Arkansas weekly mansion., 1884-02-02
Temperance Reading.
Political Power Of the Liquor Interests.

In an article on the Rum Power in
City Politics." in a recent number of
The Continent, Charles j. Thwing says:
In general, then, the influence of the
liquor interest in several of the largest
and most important cities exceeds the
influence of any other single interest,
and frequently exceeds the influence OF
| ali other interests united. ''Iou can
draw picture of the curse of liquor
domination which exceeds in darkness
what we have in Chicago says we'll
! known citizen. There's only one fact
worth mentioning in connection with
| the influence of the liquor interest in
the municipal politics of Milwaukee,
and that is that the saloons practically
| own the city, aflirms a distinguished
| clergyman. The Sentinel, of Nhlwau-
kee, of November /. 1888. under the
| heading .'Thcy want to run the city,
declares that "a call is to be served
| personally in a few DAYS upon every
saloon-kcepcr in the city for mass
meeting to be held within the next two
weeks to organize political power
which shall in the future control politi-
cal legislation.
| The question is Temperance qucs-
ton; but it is also. and more, 4 question
of good citizenship. 1t is question
w
| large part foreigners, who are ignorant,
| who pay a small tax, who nccessitate
| the poor-house and the prison, who cor
| rupt character, who destroy rather than
| increase the productive power OF the
| State, who cause by their traffic four
| fifthS of all the crimes committed
| question is whether men of this kind
| shall rule the large cities. 1t is qucs.
ton whether the worst clements shall
dictate, o. whether the higher charac-
ter and sentiment shall rule. In Brook
lvn is one saloon for every two hundred
and fifty persons; in New York one for
every one hundred and twenty-five; in
Milwaukee one for every one hundred
and fifteen in Buffalo one for every
ninety-six persons. In nearly every
city the drnk-shops exceed the food
shops by 4 large proportion. New 1 ork
Citv. with ten thousand saloons, has be-
tween seven and eight thousand stores
for bread, meat, provisions anu gro
cerics. The question is, therefore,
pressing for each city to decide whcth-
err its saloons shall control all its mu.
nicipal affairs.
Various signs are manifest, indicating
that the saloons are not to continue TO
govern the cities. What are known rs
'.citizen's movements" abound. The
lines of political parties in municipal
politics are not drawn with the former
distinctnesS. Attempts are made to
govern cities on business PRINCIPLES.
1--WE can do nothing says Dr. How
ard Crosby, q" Tor Il good government
of the city until sectional parties are OBJ
liberated in city affairs. and good men
unite to put down rum" This, howcv-
er, is being done in not Il few cities.
Buffalo has .'Citizens' Reform Associa-
tions.' composed of leading citizens of
all parties and representing all rcli%-
ions, who are determined to enforce the
laws. A National Law and Order
League was formed in Boston in Febru-
airy, 1888, whose purpose Is simply to
secure Il better enforcement of the
Liquor laws. The Chicago League has
in five years prosecuted no less than
sixteen hundred dealers for violating
the law, of whom over twelve hundred
have been either fined or held to the
Criminal Court. The first annual re-
port of the Boston Law and Order
League shows that it had entered two
hundred and twenty-five prosecutions.
and had gained one hundred and fifty
one convictions in the lower courts.
Brooklyn has also II similar league.
Milwaukee organized one in October,
1885. These movements are not simply
Temperance movements; they are also
movements along the line of !, govern
mcnt of each city of and by and for It's
people. They include representations
of all sides OF the Temperance question.
Legal prohibitionists' and 'cunsti-
tutional prohibitionists,' supporters of
'local option" laws and Of ''moral
suasiou" methods. and even 'moder-
ate drinkers combine to thwart the
great power of the liquor interest.
Liquor sellers are organizing to protect
thnr,Snlyns in tbnir a MT Ninl1t ion
of the law. All citizens who believe in
the enforcement of righteous law, pos
sesSing any Temperance principle. are
simply doing their duty in organizing in
order to enforce law.
Along this same line of the execution
of the laws for good order, an interest
ing experiment is tried in the city of
Buffalo. The act und r which the Ey-
else Commissioners of New York pro-
cced requires that mo license shall be
granted unless the applicant is of good
moral character and has sufficient abil-
ity to keep an inn.' As to what con-
stitutes IL good moral charac-
ter there are various and varying
standards; yet it is possible to prove
even to the most cthically obtuse that
certain men have not such character.
With this fact in view the ''Ctizcns'
Reform Association of Buffalo is pre-
pairing several large volumes which
give the private history of the liquor
sellers of that city. Already these vol
umes contain the biographies of five
hundred men. The record is SO bad
that. on its publication. their licenses
should be either revoked or renewal re-
fused. This is Il potent rs well Is an
original weapon. Its use in every city
would reveal the corrupt and the dan
gerous character of that small body of
men who endcavor to manage every
department of the municipal govern
nnnt