Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1934-01-04
INDIVIDUAL OPTION

thS -hiHhOSOta anu
does it well is Vivian S. Thorp.
She writes for The Minneapolis
Star and also talks over the radio.
Her articles are cleverly written,
concise and to the point, and the
little woman also uses very good
judgment.
Liquor control is. of course. a
matter that can not be settled for
the state of Minnesota in a day
or two, realizing the great diff
ferences of opinion on this meas
ure and realizing also that the
law is to be for the whole state
and not just a part of it. How
ever, it appears, that Vivian
Thorp sort of lost patience with
those few Legislators who talk
almost as if they did not realize
the federal Eighteenth amend
ment had been repealed. and that
the people through their vote had
asked for a change. Her article
in The Star the other day is here
with reprinted:
| hope to live long enough to at
tend some session of the state legis-
lature when it does not have to get
into a panic at the very end of its
allotted days. In voicing this hope
| must admit that | am afraid it is
a vain one.
There is just enough of a moral
issue involved in this liquor control
n oh RI n kn IL M in, ihla of
settlement. Everyone having a re-
mote idea of a principle feels justi-
fled in foisting his own particular
brand of moral on the state at large.
| must confess to the utmost i'm
patience and disgust with the method
by which most of these moral issues"
are being pursued. We are in the
position of having repealed the Eigh-
teenth amendment and of being badly
in need of a sensible, workable, un-
sentimental liquor control law. And
what do we get? Anything but that.
We get instead every shade and color
of liquor opinion and conviction hold
ing on to its own little convictions
with a tenacity worthy of better
cause.
Why People Voted Repeal.
One of the reasons that repeal
swept the country was because the
dire results of the speakeasy and the
ever growing power of the bOotlegging
ring made us realize that we must
take drastic action. 1t had become
nui6nnt that tho nQnnla l1v
would no longer submit to dictation
as to a personal habit. They would
not be told how and what and when
to drink. That was fully realized
so we repealed prOhibitiOn-and it
was we'll and wisely done.
Minnesota voted the same way, at
least enough of her to make repeal
a going concern in this state. And
now what have we? The spectacle of
a legislature, passing or endeavOring
to pass liquor control bills which
make it so difficult for people to be-
have in decent, orderly fashion and
still get the liquor which they have
signified their will to have, that the
old disastrous conditions under pro
hibition will only be repeated.
If only it were possible for people
who mind their own business with
more or less success in social affairs,
to mind it also in sO-called morals,
what a sensible and delightful world
this would be!
Sort of Re.enactment.
The bills which are being passed
at the moment by the state legisla-
ture on the liquor question appear to
me to be only a sort of re-enactment
of prohibition, only we are doing it in
the state instead of nationally.
If we undertook to make the con-
ditions which surround liquor drink
ing clean and wholesome, instead of
furtive and secret; if we put a
definite effort into getting good cheap
liquor; if we had the sense to make
it simple and pleasant to drink with
ones food and if we stopped shrek
ing thou shalt not" about every
thing some one else wanted to do
that we happened not to care about,
there would be very little liquor prob
lem left.
On the contrary we go on cutting
down the legitimate ways to drink
in decent restaurants and so forth
where liquor could be obtained. We
will not allow even food to be sold
to minors where liquor is sold and