Local Option!

Editor Codbhb: In the last numbar of your valinible paper I attempted to ecite some reasons, as viewed froin a business standpoint, why it woulcl not bc an act of wisdom ou the part of the elecora of this county to adopt the prohibiory, or ns it is more generally known, 'the local optiou law." This comraon lesignation of tho law, however. Il a nisnomer. It is not properly a " local " but a "coiiuty1' option law. A local optiou luw would be option by townships, illages and municipalities. This week I shall present a few more ¦eoBOOl. In this article the business of he farmer and the fruit growcr is considered. The farmer who casts his ballot in favor of the adoptlon of the law in question, witli the idea that the resulta will alone elVect hls city fellow citi.ens, makes an egregluus error. lie will be astotiished to liml hinisi-H a criminal unrter its rovMoni bui he is assuredly Hable to neet wltïl sueh a contingeney. By examining this proposed law, it will be fotind that its lirovisions are 8weeplng in their scope and of an ironclad nature. Vou can not manufacture, buy. sell, keep or rive away any brewed, malt, fsrmmtted, vinous or iutoxicating liquon of any kind, description or name. That precludes the manufacture of eider. The moment the juice is out of the Hpple ferWenUtlon sets in, and the farmer who makes the beverage cbaracterized by Or. Reynolds, of red ribbon (ame, as"tíie devll's klndllug wood,1' is certainly lialile to criminal prosecutlon, fine and iinprisonment. He may say that the law will not be enforced s ) rigidly as to luclude eider. That makes no ditïerence with the faet. lf he kecps eider in his house, or asks a nelghbor to have a glass of it, he i a criminal in the eyes of Vu law, and if lic shoukl be so unfortunate as to have an enemy an act of that kind niijrht cause liim serious trouble. ( Mir eider milis must stop making eider, and the apples that go into its manufacture become practlcally a dead loss on the hands of the farmer. A loss that is not insignilicaut. Now astogrape growers. In the vicinity of Ann Arbor, and in the viciuity of Ypsilanti. and at Whitmore Lake, and undoubtetlly in otlier localitles, there are men who have labored ndustriously for years in planting and raising vineyards, trom which they arebeginningto reap the reward of their labor and outlay. What is to become of their erop? It Is impossible to lind a market for it all, and if it can nut be made Into wine, it must rot on the vines and become a loss to the one who h;s expended inonev and labor to iroducc it. He eau not even manufacture and keep wine for his own use without becomlng a crinnnal under the law. Add the loss that must romo to the fruit growers and farmera of Washtenaw county to the loss that will surely come to the business men and rea! estaie owners of its villajres and citles, and the argi-pj;ate will be sonietliing appulhng. Add to all that the reneral stagnation of business wliioh must follow so radical, sweepiu and suddeu a chauge as is contení plated, and the conseqiiences cm not but be apparent even to the most blind. Washtenaw county, with Way ne couuty upon one side, where there is no liope of ever passing this law; with Monroe county also coutigous, where no hope exists of passing the law, and witli Toledo within a short distance, all to re: p the benefit of this radical and Bweeplng ehange at the expense of this county, and the outlook for us under prohibltlon 3 indeed depressiug from a business Btandpolnt, The voters of this county sliouM not cast their ballots blmdly, but should weigh well the cost, for it will notbe triÜing, and compare it with the advantages to be gaintd, and theu ask themselves