Connecticut western news., 1893-05-18

ported to the doctor that the fellow took exactly 40 drinks that day, and he had solemnly sworn that he never took more than four or five drinks a day. Men are enticed into the saloon, are invited in, are forced in and begged to drink and treated to drink, are coerced to drink
 The saloon as an institution tempts the weak men who need protection most. Without the saloon any man that wants to get drink can get it; any man that wants to get drunk can get drunk. But with the saloon thousands upon thou sands get drunk who do not want to. It is forced down their throats. There are very few saloons in our cities that have not auxiliary establishments which class them properly with the dives. They ap- peal to the young, appeal directly io their passion and make their money di- rectly through the debauchery of young manhood and womanhood. The peer gardens of our cities are the hotbeds in which are first planted the seeds of a dissolute life in those who attend them. Here young workingmen and young working women go in search of pleasure and recreation and begin their down. ward career. The saloon as an institu- ton tempts tho young with practically resistless power. It is established on that principle. That is one of the main reasons for it's existence and the source of it's profits.
 The principal patrons of the saloon, as of the gambling hell, are the young. In single saloon i'll Cincinnati 252 men en- +l,. I. thirty-six of them were young men. In New Albany, Ind, in an hour and half 1,109 persons entered 19 saloons. Nine hundred and eighty-three of them were young men and boys. c. H. Yatman de- clares that in Newark, N. J., in five min utes he counted 62 young men entering one saloon. He passed his watch to a friend and asked him to stand and count for 30 minutes. In that time 592 entered the saloon, most of them young men. Richard Morse says: "A city of 17,000 population had 5000 young men. One thousand and twenty-one of them en- tered 49 saloons in one hour on Saturday night. In Milwaukee, on q certaineven- ing, 488 persons entered single saloon, nearly all of whom were young men and boys. If this process continues for an- other generation, it needs no prophet to foretell the character of the manhood of that generation that succeeds the pres ent.
 The saloon as an institution makes crime daily incident of life and makes it respectable with Urge class of peo- pie. The license fallacy introduces the liquor business with all it's criminality into the domain of law. No license sys- tenn has ever been enforced in the history of the world. In the. very nature of things it cannot be enforced. Law to be law must have back of it moral pt wer The license system is compromise with the devil. It satisfies neither the devil nor the forces of good. There never was a prohibition law that stood squarely upon the platform of suppression that was not better enforced than any license law under the same conditions.
 We have license system in the city of New York. There are no less than 5000 places where liquor Is sold without any license ct all. And there is not a saloon in this city that does not violate the excise law at some point. They keep open at illegal hours during the days of the week. They sell on Sunday. They sell to minors. And they are banded to- gether to defend each other when inter fered with, whether guilty or not guilty.
 IN CHICAGO.
 In Chicago some time ago boy, the son of ci;rpcnttT at Franklin park in moderate circumstances, was made beastly drun.i from whisky sold over a license bar. The boy was 10 years old. He went to the saloon and purchased his bottle of whisky. He drank part of the bottle in the presence of witnesses in the saloon. He left the place half crazed, staggered around for awhile in the neighborhool and finally fell across the track of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad. Here he lay for two hours, when he was picked up still insensible by passerby. He was very i'll for sev- eral days, but finally recovered. The sa- loon keeper was arrested and fined nominal fine. The boys father has brought suit in q civil court for SIG, ,000 damages, and the respectable Liquor Dealers association. will defend their brother saloon keeper, guilty or not guilty. Thieves thus hang together and have their code of honor.
 MT. Jacob Riis says that in New York some time ago he saw boy entering a saloon on a cold November night. so small that he could scarcely carry the pitcher. He entered the saloon and for bade the barkeeper to serve the boy un- der penalty of the law. The man was # cI, ,nI 1a 1ol o1 A- shut up his shop and go home. And he might have told him that with good au- thority, for it was after o'clock in the morning. The saloon keeper was indig- nant and told the reporter to mind his business and get out of the saloon, while he filled the pitcher. The law against selling to minors is about as much re- spected as the ordinance against swear ing.
 A little more than year ago boy, after carrying beer whole day for shop full of men over on the east side of New York, where his father worked, crept into cellar to sleep off the effects of his own share in the riot. It was Saturday evening. On Sunday his par ents sought him high and low, but 1t was not until Monday morning when the shop was opened that he was found killed and half eaten by rats that over- run the place.
 Saloons are forbidden to harbor disso- lute women, and yet scores of saloons keep regularly all the way from 25 to 85 of these women practically in their em- ploy. A license law is a roaring farce. It has never been enforced; it never can be enforced.
 What, then, shall be done with it? The forces of civilization are rapidly dividing into only two classes on this question those who believe in the saloon, that 1t is good thing, that it should be protect ed, and those who believe that 1t is an unmitigated curse and must be destroyed and outlawed. Regulation has been tried and found wanting. License is a dismal failure. The idea that the saloon as an institution can be improved is a dream of madness. It has been said by the chnrch takipo oh oroo of tho oo1oo,,