Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-11

| thereto Your petitioners show also tn at the
h borough is inflicted with all the disadvantages
and hardships of the present license system
while receiving none of its Dement'S. for the
reason that the contiguous territory of Harri.
son township is licensed and provided with a
number of saloons, wholesale and retail, and
those residing in this borough who desire 20
patronize the same. have simply to step over
the eastern boundary of the borough to pro-
cure all they wish. The effect of this is that
those who desire one or two drinks are induced
by reason of distance to imbibe more than is
beneficial and return to the borough nh IN an IN
license we would have one or two hrst-class
hotels here, which we need badly.
Albert Smith is the man who has stood
the brunt of the fight on the side of those
who want Tarentum borough to come under
the operation of the Brooks law. Mr.. Smith
SAYS that the one thing that is hurting Ia
rentum is the absence of license. He says
that the question at this time would hardly
be a debatable one had Representative Nc
Cullough carried out his part of the agree
ment Said Mr.. Smith:
The Understanding With Mccullough.
81 undertook to take the petition for the
repeal of the special acts regarding prohibi-
ton, so far as Tarentum was concerned, upon
an understanding with Mr.. Mccullough,
Representative from this district, that he
would present and urge to its passage
measure that would release us
from our present position, so far
as the sale of liquor is concerned. The bill
was introduced, but it seems that Mr.. Nc
Cullough has weakened, and we are what
may be termed in the soup / understand
that he has notified the other side as to the
precise time the bill is to come up and
advised them to have a delegation present
when the measure is before the Committee
on Vice and immortality. We have given
up the fight, because we think our Repre-
sentative has gone back upon US. However,
we will make the light again some OF these
days.
''Our side of this story is plain enough"
continued Mr.. Smith. "Here in Tarentum
we have population of about 5000 people.
Just over the borough border there are fully
1000 more. 1t is practically. one town. L
venture to assert that three-fourths of the
citizens of Tarentum proper are in favor Of
the repeal of the act l believe, in fact I
know, that there is more whisky and beer
drunk in this town at the present time than
if there were two or three licensed hotels OF
saloons here. Men who want whisky will get
it. The bad effect the present system is seen
in the fact that boys go beyond the borough
border into Harrison township, and come
back with kettles filled with beer. They
may not get it from the licensed saloons, but
they do get it, and frequent sight in this
town is boys under the influence of liquor.
A Great Many Clubs.
"Again, the fact of prohibition existing
in Tarentum has caused the organization of
great many clubs The bad feature OF
the club system here is that checks pur-
chased for drinks in one club are good at
another. The people who run these coD-
Germs have entered into an arrangement by
which this may be done. The result is that
there is much more drunkenness here than
there would be were there several licensed
houses. / know a man who is perfectly
willing to erect fine hotel here provided he
could get license. As it is, the town is be-
ing lett, for there is no frst-class place
where travellers may STOP"
There are many people in Tarentum who
agree with Mr.. Smith, but, on the contrary,
there are probably as many who will fight
any attempt to repeal the probibtory law
with all their strength. j. B. Ford, of the
Pittsburg Plate Glass Company, has Joined
Rev. Mr.. Mitchell in his fight against the
repeal of the law, and he has with him Mr..
Wilson, of Wilson & Hartley; Mr..
Challoner, of Taylor & Challoner, and Mr..
Clark, of Godfrey & Clark. While they
consider they have the battle practically
won, they are on the watch, and don't pro-
pose to allow the repeating bill to slip
through If they can prevent it.