The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-01-17
Michigan Letter.
Tyranny of the Liquor Traffic.
BIG RAPIDS. MICHIGAN. Jan. 3, Is

BIG RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, Jan. 3, 1881.
L have been lately traversing the pine dis
trict of the State, rather one of them, for the
''pineries" as they call them here, are moi
spread continuously over Michigan, but are
found in special localities. The land is covered
with stumps that indicate where immense for.
ests Of pine once stood, and other districts are
grim and CHASTITY with the enormous trunks o.
trees, standing or PROSTATE, killed by the fires
that have so dreadfully rayaged this State, de-
stroying immense values in the noble forests Of
pines that they have wasted.
The lumbermen build railways into the pine
ries by which to "get off, the logs when the
'haul" is more than four miles. For less dis
tances than that horses are employed as more
economical, but for greater distances the rail-
ways and locomotives are preferred. These
rails are not laid down cheaply, as mere
makeshift, but the road beds are well made
and the rails-always of steel-are well tied,
and the whole is we'll ballasted as il the ROAD
were to be q permanent fixture as in many
cases it is.
Yesterday was at Evarts, twenty-eight miles
from this place, a "smart' town, ten years old,
and the business rapidly increasing 1t is the
centre of large numbering trade, the ''woods''
for miles around drawing all their supplies
from it, ofevery kind. My host is hardware
dealer, and I was very much surprised at the
extent and variety of his trade. He has a
''store' of white brick, forty-four feet wide,
one hundred and thirty feet deep, and three
stories high, with basement, all crowded
from top to bottom with great stock Of vari-
ous goods, such as are required in store where
the population is not sufficient to warrant
shops of the various classes of goods, each con-
fined to its own kind.
This shop had an endless variety of tools re-
quired by lumbermen and mill men. The best
of these were axes made at West Waterville
in Maine. The shopman showed these with
pride as the best things in the trade. Other
among them; but the Maine axes were far bet
ter than any others and were greatly preferred
by the woodsmen, though the price is nearly
double that of the Pittsburgh axe.
The supervisor" Of Evarts, an officer an
swering to our mayor, is not a man of our kind,
L am sorry to say. He thinks the Saloons
are the life of the place. "See how busy they
are" he said "See how lively they are-al-
ways crowded with customers, especially when
the men are just out of the woods. They make
business spin, i tell you."
ssYes," replied my host, to whom this was
said, "they are very busy in getting the wages
away from the men who earn them by hard
Winter life in the camps and hard Winters
work in the woods, while wife and children
are in want of the commonest necesSaries OF
life. The saloonists get away from these men
their last dime for o drink of whiskey, and
then the poor wretches come here and ask
credit for pound or two of nails with which to
tinker up the holes in their miserable shanties.
They would all have comfortable houses IL
they would turn their money that way, instead
Of making the gin mills their Savings Banks,
from which they can draw nothing
but cold, hunger and rags. These
men never ask credit for drink, that's al
ways cash down, If they have the cash, II not,
they may ''spit cotton wool' for want OF the
whiskey, for all the saloonsts care. mo cash,
no drink" that's the salo0nists' motto, and
these poor wretches think it hard that the
butcher, the baker and the grocer will not
trust them for food for their families, after
they have spent their last dime in the saloon,
having lost all inclination for honest work,
and often the ability to work"
s'Mr. Supervisor, my host said, 'iyou think
saloonists add to the business and hustle of our
village and promote its prosperity. They do
it in the same way that the bee moth, hutter-
ing around the entrance of thelhive, promotes
the production of honey. Thesmoth destroys
the comb, the honey and the bees. In the
same way, the saloonists destroy the people OF
any town that toleratessthem.
"I say" the supervisor replied, "you had bet
ter not talk that way, you'll lose business.
People won't trade with you If You are down
on the liquor business, that's just as good and
lawful and respectable as your hardware is
and Just as useful and necessary in a commu-
nifty"
-; =. ~ well i. . my host rejoined, II have not
to that than do or say anything that Implied
liberation of business that spreads poverty,
and misery among the people, we
should have no poor here but for the saloons.
We have abundant work and good wages Tor
everybody, and all our people would De gooa
livers with abundance of necessaries and COM
forts, but for the saloons which swallow up the
wages Of labor, giving nothing useful in return,
but only poverty and domestic misery"
NEAL Dow.