The Cecil Whig., 1886-03-06

and home do not commonly start in
the vile, disgusting dens where there
is only raggedness and filth. They
are born farther up. Suppose yon shut
a few of the low dram shops. They
will inevitably be opened again. The
wash of the upper saloons must 90
somewhere. The respectable varities
need the low grogserics to take care
of their cast-olf rubbish For this rca-
son you won't find them troubling each
other much, because perchance, selling
without license. Such talk IS sheer
nonsense. The poor doomed victims
OF drink, robbed of their manhood and
decency, If they step down hill must
find the saloon down hill. They 5rH
find it That stream of descending lust
and filth must have an outlet. If YOU
would stop it you must so to the top
and break up the fountain. Prohibi-
ton is the word, not license. You can
not trust men with this thing any more
than YOU can trust them with dangerous
explosives. Prohibition is ever strength
ening its own restrictions. License OF
every kind, low or high, is ever weak
ening its own restrictions. Prohibition
thunders "No,' to every evil Of the
traffic. License keeps the door open
for all the evils to enter in, and issues a
kind of standing invitation to them.
Prohibition tends 10 victory by lis en-
forced denial License tends to defeat
by its legaliz-d indulgence. License
is getting rid OF the evils Of hydropho-
bia by cutting off the tail of the mad
dog somewhere along its bushy end
Prohibition is getting ud of those evils
By cutting the tail off just behind the
dogs earS.
4. Ny fourth point is that high Ii,
cense is a fai/lDr in practice. 1t in
creases revenue, but it does not lessen
saloons, nor change their real character
1t puts more dollars into city and
county treasures, but it does not smlte
and destroy the dreadful evils of traffic
in strong drink. Men are sometimes
content with it because il helps pay
taxes. But does that make il a sue.
cess? Here is the logical process
Grog shops confessedIy make criminals
Criminals necessitate police. Police
cost money. High license makes the
grog shops pay the money. In thai
vicious circle crime is mat. its o5,H
successor. 1t says to the saloon keep
ers, GO on perpetrating crime anc
manufacturing criminals, but pay foI
it." | appeal to any intelligent judg
ment if that is not bad citizenship anC
bad morals. If that is all OF success!
there is in high license brand it as ;
stupendous failure. Is that all its sue
cess? | know no other; | have ye
to hear of any moral or social transfer
nation it has brought about. Ga III,
ether hand the proofs of failure ar,
signal. give but two, the one cover
ing a city and the other state. Ih;
city is Des Moines, Iowa. and the fact
are vouched for by gentleman owe
his own signature as taken from tht
records Of the city clerk " In 1871
with the license fee $3.50 there wers
/ saloons. In IS7 with license at S2oC
there were twenty-five saloons. II
1880, with license al $3.50 there were
forty nine saloons. And in 1882, witt
license at ST 900 there were sixty 81
looms. The state referred to is Ne
braska, where prohibition is the genera
state law, but high license is optiond
and the local exception. The f i
ST 900. The law was enacted in 1881
In 1882 the records showed 20 les
saloons, but in 1855 the records showeC
a gain of tifty-niue. in.nHW. Hardy
ex mayor of Lincoln, Neb., and the
father Of high license idea, testii.s
''There has been no Improvement il
our saloons - "Gamhling and prosu
tuition go hand in hand High IL
cense has done nothing toward waking
up temperance sentiment" "Slloor
keepers violate the law Just as they
always have" John B. Finch, prom
nent in the advocacy Of the law. anC
an ardent temperance man, testities
81 was a friend OF the law at its
birth. | now know | was terribly mis-
taken in my theories.' MANY Of the
delusions urged in defense of high Ii
cense have been exploded by the tria
of the law Contrast now these state.
ments and figures with those recently
published as to the success Of prohibi.
ton in Kansas. They were gathered
by James \. Troutman, OF Topeka
He wrote to every county attorney ant
superintendent and police Judge in the
state. Reports were received from
sixty-six out of eighty one counties
And these reports, be it remembered,
were made by state officers, not BY
temperance partisans. In thesa sixty
six counties the number Of saloons has
been reduced, since May 1881 ,wher
the prohib.tory law took effect, from
7oS to SI3, of which latter number
more than half are in Leavenworth
During this time the population has
increased twelve per cent. in forty-one
counties there is not one saloon. The
fines have amounted to $4,000 and
eighty one saloon keepers have been
imprisoned their Imprisonment aggre
eating eleven years, five months and
nineteen days. In fifty one counties