Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-03-19
The Saloon Problem.

that he is doing wrong; all believe in
temperance. And still the saloon is
everywhere present, and no day passes
over the head OF the dweller in town
but he may see some one who has
evidently drank to excess. Where can
a man be found who, if he be not him.
self the worse, mentally, morally and
physically, for the use of intoxicants,
has not some relative or friend to whom
drink has been a stumbling block? And
still they will say, "Oh, we can't get
along without saloons. If they were
not licensed there would be just as much
liquor sold and we should lose the license
money. Moreover, the business inter-
ests of the town demand it. A great
many would go TO other towns to trade
where they could get their 'budge'.'
This one may hear from those who pro-
fess to believe saloons an evil, and claim
that '1f it were possible they would
have none of them. Now this matter
is in the hands of the people, and if the.
majority of the voters in this or any
other town wanted to do away with sa-
looms they could No man of good
sense will say that if saloons were not
licensed there would be just as much
liquor sold. A good city council, COM
posed of men who have some ''back-
bone,' and good marshal who was not
afraid to do his duty, would soon make
it too hot for those who attempted to
sell without license. The town could
be kept up without the license money.
Who wants sidewalks built of the signs
and tears of the wife whose husband
spends his income in the saloon; of the
mother who sees her son going to ruin
from the effects of drink? But tie
business Of The torn might suffer. What
merchant has not thousands of dollars
on his books, worth about two
cents on dollar, that got there
through the saloons? A man
comes to town with little money. He
ties.his horses, and slips around the cor
ner to take drink after his ride, before
attending TO his business. He drops
that money on the bar before he leaves,
and gets his coffee and sugar charged
at the store. Oh, the saloons bring lots
of business-,f0r hemsclves In this
town $50, 900 or $1,000 are spent every
year for drink and the Accomplishments
of drinking. A large part of this is
drawn from the Legitimate business of
the place.
Then it is so pleasant for those who
have to do business next to Il saloon.
We can almost forgive certain speaker
on Prohibition during the late campaign
his unjust abuse of the Republican
party, for the rem ark he made in this
connection: "lf man starts glue
factory next door TO you, you can sue
him for damages and cause him to re-
move the nuisance, but if he is licensed
to keep "a saloon you have no choice but
to grin and bear it" But the glue
factory would be preferable to saloon.
The odor would not be much worse, and
one would not have drunken crowds
about him.
Then there are other ways in which
saloons do harm. They are loaling
places Many men who loaf about the
saloons would be doing some kind of
work if they had not these loafing places
TO resort to. The various games that
are played there, too, prove strong
attraction to many, and through them
they are led to patronize the bar.
How long must communities be
robbed, families be broken up, boys led
astray, constitutions broken down. and
souls lost by the sanction of the law?
The time is surely coming when the
people of this country will be enamel
pated from this curse in some way or
other. But how can it he done? There
are many answers to this question, and
that is the unfortunate feature
of the case. If there was just one plain
way, the happy time would soon come.
It is the diversity of opinion as to the
best means of suppressing the rum traf-
iic that paralyzes all efforts toward that
end. While we are discussing the rela-
tive merits of national political prohi-
btion, state political prohibition, non
partizan state prohibition, high license,
low license, graded license, local option
DC. &C., the whiskey rings are getting
their work in all the time, and the prob
lem is growing harder and harder of
solution. If man is in earnest in this
matter let him commence right at home
Let him begin with himself. If he is
INDUCING in the drinking habit at all,
quit it. Then he can extend his influ-
ence to others; then to the town he lives
in by casting his influence and his vote
on that side.
There are two ways in which every
man can assist the cause of temper
ance: BY helping to lessen the number
of saloons (to 0 il possible), and by
helping to lessen the number of their
patrons. Saloons do not cause all the
drinking. Drinking causes all the sa-
looms. While the alurements of saloons
have led thousands to drink who might
otherwise have escaped temptation, it is
also true that the saloon would not have
existed if there had been no demand for
it. The worst ram-selNr does not run
a saloon for the express purpose of ruin
inc his fellow men body and soul, and
making his place nuisance to the COM
munity. Those things are only inciden-
tai 10 the business. He runs it to make
money by catering to the depraved APP
petite of his customers. If he commits
a crime, his customers are participes
orimmis. As DIR. Cuyler forcibly ex-
presses it: HE opens hell, they feed
it, fires"
There are then these two ways OF
breaking up the liquor traffic, and those
who are earnest for temperance reform
should work in both directions: To
starve out the grog-shops by getting
a. ...,.,ar, and IN uoaEe and