The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1883-02-06
Post Dispatch, Jan. 25.

Pos, Dispatch, Jan. 25.
Just before the noon adjournment
Of the Criminal Court the grand jury
fled in and asked to make q report
on one question and made a request
for information on another. Mr.. III.
NJ. Blossom, the foreman, then hand
ed Judge Van Wagner the report be-
lew given. Mr.. Blossom also stated
that the grand Jury had before them
3 man named Thomas Brennan,
an important witness in the case Of
John Nelson, who is indicted fer muir
der. They feared that he would net
be in attendance at the trial and asked
what they could do to positively secure
his presence. Mr.. Mcdonald saia
that he would attend to the matter
suggested bv the grand jury. The
following is the
SPECIAL REPORT ON DRAMsHOPs:
TIE the Honorable Garrett S. Van
Wagner, Judge of st. Louis Criminal
Court:
Sir-The grand jury now sitting de-
sire to submit special report upon
one subject referred to them in ysur
charge, to-wit: The city dranshops.
We have taken a large amount Of tcs-
timonv in regard to the relation of
these institutions, both to the expend-
itures and to the revenue Of this city
The witnesses summoned were those
who by their actual and necessary iden-
titicatien with these matters would
give us the most indisputable facts
and intelligent opinions tbereunto
concerning, as far removed as posi-
BILE from mere assumption or preju-
dice. The concurrence Of all the
witnesses in the main features of the
testimony 50 taken has been equally
surprising and convincing. 1t would
be nanifestly improper and would
serve no useful purpose to quote the
details of the testimony, but it has
been abundantly shown us by incon-
testible proofs that
AT LEAST EIGHTY PER CENT. OF THE
CRIME AND PAUPERIsM
of this city col. es directly from the
saloons, as effect follows cause; that in
seme cases the line of separation be-
tween the proprietors of these estab-
lishments and the desperate charac-
tiers who infest them is 80 Faint as to be
almost unrecognized; that to them
as to their most congenial haunts come
the drsnes and leeches Of society that
in MANY of them The hoodlum gangs
concoct schemes by which idle youths.
not vet criminals, are Initiated ito
the WAYS of vice that from some Of
the worst sally forth on their maraud-
ing mission the midnight bummers
and burglars. who return in the small
hours of the night. often with their
booty. to the still open saloon. where
they find certain Welcome and no
inconsiderable measure of protection;
that
THE COST OF MERELY POLICING
the lower grade of these dens is mani
fold greater than the revenue derived
from them in any shape. and this
apart from their immensely prepcnder-
ating contribution to the dire catalogue
Of crime and misery with which the
social compact in St. Louis is burden
ed and afflicted. This, too, in q city
whose real prosperity and whose bust
ness enterprises are taxed almsst be-
yond endurance to provide a revenue
which is, in q large degree, rendered
SO conspicuously insufficient by the
causes to which we have referred. The
members Of the grand jury wouls be
unfaithful to their deliberate judg-
ment, to their eaths, and, with their
present light, to their duty as citizens.
if they did net at this time declare
their unbiased conviction that In this
city there is to-day DO subject which SO
Immediately and imperatively demands
the earnest consideration and action of
the responsible, tax-paying communi-
ty, as does this enc now under consid
Grafton. To reduce to reasonable pro-
portions the enormous expenditure in
volved in our complicated machinery
for the arrest and punishment Of crimii-
mails, BY simply reducing many of the
notorious birth places and agencies Of
crime, is surely only measure of bus
mess prudence. To provide At snce
a most needful increase of revenue by
larger demands upon those sources Of
revenue. which, with no oppression of
any lawful interest, will most easily
near them. is surely only a measure Of
ordinary business sagacity. We there
fore recommend for this city what is
elsewhere bene6cially in operation and