Arkansas weekly mansion., 1884-01-19
A Modern MOIOch.

Two speaking diagrams have recent
ly been put in circulation. They are
maps of certain pats of Boston, dcs;g g
nat ng, by black blocks, the Liquor sa-
looms in the districts. They are hardly
more than a huge blot. In district
near the Albany depot, about six hum
drcd fifty feet square, cighty-two sa-
looms flourish. In little larger dis
trict. near the Lowell and Eastern de-
pot, one hundred and sevcnty-tive sa-
Icons are seen. These little diagrams
show more plainly than words can do
wh;t~a grasp the liquor interest has
effort can shake oft. If one wishes to
have his eyes more thoroughly con-
vinccd, he has but to take a stroll down
Mcrrimac street or Knecland street aft
cr seven O'Clock of an evening.
1t seems hardly out of place to ask
for whose benefit is this enormous traf-
tic? Few, if anv, kinds of legitimate
busness exist that can not give Il reason
for being, that can not Justify their cx-
istence by supplying some necessary de-
mand, or ministcring to the harmless
pleasure Of thoir r.,,ro"S Directly. ar
indirectly, all legitimate business bcnc-
fits a community. If r. III. White II
Co., or James II. Osgood, did not di-
rectly benefit our city by answering q
need among the people they would yet
indirectly renciit it hv the enormous
tax on their unSold capital, which they
turn into the treasury. The liquor
traffic confers no such benefits. 1t
answers demand, but a demand of the
lowest and ba>eSt appetite of which
man is possessed The saloon keeper
invests no capital, and in few instances
paws any tax besides the license. In
spite Of this license, high license as it
is sometimes called, the saloon-kerper
pays the smallest tax in proportion to
the business done of any business man.
On the contrary, the whole community,
even those conscientiously opposed to
the business, are heavily taxed in sup
port of the results of the traffic.
1t seems incredible that the people of
a great city can be so patient and long
suffering. That they will consent to
pay taxes for the support of paupers,
made paupcrs by tho liquor traffic;
that they will consent to pay taxes to
build jails ard prisons to guard crimi-
nails urged to crime through the liquor
traffic: that they will consent to pay
the bills of Judges and juries and police
officials, whose time is consumed caring
for the victims of the same traffic, is
one of the anomalies of human nature.
Wars have been fought to- lift burdens
of less weight from the shoulders of an
Oppressed people. Revolutions have
been successfully carried out to effect
a less change than the shifting this load
of taxation where it belongs. The
French people were hardly more taxed
to support the luxury of the mobiles. in
which they had no part. than are the
Temperance people taxed to put money
into the hands of a few brewers, dis
tillers and dealers.
These are significant facts: Vincland,
n. j., has population of $4,000. 1t
has no saloons or drinking places, its
police fu,ve consists of one man, to
whom it pays S75 year. 1t has no
Police Court. Its bill for the support
of paupers is S4OO yearly. YonkcrS,
n. Y. has 900 inhabitants and 2l5
licensed and unlicensed dram shops. 1t
costs $37, 900 each year to keep public
order. Its Police Court is maintained
at cost of "a, 800, and its bill for the
support of its poor IS over $50, oOo.
Ionkcrs, with its one saloon to every
seventy-five inhabitants, pays ninety
times as much for the support of its
City Government as Nincland with no
saloons. Vincland is remarkably
pure city, but it is not an eXtravagant
statement to say that if no liquor could
be bought in Boston the expenses of the
City Government would not be one
quarter what they now are.
Bv recent law in Missouri licenses
are granted, but high price is demand
ed for them. The money thus raised is
added to the school fund. and, as a re-
suit. commodiOus school-houses are be-
ing erected, and the cause of education
has received an onward impetus. If Ii
censes arc to be granted the income de-
rived from them should be sufficiently
large to cover all the expenses accruing
from the liquor traffic. In other words,
the money derived from licenses should
be enough to build and maintain nine
tenths of the alms-houses, prisons and
jails; thrcc-fourihs of the lunatic asy-
lums; one-quarter of the hospitals, be-
sides paving five-siNths of the bills for
police officers and police courts. Other
wise the business is burdcnsome tax
upon the sober and Industrious elements
in the community. and should be resist
cd as an unwarrantablc encroachmcnt
upon the rights OF the citizens at large.
Golden Rule.
~ "a Al