Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1886-09-25

m SALOON Rn31g n xzqUuaa
Nov, compare these figures With the salooo
traffic In liquors. In this city, tbs capital az
the stats, there were. In January, 1856, ssv.
enty saloons. It has been ascertained By the
most careful and accurate investigation that
the expenses OF saloons for rent, fuel, lights,
city license, taxes, lawyers fees, help.
tS.n loo etc, can sa1 not a.s1.ss Les;
or $40 per day, but those Of others
reach $50 to $50 per day, 80 that $40 il
q fair average. Hence the seventy seioons
open in Topeka until January, 1885, must
have received an aggregate of 81, 400 per day
to cover their expenses, or, allowing 10 per
cent. for profit, 81 $40 per day. And as the
saloon, where it exists, is open 365 days in
the year, the seventy saloons of the city Of
Topeka, in order to meet their expenses and
realize a profit of 10 per cent, must have re-
celved tho enormous sum Of 1852, 100 per
annum. In other words, the % 49O people
I of the city of Topeka then expended in the
saloons more than two-thirds as much
money, for alcoholic liquors, as all the peo-
pie of the state of Kansas now e1pend in the
drug stores for the same purposes.
Let me make this comparison still more
plain. There were, in Topeka, seventy
saloons, which would be one for every 335 of
its then inhabitants. A ike ratio for the
state would give Kansas with its 100000
inhabitants, AIT saloons. The expenses of
these, at $50 per day, and 10 per cent. profit,
would aggregate the enormous sum of $780,
95O, 80 per year. In other words, while the
sales of liquor in Kansas by the druggists
| now aggregate only 1885,, 200 per annum, if
we had in Kansas as many saloons, in pro-
portion to population, as had this city
from 1881 to 1885, their sales in order
must ms ssgrega sssr sas per s1p'p dss
or $35, $3.50, 80 per annum-$35, 1l3, ITO more
than the sales by the druggists now aggre-
gate.
still more startling comparison is
afforded by the statistics Of the saloon bust
ness of Leavenworth. There are, it is re-
ported, 230 saloons in that city, or one for
every 127 of its 9,268 inhabitants. To meet
the expenses of these saloons, estimating
them at an average of only $15 per day
each, requires receipts aggregating So, 450
per day, or s., 259, $50 per annum-S422,2 5O
more than is received by all the druggists of
Kansas for all the liquors they sell. A like
ratio for the whole state would give Kansas
| AA1O1A ooAOOAS, WhOSO udAy CApSuSCS, dL . Id
per day, would aggregate the enormous sum
of SIT, 165 per day, or $64, 655, 225 yer year
just So, S28, 225 more than the sales by the
druggists now aggregate.
DEMOCRATIC ISLANDER OF HONORABLE MEN.
Iwant to add. too, that in my judgment
| the assertions sometimes made, that the
drug stores of Kansas have all been trans
| formed into saloons, are absolutely false.
am acquainted with many of the druggists
Of this state, and know them to be honor
able, law-respecting, conscientious citizens,
| who would not only scorn to do an illegal act
| for pecuniary profit, but who are far
above and beyond the maanness of selling
| liquors as beverage. There is no class OF
business men in the state who stand higher
| in the esteem and respect of all god citi-
| zers than do our druggists, and the attem pt,
On the part of the democratic party and its
lilies, to degrade their business to the low
| level OF the saloons, and to blacken and
stain their reputation as honorable and law
| respecting citizens, is unspeakably out
rageous. 1t is true, no doubt, that there are
inen engaged in the drug business who dis
trace it by violating the constitution and
liquors for other than the excepted purposes
of the constitution. But these men are the
exception, and not the rule, among the drug
l,ists of Kansas, and sooner or later the law
will reach and punish them, and drive thenf
out of the business they degrade. Those,
however, who place druggists generally in
this class are either stupid or malicious
slanderers of men who, as class, are honor
able citizens engaged in a reputable and le-
Ultimate business. The sale of Liquor for
certain purposes is expressly authorized by
the constitution and the laws, and
sales for these purposes are far larl-
er than most people suppose. Alcohol
is sold for hundreds of mechanical and scien-
tifc uses, strictly within the permission of
eating liquors are prescribed by learned and
reputable physicians for medical use. The
sales for these legitimate and lawful uses
constitute, / have no doubt, a very large pro-
portion of the sales made by the druggists
Of Kansas; so that the quantity of intoxi-
eating liquors sold as beverage is reduced
to very small amount, and this amount
will grow smaller year after year.
THE SOBER, LAW RESPECTING STATE.
My fellow citizens, those who assert that
the drug stores have been transformed into
have increased in Kansas, ought to know
that they are not telling the truth. There ia
not an intelligent, observing man in Kansas
who does not know that drinking and drunk
enness have been enormously diminished in
this state during the past five years. 1t is,
no QOQDG, true Ln8C liquor Is SOLO IN many
places in violation of law. But no intelli-
gent, truthful man, who knows what the
condition of affairs was six or eight years
ago, and is to-day, will deny that great re.
form has already been accomplished: have
travelled over the state great deal during
the past two years. l have attended public
meetings in hundred different towns and
citles-political meetings, soldiers reunions
fairs and other gatherings, at which from
5000 to $1,000 people were assembled-and il
is one of the rarest of things to see q single
person under the influence of liquor. I have
heard hundreds of people speak of this re-
markable fact, and always with satisfaction
and pride. Wherever the saloon has been
banished, nineteen-twentieths of all the
drinking and drunkenness prevailing have
been abolished with it. The social feature
of the drinking habit goes with tho saloon,
and this social feature-the American habit
of treating-is responsible for nine-tenths OF
all the drinking and drunkenness in Amer
lea. The loafing place the saloon afforded,
with its crowd of hangers-on, has gone witt
the saloon. The bad example set before young
boys, the allurements of good fellowship
which tempted so many, the appetite devel-
oped and nurtured by treating-all these
have gone with the saloon. And yet not TO-
day, nor next year, nor for decade to come
will all the good results of this abolition of
tina aalOon he raaIizad The old oenorafi0n