The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-03-19
THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1881
Energy, Money, Time Wasted


 prohibition are sometimes regarded as synonl- nous isas much to blame for the present chaotic conditions in this nation as any other cause. To deny that conditions are chaotic is but an admission of ones sentiments to- wards the liquor question. On the assump- ton that every temperate man favors prohibit ton it is easy to see this nation making and enforcing the liquor laws that have been placed on~our statute books in the last decade But we doubt if five out of ten men, who can be regarded as temperate in their appe- tites. would subscribe to prohibition as it was legislated in the United States
 Without quoting lot of statistics we can say straightway that the abolition of the licensed saloon and commercialiZed trade in liquor was the greatest step towards temper ance that any nation has ever taken It was the extreme to which a country might go in liquor manufacture and sales But we have simply let the pendulum go all the way over the other side and stopped it there, expecting millions of Americans, whose ancestry is as varied as are the colors in the rainbow, to cast aside the customs the habits, the racial char acteristics that have been theirs through cen- turies of history making. It can't be done We must find happy medium between the two extremes.
 Every man, woman,s and child in the United States can't be expected to become total abstainer. It's physical well as so- eial impossibility. Why try to deny it when the history of the world would contradict your statements9 We are merely piling up trouble for day of reckoning. And it isn't so far distant to our way of thinking. We have obliterated the saloon. but in its stead we have the speak-easy. We now employ thousands of liquor law enforcement agents ali over the nation. The federal government exercises police surveillance over a hundred million Americans. It must poke itself into every cornesAand spot Oh 4thes map. It must patrol tie Seas the lakes, the rivers with a.med fleets. 1t must spend even more money than it does today if prohibition is to be enforced. Millions in appropriations are sought for the department and millions are given by legislators who begrudge starving farmers bit of food or small sum ot money. Certain areas of the country are wetter than others Rhode Island, Connectl- cut New York, and New Jersey constitute one of the wettest. If the law permitted this region to be flooded with an abundance of good LEGAL liquor there would be an in- stant end corruption, eoh- public officials; speakeasies sswould die asnatural death; Uncle Sam could cut his enforcement staff; he could use his coast guard boats to prevent smuggling of aliens instead of rum; he could profit immensely by liquor sale taxes whether they were state or, government controlled.
 It is our. belief that mofe liquor is con- sumed in private homes than in the convenient clubs, inns, and fraternal lodges And 1t is also our belief that if fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers found that liquor could be bought reasonably (fiquor that wouldn't ruin the stomach) and without breaking the law there would be less rumpus about prohibition in the United States. There probably would be tremendous sales for short time but eventually the over supply would quench the taste. Surfeit man with sweets and you break his, addiction for them. The extreme in liquor control IS equally as dangerous as the extreme in licensed sales and commercialized traffic. The happy medium is the sole recourse,