touch that dog" cried Jones' ITS
licensed" But the big policeman drew
a bead on the animals heart and there
was nothing left but the carcass.
The liquor industry has n license to
engage in n legitimate business. The
enormity of its offenses against decency,
| life and limb has rendered that business
morally illegitimate in many cases and
legally illegitimate in others, by the will
of the people. Where it is mad dog
the people must have the right to vote
1t out; where 1t Is q good dog there Is
no public sentiment in favor of it's ex-
tlrpatlon.
There comes into court, calling on the
law for protection, an industry which
has viciously violated the law, which has
contributed its money and its influence
to corrupt the law, which has degraded
the very sources of he law by crowding
into the gutter citizens who make the
law Yet it is an industry which exists
only by liberation OF the people Indeed,
the property value OF which It prates is
almost wholly a franchise value and
nothing more. The value of saloon is
not in It's stock of liquor, but in its au'
thorization to sell that liquor
The industry, obviously needing regu-
lation, has resorted to insidious political
activity to prevent that regulation save
in such form as it approved. 1t has in.
duced the demand for it's eradication in
such communities as are opposed to its
continuance. 1t has constituted itself
public nuisance. Why. therefore, should
1t be recompensed for its own malfeas-
ance in behavior? There is no proba'
1f1,,nF nd
from any locality in which that industry
has conducted itself properly. Local
option would not close saloons in Phila-
delphia nor anywhere else where they
are only moderately Objectionable.
There is scarcely a liquor establish
ment in America which has not entered
the business with due warning Of the risk
involved The fight to stamp the busi-
ness with illegality has been going on for
in proportion to the risk involved. Every |
dealer has known that 1t is within the
power Of government TO drive him out. |
He is in no very different situation in |
this respect from the manufacturer who |
builds his plant relying on a protective |
tariff, although he knows that the cleo |
ton returns may ruin him, and the man.
ufacturer's business is not a nuisance or
a peril He is not, additionally, greatly
different from the dealer in cocaine who
finds that his property may be conhs-
Gated for the good of the community.
But local option is not prohibition. 1t
simply confers on a governmental unit
the right TO decide by vote whether the
liquor business within that unit shall be
treated as an outlaw Local option gives
the liquor business the same chance that
it gives the opposition. A business so
rotten that a majority OF the citizens
want to strangle it has no particular
claims on the consideration Of the public.
The liquor industry may be a pistol
pointed at the heart of a community 10
compel it to buy its freedom, but the
vote is a bullet-proof cloak that is a sure
defense against such tactics.
The liquor industry is not a vested
right; it is in many cases vested wrong
It's franchise is held subject TO the
pleasure Of the people. It simply must
cease to exist when the people SO will
just as the great racing plants ceased to
exist. Nobody. we believe, ever advo-
Gated that raee-track gamblers should
be reimbursed. although part OF their
profits had gone to the State. A bust
ness that becomes repugnant to the
morals OF the age, no matter what its
former standing in the law. must go. Just
as slavery went, and the only eonsidera.
ton 1t can expect is the warning OF ap-
preaching action. a warning which the
slaveholders had ana a warning which
the liquor business has been getting Tor
-. 1san taff = eenturv