Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1878-03-02
THE OTHER D


ASeaooce d sAe Uesakln9 MAI
andtAs saleen Keeper.
Editors Press q Dakosaia.:
We do not wish to DO Understood q On
advocate of intemperance. There 10 no man
u the community with . moro thorough
respect for . maa Of true Temperance prilci.
pies than the writer hereof, but We wish to
b logical and consistent.
The question which cannot be argued, is
eminently q sided.
We call no one . cynic or scofier whose
purpose Is to delve for truth. We use
neither innusndoes nor;sdjectives in the dis
cuss'on of this subject Of temperance.
VIII. It we desiro is to prove to the merchants
and business men Of Yankton, that this
capital Is entirely too young for the present
tremendous innovation aud that the move.
ment is'not supported BY business men and
capitalists who may be injured by 1t. That
the western territory is not ripe for the
eastern ides. That Its apostles are not the
ment fitted for the. purpose. That men
like Murphy who charge $500 per week
and f60 for board In q 'irst class hotel,'.
with $50 for incidental expenses (sce N. Y.
World dispatch from Washington Feb. 12)
are not of the class, that sincere temper
ance men say "God bless" John B. Cough
will preach his roaring buncombe for $3.50
per hour and be drunk the next day.
Luther Benson, the "Hoosier Orator" has
the honor Of once being introduced to "Fire-
ball' who saw him, after he had delivered
his cheap temperance thunder in Fanenil
hall, dragged intoxicated from under the
shadow Of that cradle of liberty.
The men who toss into the public ears
their cheap English and carry away in their
pockets the dollars of the people, are very
far from being kin to the Savior who labored
for all mankind without money or price.
The temperance "apostle" who will make
the redemption of his fellow men a source
of livelihood, is a man for whom the writer
of this has = profound contempt. So much
for introduction. Now for hard-pan facts.
Massachusetts, is or was the prohibition
state Of the union. After years of political
fighting, her principal city, Boston, has con-
cluded to grant 1000 licenses. The popu-
lation Of that city is nearly 100000. The
population of Yankton is about, We think,
1900, and the saloons of Yankton more
than 80. What creates the saloons? A
popular demand. A demand from many Of
the most temperate people ir the communi-
ty that is to say, of the farmers and bust
ness travellers who come into the city of
Yankton. No man will dare tell an intelli-
gent public that the hard working yeomanry
are not entitled to a glass of wine or beer,
which perhaps is the sweetest pleasure of
their lives, outside of the domestic circle.
In almost all cases the farmers and other
w~orking-nen Of this community use such
liquors in moderation and temporarily. 1,
is a notorious fact that men will not work
in the field at harvest without the Jug"
(which lays smiling in the sheaves."
1t is a further fact that the men most IA
miliar with liquor, the keepers of saloons,
are the most temperate men in the commu.
nifty. We rarely see them charged with
crime OF with the desire Of drunkenness,
and if there is = record to the contrary in
any police court of Yankton We would like
to see it.
Boston, referred to above, with its 3O0,-
600 Inhabitants has but one police court.
Yankton has the distinguished honor of
having upon one of its streets three police
courts, and if the reader will look below the
National bank he will find another one. A
terrible record for 1000 people. Agar,
Boston has but one Jail to hold the criminals
of nearly a quarter million people. Yank-
ton with 1000 of inhabitants has three iails.
The Cooler" the prison under the court
house, and the U. 8. Jail, besides . general
refuse auxiliary known as the territorial
prison. If you will look into any or all of
these jails you will not find one man, in
one hundred, charged with being a Common
drunkard." If the reader will examine the
records of the lower courts above referred
to, he will find temperance men engaged in
the maddest litigation, and if they do not
use rum or opium, you will find their teeth
stained with the nicotine of cheap cigars and
their garments foul with the e%fauvia of cheap
tobacco smoke. Yet these men dare Lift
their quivering fingers and say "that man is
a drunkard" because, forsooth, he drinks q
glass of pure and inyigorating beerl The
good templar" will never charge any man
with being q drunkard, and we're it not for
the temperance meetings, with which the
beautiful city of Yankton is deluged, We
would not be cognizant of the fact that We
are q community Of tippler.
Dakota territory is blessed with sober
minded. and respectable citizens I; and many
among them think it is a little too early to
create a fever of this kind-kenerally de-
nominated "the fanatical temperance kick"
We purpose further touching upon this
question. For the present We only say that
it is our conviction, that the men, outside of
the Temperance movement 90 called, are the