The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-05-17
Testing oficial oaths.

tested out by the towns of Pleasant
Prairie and Somers after the first of
The coming of July. These towns have
voted not to continue the sale of liquor
within their territory and whether the
will Of the &eople is to be carried out
or is to be made farce will depend to
great extent on the manner in which
public officials enforce the will OF the
people.
The enforcement Of prohibition legis-
lation in all parts of the country has
always been effective or non-effective
in proportion to the manner in which
the officials in the territory covered by
it do their sworn duty. The iAsolence
Of the saloon power usually asserts 1T
self to the fullest limit in the territory
where people have voted to limit or ex-
clude its activities. The liquor inter
ests are mostly interested in selling IL
uuor. They have never shown any an
Siety as to what happens to the man
who acts as their go-between to the
people, So long as he gets away with
violations Of the law by organizing
EtclubsD under and outside Of the law,
the liquor man has no question.
The attitude of the United States
government toward the will Of the peo-
pie in prohibition territory has changed
wonderfully in the past year and the
government officials can be depended
on to lay no stone in the way OF en-
forcing the law in Pleasant Prairie
and Somers. The government, however,
is a busy party just at present and the
real enforcement of the law is to fall
upon local officials. If the law is to be
enforced it must be enforced by the
town constables, the district attorney
and the sheriff. All of these men have
a sworn duty to do in this regard and
st is duty which can not be held light
ly or be cast aside on the presumption
that lot of the people are not in favor
bf the enforcement of the ban against
saloons. If sufficient lot Of the peo
pie were favorable to the saloon, these
towns would not have voted against
license. The vote Of the people should
be the sole determining element in the
duty of the officials.
; Their own personal opinions as to the
right Of man to sell liquor if he wants
TO and the right of any man to buy
liquor if he wants to are entirely irrel-
evant and immaterial. Kenosha Off
cials are on trial before the people. If
they show any willingness to wink at
violations of the law or any hesitancy
Ito enforce the law, they must be held
guilty of violating their trust to the
people.
Much of the success of enforcing pro-
hibition legislation must be found in
the courts. The man who starts to OPP
crate ''blind pig" in either of these
towns is common violator of the law
and when he gets into court his preyi-
GUS character or standing in these COM
munities should win him no favor. The
best way to enforce prohibition legis-
lation is to see to it that the first vio-
lator of the law pays the full penalty
of the law. Fines for such cases are
scarcely to be considered the full pen
atty. Profits in the illicit dealing in
liquor are abnormally large and men
who take the chance of violating the
law usually have won profits enough to
make it possible for them to pay any
fine which may be assessed against
them. These fines are always consid-
cred part of the overhead" in the
blind pig business. However, there is
no provision in the overhead for re-
stricted liberty for serving sentences in
a jail or state prison.
These are things which even the
blind pigger is opposed to. The jail or
prison sentence has always been found
the most effective method of dealing
with the men who insist on multiplying
the wishes of the people by selling
liquor without license. The test in
Pleasant Prairie and Somers is going
to be the first for Kenosha county. It
should put the officials of the county
on their mettle to see that this county
goes on record as one county in Wis
consin where the law can be enforced.
Subterfuges for violating the law
will undoubtedly be many but the care.
full officials who really want to enforce
the law will have no trouble getting
around these makeshift clubs. A care.
full study of the operation of them in
other communities show that they are
perpetual violators of the law and all
that is necessary to secure the early
closing of such places is a little care
on the part of the officials. The off
Gals in this case are hired to be de-
tectives; to see that the law is enforced
and not made a laughing stock of.
It is real opportunity Tor the town
and county officials to show the people
that they are real officers and that they
can not be subsized or terrified from
doing their duty by a traffic which the
people have voted to eliminate. The
manner of the enforcement of the laws
in these towns is going to go long
way toward the feeling which people
of the rest of the county have toward
the liquor traffic. If the liquor men