The Hawaiian gazette., 1888-03-20
THE LIQUOR PROBLEM

ent phase of the subject. Senator
Clark, one of Iowa's most promising
men, in letter dated October II, 1887,
makes the following statement of
facts:
Prohibition in Iowa is having
wonderful effect on the crimi-
nal business Cedar Rapids, for the
first time in its history, has no pris-
oner in Jail, nor is there one in the
County Jail And all over Iowa the
lawyers and judges state that crime
has decreased wonderfully. Every
place in the United States that tries it
has a similar experience. This city
Clarinda-had five saloons before the
law went into effect. The five saloons
paid $3.50 revenue every year But
the last year they existed we had AS
criminal cases before the Mayor, and
we paid 10 mills tax for municipal
pur poses. We had to keep 4 Marshal,
4 Deputy Marshal, and three police
officers The next year, without sa-
looms, we paid only mills tax, dis
charged the Marshal, the Deputy Mar
shall and all the police force, and now
only have 3 Street Commissioner, who
is able 10 keep the peace. And we had
only 40 cases of crime. Red Oak and
Hamburg have had similar expert
ence."
Last July Governor Martin, in reply
to a special dispatch sent from st.
Joseph, Missouri, to \ Chicago paper,
and. utilized by the Associated Press,
TO the effect that the closing of the
saloons had wrought financial ruin in
Atehison, Kansas, making ii necessary
to discharge great part of the police,
to discontinue the fire service, and TO
shul off the gas and electric light,
wrote n letter from which the follow
ing extracts are taken:
81 am thoroughly familiar with the
condition of the city of Atehison, and
personally know that the statements
embodied in the ST. Joseph dispatch
are false and misleading The gas,
electric light and water supply of the
city have never been turned of. Its
fire department has been, and is, con
tinuOasly on duty. Its police force
has been largely reduced, but has, in
the absence Of saloons, been able tOpre-
serve the peace and protect the proper
" Of its citizens. 4 local dispute
concerning methods OF taxation, and
involving the collection of a tax which
has been collected in the city of st.
Joseph for many years past, Is the
only foundation for the malicious and
untruthful dispatch from that place.
AtchisOn abolished the last of its sa-
looms in the fall of 1886. The whisky
interests prophesied that this action
would seriously iujure the business of
the city. 1t has had no such effect.
Atchison Is more prosperous to-day
than it has been for many years past.
"More substantial improvements
are being made, and more buildings
are being erected in AtchisOn this year
than during any previous year in its
history.
1.-The St. Joseph dispatch is only
fair specimen of hundreds of false and
malicious statements have seen pub
lished in tie newspapers of the country
during the past three or four years con-
corning Kansas and Kansas towns.
The whisky interests predicted that the
abolition Of saloons in Kansas would
injUriously affect the material prosper
ity of the State, and falsehoOds, in
tended to confirm this view, are con-
stantly invented and circulated in
every section of the country, and es-
pecially in States where movements
are being made to Danish the saloons.
| am receiving letters daily from diff
ferent States making inquiries con-
corning the effects and results Of our
temperance laws on the financial, COM
mercial and other material interests of
our State, and these letters all indicate
that the work of maligning Kansas is
going on in every section Of the coun-
Try. Permit me, therefore, to give you
the real facts:
The Prohibition Amendment to
our constitution was adopted in the
autumn of 1880, and the first laws to
enforce il went into effect in May, 1881.
The war to Danish saloons was, for
some years, only partially Successful.
The amendment had been adopted by
very meagre majority, and public
sentiment in all our larger cities was
Overwhelmingly against it. As late as
Jan. 1885, saloons were open in fully
thirty of the larger cities of Kansas,
including Topeka, the capital Of the
State. But steadily and surely the
public sentiment against them spread
and intensified. The small majority
that had voted for the Amendment was
REINFORCED, first by those law-Iespect-
ing citizens who are always willing to
subordinate their personal opinions to
the majesty of the law; and second, by
an equally large number, who obsery-
ing the practical results following the
abolition Of saloons in different cities
and towns, became convinced that
Kansas would be more prosperous,
happier, and in all respects a better
community of people if it had not an
open saloon within its borders. So the
sentiment Of Kansas against the liquor
traffic has grown and strengthened,
until to-day very much doubt wheth-
er, Of its 300, 900 male voters, more than
1000 would, if they could, invite back
and reinstate the saloon. The argu-
ment Of the whisky interest, viz,
that saloons promote the prosperity
and growth OF communities, has been
answered in Kansas by the convincing
logic Of facts"
Governor Martin here introduces
figures to show the wonderful pros
perity of Kansas under prohibition:
II Il u ~