LIQUOR LEGISLATION, 787 



LIQUOR LEGISLATION. 



By GORHAM D. WILLIAMS. 



DURING the past eight years as a magistrate with criminal juris- 

 diction in a town of about four thousand inhabitants, in Western 

 Massachusetts, I have disposed of about five hundred cases of drunk- 

 enness, and numerous cases of common drunkards, brought before me 

 on complaint. The proceedings have not been mere routine, as, of 

 necessity, they usually are in such cases in the large cities, where the 

 judge sits back in his chair until the list of the morning's " drunks " 

 has been finished by the clerk, who calls name after name, with the 

 formula, " John Smith, you are complained of for being drunk yester- 

 day. What do you say to this complaint, are you guilty or not guilty ? 

 You are sentenced to pay a fine of one dollar and costs, and to stand 

 committed to the House of Industry for ten days, or till the same is 

 paid " ; and who begins to write the memorandum of the sentence as 

 soon as he calls the name, and scarcely pauses for the plea of guilty. 

 In the cases coming before me I usually have from the officer making 

 the arrest some description of the circumstances under which it has 

 been made, while in the cases of common drunkards I usually know 

 something of the history of the defendant. In cases of simple drunk- 

 enness, the law being the same, I usually end with a sentence like that 

 given above, though occasionally I adjourn a case for sentence, and 

 give the defendant a chance to raise or earn the money, and pay the 

 fine on a subsequent day. The case of a common drunkard is not so 

 easy to dispose of, for, in the first place, he is liable to a severer pun- 

 ishment, then he is usually a resident of the town, I know all about him 

 and his family, if he has one, and there is a sort of an acquaintance 

 between us on account of his having been before me on numerous 

 occasions for simple drunkenness. Moreover, he has just been on a 

 spree, and is in a condition of reaction, confident that he will never 

 desire to drink intoxicating liquor again, and full of good resolutions. 

 All this leads to an appeal for a chance to show that he is a reformed 

 man, to promises that he will never give occasion to be arrested again, 

 and to offers to take the pledge, and usually ends with the sentence 

 being postponed for a week or two — then for a month, and then indefi- 

 nitely, after which he is arrested a number of times for drunkenness, 

 and, the patience of officers and magistrate becoming worn out, the 

 complaint for being a common drunkard is revived, he is sentenced 

 and appeals, counsel is employed, and his case drags along in the su- 

 perior court. 



The law as to drunkenness and common drunkards, as it now stands, 

 can not be administered with any satisfaction. The imposition of a 

 fine in such cases is a punishment whose burden, if the fine is paid, is 



