Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of EthicsDrake, Durant
Philosophy
Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of Ethics
Drake, Durant
Ethics
"High License" and "Regulation" have been thoroughly tried and have
not checked the evil; moreover, it has been a serious blunder to make
the State or municipality dependent upon the liquor trade for revenue,
and therefore eager to retain it. The "State Monopoly" system has not
proved a success in this country in lessening the evil; it made the
liquor power a more sinister influence than ever in politics. If liquor
must be sold, the "Company," or Scandinavian system, which eliminates
the factor of private profits, without fostering political corruption,
is probably the least harmful method of selling. But no method of
selling liquor can be more than a temporary expedient. We must work
inch by inch to extend the boundaries of absolutely "dry" territory.
"Local Option" has been of very great value in this movement, and may
still in some States be the best attainable status. Option by counties,
with a prohibition of the shipment of liquor from "wet" to "dry"
counties, is the preferable form. Statewide prohibition, for a while
in disrepute because of open violation of the law, is again gaining
ground, ten of the forty-eight States being entirely "dry" at time
of writing. The ultimate solution can only be the adoption of an
amendment to the National Constitution enforcing nation-wide
prohibition; the agitation for such an amendment is already acute,
and the promise of its passage within a generation bright. The arguments
against prohibition are not strong. That the law is poorly enforced
in localities where public sentiment is against it is natural; but
no law is universally obeyed, and that a law is broken is a poor reason
for removing it from the statute books. No one would suggest repealing
the laws against burglary or seduction because they are daily disobeyed.
This pseudo-concern for the dignity of the law is simply a specious
argument advanced by those who have an interest in the trade, and
accepted by those who suppose liquor drinking to be wrong only in
excess and harmless in moderation. The reply is to show that alcohol,
practice that is always harmful must be fought by the law as well as
by moral suasion. Public sentiment must be educated up to the law;
and the existence of the law is itself of educative value. Moreover,
the old observations of non-enforcement must now be modified; recent
experience shows that the prohibition States are on the whole
increasingly successful in enforcing their laws. The new national law
prohibiting importations from "wet" to "dry" States helps immensely;
and with the forbidding of importations from abroad and of the
manufacture of liquor anywhere in the country, the problem of enforcement
will settle itself. Except for the precarious existence of
"moon-shiners," and for what individuals may make for themselves, the
stuff will not be obtainable. [Footnote: For the arguments for
prohibition, see H. S. Warner, op. cit, chaps. IX, XII. Artman, The
Legalized Outlaw. Fehlandt, A Century of Drink Reform. Wheeler,
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