Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-11
Communicated
IT MAKES HYPOCRITES.
PROHIBITION NOT SUCCESSFUL IN
TOWNS OF OVER 10000.
The Laws Are So Frequently Broken as to
Make Them Fareical-A Subsri.
tute to be Found.

'In no city of 1000 inhabitants or over
has prohibition ever proved success, said
Robert Ellis Thompson, Professor of En-
glish Literature and Political Economy at
the University of Pennsylvania, a few days
ago. SIT conduces to cheating and trickery
and makes every man either hypocrlte or
detective of fhypocrites, causing deteriora-
ton of the moral tone of the whole COM
munity. 1t is all very we'll to argue that
prohibition is necessary, though it will not
prohibit, just as law against theft is need
ful, although it does not absolutely prevent
stealing. WheneYerI shall find in mod
erate-sized city that the law against stealing
has been broken 2, 900, 900 times in one year
1 will agree that that law had better be re-
moved from the statute books. The prohib-
itory law was broken 1900, 900 times ia a
year in Boston, and L take that as sufficient
evidence of Its impracticability. Unless
public opinion stamps a law with Its ap-
proval that law is of little effect
THERE MUST BE A SUBSTITUTE.
"Comte's maxim that nothing can be
abolished until it is replaced applies ad-
mirably to the saloon. Until some other
social center shall have been provided the
saloon must continue to attract its thou
sands. believe the establishment of cheer
full coffee houses, where men could congre-
gate to read, smoke, play games or converse,
would do more for the destruction of the
saloon power than the most stringent pro-
hibitorv measure. The majority of men
drink not because they enjoy it but because
they crave sociability. They can find it
only in the saloon, and their drinking is
merely an incident. Their homes are un-
attractive, and they must have some place
to spend their evenings. Until society shall
n1ch 1hcfi4 Il of
not permit the saloon to be destroyed.
Legally or illegally, they will still fire.
quent it.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.
"The workings of the Brooks law have
been very beneficial to the city, though there
is room for much expansion and improve
ment. 1 would abolish the license fee
entirely, as consider that unimportant, and
would exercise still greater caution in the
selection of licenses. I would have the
screens removed from doors and windows, so
that the saloon could be plainly viewed
from without, and 1 would have earlier
closing hours. Then, too, 1 would consid-
erably reduce the number of saloons in the
vicinity of the railway stations and public
buildings.
PROHIBITION AND COMMUNISM.
Apart from the inefectiVeness of pro-
hibition. disbelieve in its principle. I
consider tobacco almost as great an evil as
whisky, yet it would be folly to suggest its
prohibition. There are many abuses con-
nected with the use of property, and in
urging common ownership of land the Com
munists make as strong an argument as the
Prohibitionists. Both are mistaken in con-
sidering that the abuse of what is in itself
harmless warrants its abolition. Though
heartless landlord may evict his wretched
tenants, that fact furnishes no reason why
every man should give up his acreage; nor
should the drunkenness of one poor fool give
pretext for the banishment of every pint of
beer, wine and other liquor"