The coming session of criminal court promises to be one of the biggest lists the county has seen in a long time, and moonshine whiskey is reputed to be the underlying cause. Now moonshine whiskey may or may not be as important an article as some folks seem to think, but the facts appear to be that Moore County has a continual bill at court to go along with the lawlessness that comes from making illicit booze. Over in Fayetteville last week so prominent a man as Capt. J. McNeill proposed that a gathering of which he was one should agree to drink no liquor that was made in violation of the law, but the rest of the crowd were less law-abiding than the old fire fighter, and the resolution was not sanctioned. Not that Capt. Jim proposed to stop liquor if he wants to drink it, but he says he does want to stop the violation of the law which comes from making unlawful whiskey.
Moore County is paying the cost of tolerating the illicit tipple. We have a big court calendar, entailing useless costs. But with this we have the crime and misery that comes from whiskey, for much of that is in evidence that does not get into court. We have the dangerous disregard for law that law breaking and law evasion always encourages.
The court is always antagonistic to law breaking. But the court is merely the agent of the state in its efforts to reach the guilty. The court cannot provide evidence, and the court must in the main accept the verdicts of the juries. It is largely in the hands of the juries and the people to afford the court the means of stopping the manufacture and sale of whiskey, and the criminal calendar now ahead is possible because as a people we have tolerated the lawlessness of whiskey making and selling. The people can stop whiskey making if they want to. The prospect of the coming court session indicates that they should want to. Whiskey has nothing to commend it and everything to condemn it. If we will all help the court in this thing we will be the better for it as a county and as individuals. The man who is not against vice is for it. To tolerate is to aid.
The lead editorial from The Pilot, Vass, N.C., Friday, August 12, 1921, Stacy Brewer, newspaper manager.
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