OCR Text |
Show ANY AT ALL IS TOO MUCH. Of late there has been manifested in Logan a strong public feeling against the liquor traffic, and the Journal has given vent to some emphatic utterances upon the subject. The strong public feeling and the outspoken sentiments of the Journal upon this subject however have not been brought forth because of the extensive proportions of the traffic in this city as may be supposed by persons ignorant of our true status in this regard. The fact is, the consumption of intoxicants in this city is very limited, in proportion to its population, and arrests or occasion for them, for drunkenness and kindred offenses, are few in comparison with the size of the place and the number of transients that float through it. No; the citizens of Logan were not aroused upon the subject of the liquor traffic because its dimensions in their community approached in extent the proportions it commonly reaches in towns the size of Logan. For several years prohibition had prevailed to a great extent; so much so that not enough liquor was sold or consumed in the city to cause any considerable degree of uneasiness respecting the moral status of the community in regard to intemperance. But within the last few months certain parties, with a bearing of defiance towards municipal law, and contempt for public opinion had engaged in selling liquor. Their customers were of a certain class only and limited in number, but it was the principle that was involved in their conduct, as much or even more than the evil really resulting from it, that roused a public feeling in favor of vindicating the law and punishing its violators. It was clearly foreseen that of parties could come into this city and conduct a liquor business, even in a small way, in defiance of municipal authority and law, it would not be long before the despicable traffic would grow to proportions really dangerous, in a degree, to the morals of the city, and of our youth especially. Hence the city government declared war upon the whisky men, and hence it is that it proposes to fight in the courts, the hateful business of liquor selling until the matter shall be conclusively settled whether or not Logan city has a constitutional and chartered right to fully enforce prohibition. Logan leads the van in a good cause, her course and progress are being watched with deep interest by many municipalities in the Territory, and if she succeeds her victory will be a triumph for the cause of law, order and good government throughout the whole of Utah. In the meantime let the unfaltering sentiment of our community in relation the liquor traffic be, "Any of it at all is too much." |