Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1894-01-25

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wiser policy therefore to permit the
traffic and accept the license fees and
devote them to city Improvements.
A company of temperance men will
give the council its license fees which is
a part of their demand; their character
and purpose is a guarantee that they
will cause the council no trouble by
violations of the law; and in their writ
ten agreement they have promised to
give back to the community in some
form of public benevolence all net pro-
fits except perhaps small per csntum
on the money invested. They will Lot
drive trade to other towns. II coun-
Gil should refuse men of such character
the licenses for which they ask, it would
be ground for suspicion that they were
ia leaguewith the trafickers in rum and
were sharing personally in the profits.
With this cloud of suspicion resting
upon them it would seem that they
might easily be thrown out and more
friendly council elected. The pressure
of public opinion would doubtless be
sufficient to overcome any desires which
the council might have to favor the
present system. 1t would seem also
quite probable that the project would
enlist the interest of enough OF the tenn
perance people to make the election of
favorable council at the beginning an
easy matter.
Some other objections may be stated
but they must be cursorilY answered
and perhaps they are not worthy of any
thing further. cit would make the
saloon more respectable and would in
crease drinking" An increase in the
responsibility OF saloon does not in
crease drinking. II so, the present
saloon keepers would have discovered it
long ago and would be making efforts
in that direction. If it mere so under
ordinary circumstances. it could not be
so when the very purpose of those who
control the business is TO discourage
drinking But it ought to be sufficient
to say that the experience of the Goth
enburg system is entirely against this
objection and all priori conclusions
must give way before experience. The
drinking is very materially decreased
and the reasons for it are plain, but it is
not the place to state them here.
The objection is made that there
would be secret selling. Secret selling
succeeds in no-license towns because it
costs the people so much to fight it; but
in this case the profits of the business
could be used and the illegal vender
would be at a great disadvantage. But
second, there would not be much in
centive for that kind of selling. The
company would keep pure liquors and
sell them much lower than the present
rate.
1t is also objected that the company's
saloon would be too respectable, that
the habitual drlnker would not find
there the low and vulgar associations
which his depraved character Graves.
But this can be true of only certain
class of drinkers. Those who drink in
moderation and have not yet lost their
self-respect and are also engaged in ac-
tive business, and who, besides, are the
chief support, by their political infiu-
ence aud their patronage, of the saloon
system, have no real craving for these
low associations and would not CON-
plain if they were banished. The de-
PRAYED class together with the secret
seller with whom he would side for the
sake of the low associations which he
would find in his dive. could not hope to
cope with the strength of the company.