Show PROHIBITION A Letter from Mrs Burnett on the Subject EDITOR DEMOCRAT The editors heading head-ing to my last letter is very significant for prohibition finally it will be Herbert Her-bert Spencer says people never go right until they have tried every possible way of going wrong Every method of dealing with the liquor traffic save prohibition pro-hibition has been effectually tried What a set of blockheads the people of Ohio must be The Tribune says the Constitution Consti-tution gives us prohibition and not one in the State knows it I wonld like to ask why did the Legislature submit to I the people a constitutional amendment in favor of prohibition in 1882 if it is already granted them 1 And how could it last winterpass the Dow law that permits per-mits any one who will pay 200 to sell And what a bright set of Supreme Judges Ohio must have since they have pronounced pro-nounced the law constitutional Strange constitution that gives prohibition and taxation at the same time Prohibition does not prohibit Neither does regulation regula-tion regulate License has been tested and the people have pronounced it a failure License justly assumes that the traffic is wrong and must be regulated License is partial prohibition and the power that can restrict can prohibit if the people demand and the public good requires God does not regulate crime man cannot License is the price a nation puts upon the ruined homes and lost souls of its subjects License helps to make this systematized murder respectable re-spectable It is an unjust monopoly I the business is to be carried on for the good of the people and it has on right to invest for any other reason the poor man who cannot pay his 200 in Ohio or 1200 in Utah should have the privilege I of making eight cents on a tencent drink involves the right to license gambling houses and other form of vice License throws around the traffic the sanction of the State I gives the liquor seller a permit from organized society to cr on a crime against society Webster Web-ster says a crime is a violation of the laws of God and man The licensing of a crime is itself a crime The Supreme Court has declared that a State has the right to prohibit The right to prohibit carries with it the duty to prohibit since government has no right to prohibit a I beneficial traffic The right to prohibit murder or arson imposes the duty to prohibit and the right to prohibit the liquor traffic imposes the same duty Legislation cannot be made a matter of expediency I is or should be based wholly upon principles of right it should ever give the greatest good t the greatest number License is a compromise measure and will affect the traffic just as slavery was affected by similar legislation it will simply ward off the coming contest What are the two arguments for license I Prohibition does not prohibit The law will not be enforced But prohibition does prohibitiol prohibit pro-hibit as effectually as any one has aright a-right to expect so long as the whole machinery of the National Government and the dominant parties are oppposed to it The testimony of Judges Governors Gover-nors and people are all in favor of the law when they are untrammeled by party politics Shall we throw away all human law and the decalogue Theres not a law of all the ten buts broken every day There is not n law thats make by men but travels the same way Yet without law wo conld not live the world could never stand And so the thing for nil to do is just to lend a hand And help enforce the temperance laws in every way you can I But the great argument is the revenue This revenue is a powerful reason to many for continuing the crime The I average voter seems to believe that his taxes Tire actually lessened by the existence I exist-ence of saloons What are the facts 1 The Governor of Ohio says Ohio receives re-ceives 2000000 from the Dow law but the expense to the citizens from poverty and crime engendered by saloons is 70000000 Our National Government derives a revenue of 70000000 but the loss to the people is more than a thousand millions I Judge Noah Davis and no man in America has had a larger experience in I the criminal courts says The saloon I is responsible for eighty per cent of all crimes Gladstone says The saloon inflicts in-flicts more harm on man than the three scourges of war famine and pestilence pesti-lence combined The New York Tribune says This traffic lies at the center of all political and social mischief it paralyzes energies en-ergies in every direction it neutralizes educational agencies it silences the voice of religion it baffles penal reform it obstructs political reform And yet we will license it for money More than thisif every gallon were taxed a thousand dollars it would not compensate com-pensate for the tears it has caused Talk not to woman of dollars and cents when her home is invaded But we cant prohibit it says some one AVe can There is nothing which ought to be done that a free people cannot do Strong as are the powers of evil the elements for good are still stinger and America will vet be redeemed C S BURNETT SALT LAKE CITY March 4th |