Legalized Vice and Government Revenue
By Editor
Gen. Leonard Wood, the military commander of the Philippines and governor of Mindanao, in his report on conditions in the islands, takes very strong and sensible grounds upon the matter of the opium traffic there. He declares it to be the worst vice the Filipinos have to fear. In regard to the matter of legalizing its importation and use, and deriving a revenue therefrom, he says: "It is poor policy in developing a people to count on the income of legalized vice for a large portion of the revenue, as is done in most eastern colonies." That statement can not be made too emphatic. But Governor Wood could have said just as truthfully that it was poor policy among any people, in any country, to count on the income of any kind of legalized vice for any portion of the revenue. We wonder if the governor of the Philippines sees the logic of his argument as applied to the liquor traffic in these same islands. It may be—indeed it is quite probable—that he does. But we must remember that the liquor power is no weakling in the matter of shaping government policy where its interests are concerned. It is too much to expect, under the present circumstances, that Governor Wood will speak out on the liquor question as he has on the opium question. But who can say that he has less reason to do so?