THE LICENSE SYSTEM by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 24, 1880

THE LICENSE SYSTEM.

By Editor

THE Kansas City Presbyterian contends that it is as reasonable and right to "regulate" and license other gross evils, which are now by law prohibited, as the traffic in alcoholic poisons. And if not, why not? Is it not rather the duty of government to suppress crime than to place it under money restrictions? Is it not the proper province of government to protect the weak from being the prey of the strong and the reckless, rather than to receive pay for the privilege of scattering ruin in every community? When we inquire into the nature of government, the origin of the powers of legislators, we find that no one has or can possibly have a right to license a raid upon the life and property and morals of community. To prohibit, to suppress, and to punish crime,—this is the duty of legislators. But the majority of professed temperance workers are still trying to dip the vessel dry without exercising their reasoning powers enough to "stop the tap."

Is there another evil in the land attended with so many terrible consequences as the liquor traffic?