The Harrison times. (Harrison, Boone Co., Ark) 1876-1938, 1886-04-17
Prohibition in the Wheel.

tlle " Aeel-I4llttTpElse,l from u inc
Bluff correspondent, contains
some excellent suggestions, that
should receive the careful consid-
Grafton Of every Wheeler III the
State:
81 am not n member Of your
organization, but | sympathize'
with any effort which is made to
better the condition of the produe-
ing classes of our people; and it
occurs to me that one way Of bot
tering their condition would be 10
have them make u judieious en-
yestment of the money which
comes to them, as the reward of
their labor. No man can reasona-
bly, hope to be prosperous long,
whatever his income may be, who
spends that income, or even large
part of it, for things which do him
no good; that man who Is in the
habit of spending large part of
his income foolishly, is not apt to
have much sympathy from his
neighbors, when want comes to his
door.
According to the best statistical
information we can obtain on the
subject, Arkansas spends each
year about Sl,500,000 for liquor.
The producing people, of course,
do not spend all this large sum,
but they do spend their part of it.
Every dollar spent for intoxicants
is a dead loss to the consumer, and
goes into the pockets of men whose
business is hurtful to the well-be-
ing of society. Now this large
sum of S1,5OO,000 is levied as an
annual tax on the labor Of the pro-
ducing classes of our state. Sup
pose we could be relieved Of this
tax, and the money which we now
pay to the liquor dealer was paid
out for the improvement of our
homes, and supplying ourselves
and families with more of the
comforts of life; how long would il
be before we would feel the bene-
fetal effects of such a change? If,
owing to the low prices of the pro-
ducts of the farm, the annual in
come Of the farmer is small, it
would seem to be the part of wis
dom for him to spend that income,
only for such things as would be
of use to himself and family. To
merely state the case is sufficient;
it needs no argument to commend
it to the approval of thinking peo-
pie.
| am connected with an organi-
cation which has for its especial
work, the driving Of the liquor
traffic from this state; /, and those
who are working with me regard
the drinking habit of our people as
the active cause of much of the
poverty of our people, and many
of the crimes that are committed
among us. We are anxious to
bring to our aid, all the healthful
/ influences which we can find, to
assist IA in our work; a work,
which, if accomplished, will bring
/ blessings to every farmers neigh
/ borhood, if not to his household.
| am told that your organization is
non partisan; that men Of all po-
lit1cal shades belong TO the order
well, let it be So 1t is not rs a
partisan that | would wish to call
the attention of the "wheelers' to
the question Of the liquor traffic,
but | want to call their attention
to it as an economic question; as a
question which comes home to
the pockets Of the people. The
presence of a saloon in a neigh
borhood, means, that the owner
therefore, believes that the men Of
that neighborhood will spend their
money with him. If he did not
expect to make money, he would
not be there, and every dollm
which is spent with him is
taken out Of the labor of some
man. 1t does seem to me, that
the question is one Of great i'm
portance to the Wheclers, and
that, if the matter was brought
before them, they would take q
stand against the saloons.