Show LET WELL ENOUGH ALONE LEGISLATIVE LIQUOR court of this state decided Some time ago the supreme under the present Utah county commissioners or city councils can refuse to grant any license to any or to all for the sale of when they so They can do this without to our any reason whatever being given may be somewhat but it is certainly a unique and effective means of giving local option to such communities as really want it All that is necessary is for the city or county in question to elect men to office who will refuse to grant Under this a large part of the state of that wishes is now without licensed As large and prosperous a county as Cache county our best only one We have never believed in trying to make people moral or temperate by and have always advocated sound home good useful work and proper as the best means of keeping down the number of saloon But as long as it is sought to reach the matter by restrictive is no question that our present means of v reaching is most effective and has many advantages over the usual local option Here's the Law to be effective must have the sentiment of the people of the community behind and also the earnest desire of the officials themselves to see it the people elect men to office pledged to grant no the law is of their enacting and they are in sympathy with and will see to it that the police officials and prosecutors under them enforce the under a local option election a community votes without consulting its officials in the it often finds among its council or county commissioners and police and many who do not believe in local at and the result is that these men will not properly enforce This is 1 11 re Of n j option the one we have right now is the most effective J practicable that one could and our would do well to bear this in mind while pW some new enactment of doubtful will no doubt be enacted by legislature in an effort to meet the our present Republican platform of last even of the if jt be legislation that will not be as good as what Ve al-ready It is to be that in their haste to enact some law on the they da not do anything absurd or There are several for in the regulation of those saloons that may be allowed to which iz is inadvisable for the legislature to to regulate uniformly for the entire The nature of the communities of the state and their size and local conditions vary too much for uniform laws in many For closing laws cannot be expected to be the same in Salt Lake City Avith its many night late as in a small town in the agricultural districts which decides to grant Neither would it be proper to limit the number of saloons to be permitted in any community on any uniform population basis for the entire One saloon to people might be reasonable for a foreign bachelor such as that of but would he absurd in a town like Likewise legislation should be confined solely to the SALE of while the manufacture of it should no prohibited anywhere as long as some part of the state remains The evil that may exist can lie only in the and Utah manufacture should be favored ahead of for- eign even in the matter of The world would be better off if its saloons we always closed and- there were only one to a million not by legal but because men had lost their desire for liquor and refused to buy But we must consider this question as practical men who view with regret the intemperance that but realize full well that it is a condition to be met in a practical and any legislation that is not of a and sane nature is worse than none at Let us pause before casting away our present local option system for one which does not possess any advantage over what we already and like any new untried may prove woefully lacking in many |