The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-06-25
RUN RIDDEN
Preposterous Ratio Of Jer-
sey City Saloons to
Population and
Property.
ONE FOR EVERY CORNER.
Liquor Sold in One Out of
Every Thirty-two Build
ings in the
City.
A Saloon for Every Sixty Men
The Deadly Array From
the Ferry to Warren
Street.
Some of the Moribund Concerns
Characteristic Plague
Spots.
Some of the MOribund Concerns
Characteristic Plague
Spots.

No article which has appeared in THE
Jersey CITY NEWS during the present
month has caused such comment, criticism,
discussion, sorrow, gladness and exultation
as that which told It's. readers on Thursday
last. that nearly one-fifth of the number OF
saloons in this city would be wiped out after
July l. because the rum business doesn't pay
,he owners of these places.
This news is ''pie' to those able to continue
a that business for the very reason that the
fewer saloons there are the better it is for
their custom and the greater profits may be
earned
z The Women's Christian Temperance Union
and all the cold water advocates in the city
will also hail the news with unaduiterated
satisfaction. for is it not step towards their
aim that all saloons should be closed!
But the calculating property owner
firures in his mind that if the statement or
Mr.. Treasurer McArdla of the Liquor Deal,
ers' Association that 200 liquor licenses VIII
NOT he renewed be true, then the city Will lose
S5lOOO in cash. the fund for the erection of
public schools will be minus the next year
Sl2 500: there will be no Sl2,50O to go to-
wards reducing the city's debt and instead
of applying the remaining so, 000 to the re-
paving and repairing OF our wretched sureets,
there won't be sous left for that purpose,
to saw nothing about the effect on the real
estate market of two hundred stores becon-
ing vacant. All these deficiencies caused by
the closing of the 200 saloons means 10 the
property owner that the money must come
from another source and that Is property
taxation.
Tuv FEEscT ON THE REAL ESTATE MARKET.
The loss to the citys treasury is not viewed
by those up in these municipal matters 10 De
a very serious question after all 10 Them
the 200 vacant stores is bigger factor III
the sum Of the city's condition. so many
unoccupied places for business thrown on
the market. especially at such period of
depression, may not improbably seriously
affect the rents for some time.
All these phases of the matter are, how
ever. trivial when one considers that rum
shop ridden Jersey City win have two hun
dred groggeries the less. Their loss VIII De
unauestionably the city's gain
There can be no dispute about the fact
that the liquor traffic in this city is too great
in proportion to the city's size. Every per-
son who has looked at this matter says the
same thing.
A SALOON FOR EVERY SIXTY MEN.
The population of Jersey City at the last
census in round numbers was l63,000 ana
there are today 1,004 licenses granted for the
CITY. which means that there IS one saloon
for every 1862 persons in Jersey City, count
ing men, women and children
ssYes. and if you take that numbeI1 To-"
remarked one OF the best known clIizens;
who was discussing this appalling state OF
things. ssyou will find, excluding the women
and the children, there remains about an
average of 90 men, SO that our benehcent
and benevolent Board OF Aldermen think
that every 60 men in the community must
have a rum shop as matter OF vital neceS-
Sity"
Putting this matter in another light the
total area of Jersey City amounts to 100, l73
lots, that is calculating twelve lots 25xl0o to
the acre These figures are accurate, ana
were kindly furnished by very competent
person. MIR. D. Fowler of the Tax ADJUST
inent Board) This calculation embraces
deduction of 30 per cent. for the street. A
large portion of the area is, OF course, not
built upon.
according to Mr.. Fowler there are in Jer-
sew CITY today 81, 800 houses ana buildings,
thus for every thirtytwo houses there is a
saloon provided and this number includes
buildings of that class in which no one re-
sides. So that deducting fair amount from
the 80 GOO for unoccupied buildings, it would
amount to this, for every twenty houses a
saloon is provided.
SALOONS ALMOST ON EVERY CORNER.
The location of these ginmills Is another
source of adverse criticism. Instead of be-
ing sprinkled. as it were, over the city with
some regard TO the population, distance from
another and locality, not the slightest con-
sideration seems to have been paid to them,
unless as one caustic individual re-
marked, ''The object in Jersey City of those
who grant licenses for saloons is to put one
ON every corner, and three or four in the
block between to keep the ends together"
While in measure these words little ex-
aggerate the state of things, yet the speaker
is not far out.
From almost the Backensack limit of Jersey
CITY on Newark avenue to the extreme east
erly end at the Pennsylvania Ferry few, IN
deed, are the exceptions when one does not
find each corner decorated by saloon.
Beginning at the junction in Marion OF
Tonnele avenue and West Newark avenue
the procession of ginmills, groSgerles and
dives begins. Reaching the Five Corners,
we find that every corner but one IS glven up
to the liquor selling business. Standing at
that place, looking north, begins series ex-
tending to the saloon city of Hoboken, East
there is long line extending to the hudson
River.
HoBoKEN IS ALWAYS EXCEPTED
1t is safe to say that from the Five Cor
ners down to the Hudson River there are
more saloons on that thoroughfare, Newark
avenue. than on any other street of similar
length in the State, excepting, as matter
of course, Hoboken. Not content with To-
eating the saloon on each corner, as 1t was
observed, but between the corners and in
many cases next door to each other are
places where liquor is sold on the premises.
Testing this statement as cheese expert
+ests a-cheese, digging into one portion and
tthen into another take that part of the ave
,,tie near to the Court House and the jail.
within a distance of one hundred yards east
I'D west up and down the avenue there are
Go hteen saloons.
e'R Some of these are reputable and respecta-
places and necessary, but the majority