Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-04-06

! letter. as there has not been single az
rest nnder il for three years, although there
ar. hundreds of violations OF 1t daily. No
ATTEMPT whatever is made to enforce the
I Sunday law, and the liquor sellers make
| little pretense of respecting 1t. Inc claim
that the liquor dealers paying high Incense
fee will ioin in shutting up unlicensed sa-
looms is also disproved by experience here.
There we're until recently three notorious
unlicensed dens running III the t"o.mile
prohibitory belt which surrounds quincy.
| The Quincy liguor-denlers never mace
move to close them. and they were finaily
driven out by the work of private cltlzenss
Outside of Quincy, in the rural towns OF
Adams County, the condition OF things is
decidedly worse under high license than II
! was under low license. Before the hlgh
license law was enacted Coatsburg was the
only town in the county where saloons
were regularly licensed. Under high license
! there have been two saloons in Coatsburg..
two in Golden, and for greater part OF
the time two in Clayton. There are none
in Clayton this year. Golden has popu-
lation of only $50. and Coatsburg OF only
500, and yet they support four saloons I'M
der the $500 high license law. The saloons
in Clayton were not abandoned by reason
of the size of the license fee. but by the
election of Commissioners pledged not to
renew the licenses.
HOW HIGH LICENSE "PTTs THE TRADE
INTO BETTER HANDS"
Letter from Chicnso.l
One Of the arguments most persistently
made for high license runs thus
High license puts the liquor business
into the hands of better class of men.
more responsible financially and better
morally. 1t closes up the low places" etc
The Voice correspondent has been max
ing inquiries TO ascertain what foundation
this claim has in the experience OF Chi
cago. From the manuscript Of the report
of the Police Department for 1887, and the
published report for 1856, l gathered the
following facts:
In 1856 the police of Chicago arrested
l,O67 saloon-keepers and go bar-tenders.
There were prosecuted by the Citizens
League, for the year ending Jan. Is, 1887.
l,l37 saloon-keepers. Tue police year
ends with the municipal year, at the LIST of
January: but they terminate SO near the
same date that they can be thrown
together. There We're 1.o67 police ar
rests of saloon-keepers and l.l37 League
prosecutions, making a total Of 2,2O4.
From this deduct 50, for individuals twice
remain 2,122 saloon keepers arrested and
prosecuted, not counting go bar-tenders.
For the year ending Jan. l, 1883, the po-
lice arrested Jas saloon keepers and Z41
bartenders, and for the year ending Jan.
18, 1855, the Citizens League prosecuted
,154 saloon keepers, making 2.3O2 arrests
and prosecutions of saloon-keepers alone.
From this deduct 40 for men twice count
ed, and we have 2,l32 as the total of az
rests and prosecutions, besides 24l barten-
ders.
In 1856 there were 3.70O saloon licenses
issued and 2,l22 arrests and prosecutions
of licensees. In 1887, 3, 944 licenses were
granted, and 2,192 licensees were arrested
and prosecuted. Under the $500 license in
Chicago the otfenses of saloon keepers
of which public notice has been taken
therefore represent thirds of the whole
number Of licenses issued.
EFFECT OF HIGH LICENSE IN COUNTRY
TOWNS.
Letter from Newton. Ill
Even in SO typical rural and temper
ance county as this Jasper). high license,
instead OF acting as prohibitory measure,
has had an injurious influence upon the
progress of the temperance cause. Before
the enactment of the Harper high license
law there had for some time been no saloon
in Jasper County. Since its enactment
there has been saloon most of the time in
st. Marie, and Willow Hill has had sa-
loon for the last two years, although a few
weeks ago an anti license Board of Trus-
tees was elected. These places each have
a population of about 300. The minimum
license fee for their saloons has been $500.
The high license fee is a tempting bait for
voters who would otherwise not think of
fayoring license.