The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-07-13


refer to the saloons Of Wellington.
1t is donbtless we'll known TO every citi-
zen that some years ago the legislature OF
the state Of Ohio, by provision Of nota-
BILE enactment called the Dow law, made
il possible and lawful for Incorporated
villages, through their village councils, to
dispense with the sale Of intoxicating Ii
quors within the limits of their respective
corporations To make this action of the
council more binding il was provided that
an electioniby the qualified voters OF each
incorporated village might be called by
the council thereof, to vote on the subject
of the abolishment of the saloon. II |
remember correctly, the result of such an
election in Wellington was to abolish the
saloon, by large majority. As result
of this election the saloons all closed and
qui. business, WITH possibly, one excep-
tion. Later on, an enterprising individu.
al, noting the inordinate thirst of the COM
mumty, us he supposed, and seeing no
legal way OF alleyiating the terrible dis
tress within the limits of the corporation,
opened a "dive" just oyer the line on the
outside, which was denominated the Blue
Goose.
This scheme worked like charm-bar-
ring the hardship OF walking so far for a
drink-and the proprietor of the "Goose"
reaped golden harvest in plucking the
geese who daily waddled out there to get
drink. But our citizens were not asleep.
AS soon as an amendment to the law was
effected whereby It's provisions might be
extended TO townships, the people of Well
lington promptly acted upon 1t, and when
the proposition to reinstate the saloon
came up for settlement, the good people
by an overwhelming majority, declared
against the saloon. That was in the au.
tumn Of 1887, II / mistake not. Since
that time no saloon has done any business
in Wellington, except in defiance Of law,
But there were certain gentlemen( y
whose instincts were on level with a
beer counter, who found ii difficult 10 Or
tain llvlihood outside OF their chosen
profession, and no sooner had the Devil,
on a dark and moonless night, emptied
the contents OF the slop buckets and GUS
pidorS into common receptacle and
thoroughly mixed the mess and named the
production hop tea than those fellows saw
their golden opportunity and seized it.
They re.opened their saloons and proceed
ed 10 sell "hOp tea,"-a delicious and
healthful drink-to the famishing people
Hop :ea resorts sprang up and their own
ers coined money Tor two or three years,
paying no tax under the Dow law. o, no
why should they' They were not selling
intoxicating liquors, only heallhful bey.
erage-a little hop tea. 1t was suspected
by some-who are always ready to suspi
cion evil-that this hop tea business was
only scheme to dodge the issue and
evade the law. In process of time, test
case came up In one of the courts Of Ohio
and II came out in progress Of the trial
that hop tea was only another name for
the nastieSt kind of beer and just as intox-
icating and infinitely more demoralizing
than ordinary lager, This fact might u
might not have been urged upon the at.
tention Of our mayor and city fathers,
However, from some cause or other, about
year ago, hop tea saloons were notified
to close business in Wellington.
This had the effect TO close two of the
four saloons then in operation. Two sa-
loon keepers folded their tents and sought
pastures new, and less circumscribed fields
for the exercise oi their peculiar talents.
We wish the communities TO which
they have gone much joy. What is our
loss is their gain. But two remain with
us-we were not entirely berelt. 1t seem.
ed that we were 10 be let down gradually.
Perhaps Providence so ordered IT, that the
shock would not come upon US all at
once.
In order, as l suppose, that the town
might not too soon relapse into what an
eminent statsman once called state of
innocuous desuetude in which the grass
would grow In the streets, etc, etc, a third
gentleman % came TO town and com.
meuced the sale of pop and cider.
This man flourished like a Green bay
horse, until Mrs. GrundY got 10 limiting
around that he was selling something
stronger than those innocent beverages,
and an examination Of his stock Ia trade
was had by the village marshal at the in-
stance OF the mayor and council, and IL
was found to be the same old hop tea and
kindred stuff, such as had been dealt out
in our village for the past two or three
years. The proprietor became afralc that
something might occur and he left be-
tween two days for parts unknown TO the
writer leaving his business TO be settled
by the constable, which was done, in due
course OF time, In perfectly proper and
legal manner.
So, at this present writing, the village
10 Wellington has only two open saloons
to which, Mr.. Editor, II no one rises to OBJ
ject, l will Fay my respects next week.
CITIZEN.
Wellington, o. July 10, 1902.