Blue-grass blade. [volume] (Lexington, Ky.) 188?-19??, 1891-12-19


railways, the hotels and the livery
stables; and the Councilman t
whom l have referred, and tn
man whom you are going to elec
Mayor, get the plum out of thu
pudding.
Now let us look for a moment
on the other side of this money
question. 1t can not be denied
that horse-racing, with its attend.
ant vices, is deadly foe to col
leges. 1t seems to me that some
of our city rulers do not know
that We have such things as col.
leges in our midst, or else they
care nothing for the interests con.
nected with them. l know it to
be fact, that hundreds of fathers
in this state who admire our col
leges, send their sons right through
this city on the train to other col
leges, because they are afraid to
trust them to the moral atmos-
phere of Lexington. Nevertheless,
we have every year not less than
one thousand young men from
abroad in the University, the
Commercial College, and the
State College combined, and they
expend among us at a low esti,
mate 5000 each per annum. This
makes 100000. The professors
in these colleges, most of whom
are married men, and none of
whom would be here but for the
colleges, number more than thirty,
and they expend here not less than
$4,000 more. Besides there are
not less, think than thirty fami-
lies that have moved into the
city within the last few years to
send their children to our schools,
and their expenditures amount to
another $4,000. Thus we have
another aggregate of $4,000 put
into circulation here every year
by these educational institutions,
and it goes to legitimate lines of
business. If we could get rid of
the races, the saloons and the
bawdy houses, Lexington would
be the model place of the whole
country for the education of young
men, and the number of students
here would soon be double the
present number; the number of
professors would be double, and so
would that of the families moving
in, and thus the money put. into
circulation by all would amount
to more than half million annu-
ally. Looking at the matter
from a purely financial point of
view, then, which do you prefer;
the races, with the saloons and
the bawdy houses, or the col
leges?
That the saloon is deadly foe
to morals, is admitted by every
sane man, and no honest man can
deny it. The measure of immoral
ity in any community, is the
measure of its patronage of the
saloon. Do you know how many
of these are now operating in this
city? The figures have been OBJ
tanned for me by the Y. M. G. A.,
and they number 275, all of which
are licensed by our city govern
ment. Now if we suppose that
their average income is $1,000
which l am sure is very low esti-
mate, we have $275,OOO annually
expended by our people for
whisky bought by the dram. 1t
were infinitely better that every
dollar of this money had been
thrown in the fire. II you add to
this sum. say $4,000 per annum,
to represent the tax entailed upon
the benevOlence of the city in
caring for the widows and orphans
of drunkards, and the tax on all of
us to keep up the police, the po-
lice court, the Jail and the watch
house, you have an aggregate of
full 100000 which we give every
year to debauch ourselves and our
sons. Such is the state of things,
that as soon as our boys get big
enough to be trusted on the street,
there begins hard fight between
the father and mother of the boy
on one side, and the saloon-keep-
ers on the other, to see whether
he shall be brought up as a man,
or degraded like a brute. This
fight goes on day and night for
long years, and the bitterness of
it to the hearts of fathers and
mothers, many of you before me
have felt. / have felt it most
keenly. Often the victory is won
by the saloon keeper, and heri-
tage of shame and mourning is
entailed upon the boys family.
Who has right to impose this
heavy burden On me? Who has
right to steal my boy from the
shelter of my home, and ruin him,
body and soul, forever? Who
gave the saloon-keepers this right,
and who protects him in it? You
say we have laws to repress this
heIIish traffic. So we have; but
what do they amount to! We
have a law against selling to mi
nors and a law which imposes a
fine of forty dollars for every
drink of liquor sold to an inebri-
ate; but who does not know that
inebriates are the principal Gus
toners of the saloons? These
laws in our city are dead letters.
! A. of ms, koct fc;anIS :, On ro(on