Where Does Liberty of Choice End?
By Will H. Spicer
WHERE does liberty of choice end, as judged from the "wets" standpoint? The nation as a whole ought not to exercise it, say they. The state also is too big a unit to determine its freedom from the evils of drink. And even license laws they grudgingly acquiesce in, and evade if possible. In some of the states having local option laws, the liquor forces have pretended to accept the situation as ideal. Yet they opposed the passing of those laws, tooth and nail; and lately, in Ohio, where nearly half the population is in no-license territory by this means, an amendment to the constitution has been proposed that would make those laws invalid. Now as to the family, did ever a liquor seller refuse drink to husband, wife, or child, at the request of the other members of the family, until he was compelled by law to do so? And how about the efforts to awaken an appetite in the young? Were ever brandy-flavored candy and free drinks used to this end, with the children of families opposed to the traffic? — Yes. Nowadays there are laws to prevent such practises, and children of respectable parents will not go near a saloon; but in days gone by, such things were done. Then it comes down to this, — that the only liberty that would be allowed us is liberty from having liquor down our throats whether we will or not. Even that liberty has been violated many times among peoples who are too ignorant or too weak politically to defend themselves. Witness the treatment of the aborigines in the early days in this country, and at present in the southern continents. Russia has a nation-wide compulsory saloon law. Perhaps that would be going a little too far for the advocates of the traffic in this country — perhaps.