Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1893-06-13
FIGHT AGAINST SALOONS
Strong Efforts Made TO Keep Rum
Shops Away from the Worlds
Fair Grounds.

air JfOulQS.
The Fair il on Prohibition Territory,
which is In the Midst of a City Having
Over seven Thousand saloons Inter-
esting Facts.
WORLDS FAIR GROUNDS, CHICAGO,
LII SPECIAL Corrospopdencei-Iti is. =,
fact of vital interest to the whole
country that the Columbian Exposition
is to be held within Prohibition terri
tory. 1t could not have been 50 located
in any of the other six large parks of
Chicago.
We are not speaking of the conces-
sions for the sale of liquor granted by
the Fair officials to restaurants within
the gates, but we do cali attention to
the fact, certainly worthy of note by
those who think of Chicago as a totally
depraved city, that to-day. there
is not a saloon Immediately ad
joining the grounds, and, with the
exception of few blocks at the north
end of the park, and few more at the
southwest corner, it Is not possible to
open n saloon within a mile of Jackson
Park.
This clean spot, in the midst of city
which hassto-day 1865 licensed dram
shops. has not been secured and pre-
served without struggle. When the
village of Hyde Park was annexed to
Chicago in lsS9 it was with the express
provision that certain probationary
districts, which had been created some
years before should remain inviolate
after annexation, and should be exempt
from the license laws governing
the rest of the city. These dis
tricts cover eleven square miles,
with a population of about sixty
five thousand people, and include
some of the choicest residence
portions of the city. But. soon after
annexation was completed, those hav-
ing an interest in the liquor traffic un-
dertooll TO invade this region of homes.
The first move was made in 1890,
when restaurant was opened in the
forbidden limits, and the proprietor
brought suit against the mayor to com
pei him to grant license. The ensuing
course of litigation at last reached the
Supreme Court of the State, which, af-
ter eighteen months, handed down a
strong decision, refusing the license,
and maintaining the prohibitory dis
trict- This was victory number one.
The enemy then fell back upon the
statute that provides for submission
of the question to popular vote, and,
with great industry. worked up petit
ton containing ,, Sl1 names, the neces-
sary one-fourth of the " hole mum Der of
voters in the district. addressed to the
City Council, and praying that at the
spring election of 1892 the question be
submitted 10 the voters. whether or not
the district should be maintained BY
fortunate discovery, more than half
the men on this petition were proved to
be fraudulent The writer and friend
found upon it their own names and
those of a score of their neigh bors,
which had been affixed by absolute
forgery. The timely exposure of this
infamous fraud threw the petition out
of the City Council and killed the at
tempt for that year, Victory number
two.
The substantial results of these two
campaigns of defense may be seen by
any one who will look at the two
blocks on Lake avenue, northwest of
the park, where, unfortunately, the
few existing saloons were allowed to
remain, and which are now filled
solid with draInshops, and then
compare them with the two miles of
street DOunu1ng the park tnat are To-
day clear of saloons, and have been
kept to by the determined resistance of
the citizens In all this contest the press
of the city, both secular and religious,
have rendered most efficient aid.
But the fight is still on. The present
form ef attack is to invade the prohibi-
tory territory, whether openly or in
secret, and to sell without license, in
direct violation of the law This has
already been done in few restaurants
and the offenders have been promptly
followed up and fined or driven out of
business The hotels and restaurants
and cheap boarding houses and refresh
ment stands that crowd the region will
be eager to claim what they are pleased
to call their rights"
We are undertaking to keep our ter
ritory around the park clear of those
pitfalls of death, that, but for these
efforts, would lie thick in every path
to the white City" Weneed the SYM
pathy and moral support of every law
abiding man and woman in the land.
Let an emphatic protest be heard
against the unlawful attempt to sur
round the Fair and its million of visi-
tors with such places of temptation,
and resorts of violence and crime