Local Option From Another Standpoint

Ed. Coukier: - In a recent number 01 yonr journal you asked for a discussiou of the question of local option, and In cousonance with that request I have endeayored in the article which follows to ahow a few of the innumerable reasoii9 that exist why it would be a detriment to the people of thls county, and of the inhabitants of the cities and villajes !n particular, to adopt a law that in the better judgment of the citizcn who 8 dispassionately upon the question, will prove In a brief porlod of time to be a deac letter. In the first place I desire to criticUe the republican party, for they are the acknowledged parent of this law, in providing a bnllot for the people to vote that is a falsehood on the face of t. Thoee who vote against local option must cast this ballot: "For the manufacture and sale of Intoxlcatlng llquors.'' Tue person who deposita that ballot in the ballot box on the 27th day of February does not necessarily, in principie, vote for the manufacture and sale of intoxiiating liquors, but, in the opinión ot manj' catldid thinking people, he casts a vote for the temperance cau3e in this county. Dld I live In a different county whcre there were no cities or villages of importance,wheretbe foreign element dld not so largely predomínate, and where the people are more largely agricultura!, I should vote for local option believing that in snelt a community the temperance sentiment would bc sooverwhelming that the law would be enforced, for I am a rigiil temperance man through and through. I am distinctly aware that the enthuslastlc workers in the temperance cause in thU city and county are sevcre In their denuuclation of those who may differ with them as to the bestmeans of securing the desired end of universal temperance, but tbat should make no difference with the thinking man who acts from principie and not from emotion, and who can look back upon the past and from lts results deduce conclusions. The practical man Is seldom carried o 11' his feet by such a storm as is now sweeping over thls counly. In the first place I shall look at this question from a business standpoint. Wl.at will be the eft'eet upon the business Intcrents of this city, of Ypsilantl, of Chelsea, of Mancheeter, of Dexter, of Saline, and of other places in this county if prohibition is adopted? The smaller places will suffer In less proportlon than lic largur, but all must sufier. In Anu .rbor for instance, It will throw upon ;he market, to compete with the other juslness places of the city about 30 store?, aud iu othcr places 1" Ukc proportion. Tliatir.de is cntlrely govemcd by the aw of suppl and dcuiund no one can deny, consequently renta must Inevltably je greatly reduced. There will be an enonnous supily and au cxceedingly liglit demand. Every line of trado is crowded to its utmost c ipacity at present, I and tliere ire DO new Industries to step in and take tlic.-c places that are made vacant. "Hut," gay my cnthusiasticprohlbition friend, "IheinoDey heretofore spent for Uquor will go into legitímate cbanneli of trade, and that wlU cause a largcly increased trafilo.1' Does the experience of other communitie?, where the experiment of prohibition bas been tiied. warrant such a statement ? If Itdoes, no person bas ever been told of it, and no person has ever witnesscd that commercial ' nomenon. Tbe 3 Ij of groeeries, prov!soi)8 and bread sliifTs will not advance under proliibition to any perceptible extent, netther wlU the sale of dry goods be grcatly enhanoed with the mouey saved by the driuking classes. On the contrary tlie sales of cach are liable to bo dlminishcd for the reason that thestagnatlon of business will itl'ect the iucome of the class of people who now expend the greater íbare of t'ieir earnings for n decent livelibood. Tbe business men of all the eities and villages of this county are deeply ioterested in tliis movement. But few of tbem are so independent that they eau atl'ord to suffer any considerable droping off of ral'8, together with the burden of lncreased direct taxation, wliicb must necessarily result from bo radical a clinnge as (hc adoption of this law. It was the poet Holland who wrote: Heaveu Is not reaclied by a single bounil. We bulld the ladder by wnlch we rlse Krom the lowller to the vaulted skiën, And wemountto lUBuranilt round by round. It is Impossible for the liabits of a coiuniunity to be changed in the twinkling of an oye by the adoption of a local option law. The habit of drinking is so deep-seatcd tbat it will take a long time to destroy it. "We must elimb the ladder of tempenincc and build it as we cliinb, step by step. There is a public sentiment growing stronger each da}-, whlch makes it a moral crime to be seen going into or coming out of a saloon. The stronger this sentiment becomes the lass patronage will tbe saloon have. Destroy its patronage and you destroy the saloou. But to destroy the saloon in a day with this drink habit still imconquered aud uncrushed, and you will but change the ui -inner of procuring li(iuor, and in no way benefit the temperance cause. The club-rooui will prove more enticing than the saloon, and have the semblance of respectability. It will be safer than the open saloon 'th less danger of publicity. It will allure young men and lead them on to dissipation who woold nevcr be ruined by tbe open saloon tbat is sorapidly becomingdisrepOtable and a stencb In the nostrils of decent people. It will have a strong tendcucy to make respectable this terrible drink habit that is ruining so mnny. If this shall prove to be an erroneous opinión, t iel) there are many who err in jiuigment. I have heard the Col'kiek roundly abused in public and private, bea ise it called the attention of its readers in a recent number to the fact that the adoption of the proposed prohibitory law would entail an additional tax upon the people of the cities and vlllages of the county of some f23,(K)0. But It is a fact that the people must look in the face. There were a certain few who were extreniely irascible upon that point. denouncingit va untVir and even immoral, who, when they come to have their taxes augmented, say one-tliird, next üeceml)er, will be tle lirst to cry out against the raise, and the loudest in their condemnatiou of what they will term "the extravagancia of the municipal government." But 1 ani making this communication too extended, and I am perhaps becoming garrulous. My only motive iu writing this is to cali the attentiou of the business uien of our county to the danger whlch threatens tliem from tho uduption of this law. It is a danger whieh tlireatens their iiro-peritj' inaterially.