Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-07-12
THE ECONOMICS OF PROHIBITION
From the Leyer,l

prohibition stipulated in every title
deed. We have heard the question
asked in this connection, "Will capital
seek or accept an opportunity on such
basis 2" 1t may be answered by ask
ing, in turn, Us capital far-sighted and
wise?'
There is an abundance of capital
now lying idle in this country. It de-
sires investments that shall be safe
and profitable. Does the liquor traffic
add safety and profit to business of any
kind anywhere? Ii so, then town
building should not Ian the traffic on
commercial grounds alone Does the
liquor traffic render business generally
less safe and less profitable? Then
the builders of new town are COM
mercially justified in banning it, if they
have the power. Does a saloon next
any residence or other property in
crease the market value of such prop
erty? Then the new town should Sc
cure all the saloons possible. Does a
saloon decrease property values round
about it? Then they who build the
new town may we'll and wisely condemn
saloons il advance, and forbid their
advent altogether.
Speaking % prohibition and its eff
fects in Des Moines, the Ioera State
Register says:
"For every man who drops dime or
q dollar in a hole-in-the-wall, there are
5000 workingnen whose weekly wages
now go to buy food and clothing and
the comforts OF life for their families,
and not q cent into the tills OF saloon
Keepers"
Five thousand workingmen represent
5000 homes, and these comprise, We
will say, a city OF $4,000 people.
These and the necessary stores, fac.o-
ries, markets, etc, which go to the
making OF town. Homes are the unit
of town-bglllding, the superstruc.ure
upon which every town is reared. 4
thrifty home implies sober working
man, aud his regular patronage of the
merchant, the manufacturer, the fell
low-aTtisan, is for the welfare OF ALL
Regular patronage Of these means the
thrift and growth of the town: and this
means the wholesome profit of capital
invested in establishing It's mills, its
factories, its varied Improvements.
When Mr.. powde.ly says that in one
Penns,y lvania county $4,000, 900 were
spent for liquor in a single year, and
that S1i.00O,O00 of this came from
workingmen, what does it signify :?
That at least 10000 homes lacked
comfort. and at least $4,000 people
went ill-clad, underfed And this
signifies that a great deal Of honest
capital saw smaller dividends than
were possible, while general prosperity
suffered.
Two things are required by capital
to insure it's continued welfare-good
dividends and small taxes. Dividends
come OF prosperity in business, we'll
paid industry, q demand for the pro-
ceeds of labor (Which capital employs,
and the common distribution of money
through reciprocity OF trade. Taxes
come Of public burdens or public i'm
provements. Make public burdens
light and taxes will be light, under
any average OF improvements; make
these burdens heavy and capital suf-
fers as the inevitable consequence.
The sure way to guarantee heavy bur-
dens is to multiply consumers who ere
not producers, and the surest way to
multiply these is to maintain saloon
system. Every man is q consumer
who earns less than he and his require
to feed, and clothe, and house them.
Grant that he earns fifty dollars OF
surplus every year: then put saloon
between him and his workshop, lei him
be its daily patron and he becomes q
consumer, burden 10 the town or the
State, in some degree. for he consumes
more than his surplus. He is a pro
Queer now, only as he is tax
producer. He is drag upon cap
ital from this time forward. Vine
land. n. j., was started on the
Prohibition basis, and though now sa-
looms may be q matter of vote there,
they are regularly and almost unani-
mously voted down. IN the entire
borough, at the last election. o nly nine
men voted for license. Bessbrook, in
Ireland, has been a temperance town
these forty years. In the great linen
factory there 5000 persons are EN-
ployed: but the place, having no sa-
loon or other iauor-selling concern.
has neither policeman. prison. pawn
shop nor paupers It's taxation is
light, because burdens are light. Pro
hibition Maine, according to the Gov
ernor's inaugural statement in January
last, will have lower taxes next year
than ever before since 1860, on about
one-sixth the levy of thirty years ago.
Could it be shown that saloons con-
tribute to the general good Of town,
then capital might well shrink from
their prohibition at the outset OF a
towns career. No man can show it.
The saloon is pirate upon Industry,
a leech upon capital, a robber OF COM
merce. That capital should ban it,
where capital can, is but an exercise
OF common sense. There are large
areas of land in Great Britain whence
by title-deeds the liquor traffic is BAN
ished forever; and we predict that
soon they will be matched in America.
The economies of prohibition are be-