The herald., 1895-10-06

ihS uOul VI " CiOCh WOulu Dp insisted
on.
Mr.. O'Meara was empbatic IN hi,
opinion that the saloons obey tbe
Lords Days Act. "A man can't M.
ford not to-" he said. "If he rms n
side door business, when he comes to
renew his application for a license. as
he must every year, he will find black
marks scored against him, and no liz
cense obtainable"
A license is valuable in Toronto. for
only 100 are granted within the city
limits, and yet l found people who
were not of Mr. o. Meara's opinion.
"A second intelligent hotel owner did
not hesitate to assert that Toronto is
the drunkenest place on the American
drunkeneSt place on the American
continent. "The reason" said he "is
plain. There are only two classes of
people here; the strict Sabbatarians
who are satisfied with their laws .s
they stand and the toughs, who will
find means to get Il drink anywhere
The average man who doesn't drink
much or smoke much but likes n If
tie individual liberty won't stay here
We're all religious or bad
Here's n fact for you. Chicago has
two policemen to every mile of her
streets. We have seven and need
more"
Then the saloon keepers do not
obey the Sunday law?'
"They sell four times as much on
Sunday as on any other day."
"How?"
Here my informant grew cautious.
Come into my private Office, and
I'll tell you a little more about this
thing. You see Il license costs money
here and n man has to make it up
someway. The nominal rate is $3.50
per year. but it really costs from 81.
ooo to $1,000 to get one in the begin.
ming"
Who gets the money!
"The government is not incorrupti-
bic"
And about Sunday selling?"
"Oh. stranger can't buy, but II
is easy if one is known
and the police?'
Some of them like drink them
selves. A hotel keeper is supposed to
serve drinks only to bona fide guests
in their rooms. Now, I'd really like to
close my bar on Sunday to give nv
barkeeper rest, but l can't. My Ii.
cense cost me $1,000"
People bid high when only a hum
dred licenses are to be issued%
Exactly. And see how it works.
Suppose you are Tom and | am Dick.
| say, Tom let's have n drink You
say all right. and we step into a sa-
loon. Probably there are fifty people
there drinking and we know a lot
of them. Instead of one drink we
have five or six. This limiting the
licenses is mighty good thing for the
Saloons
Its good thing for the looks &C
the city, too. No matter how much
Toronto drinks it's relief not to
see screen doors flying on every cor
ner. The club, by the way. does not
figure much in the problem of Sunday
selling. Only seven clubs i'll Toronto
have licenses and they suspend the
visitors list or are supposed to.
All stories have two sides. Mr..
O'Meara told me things that l can
see TO be true.
This is city of churches. and ths
church people-Episcopalians. Metho-
dists and Presbyterians, uphold the
Lords Day with both hands.
The hotel owner told me things that
/ can see TO be true. There are more
men reeling drunk in Toronto of an
evening than / have seen since the
last time l was in Liverpool. And
the scarlet women 1aunt their colors
as they dare not in New York. The
little maids in blue" and the little
maids in red" painted and rigged in
cheap finery. futter about under the
electric lights more audaciously than
the average mortal could imagine
them. There are business blocks down
town that have no other tenants than
these nymphs du pave.
No. Toronto is not SO very virtuous
When it ran a pool room Gts races are
famous) that establishment coined
more money than any other business
in town. The pool room was shut up,
but plenty of money changes hands on
the races now
One little circumstance is interesting.
The Rev. Dr. Rainsford, of New York,
who has gone so far as to advocate
church saloons, preached first in To-
ronto, which was his home. From ex-
perience of the blue Sunday he swung
to the opposite extreme.
But it is not easy to get an unpre-
JUDGED view. Between the Lords
Day Alliance, which aims to stop the
ferries as well as the street cars, and
which may very probably forbid the
bicycle, and the standpoint of the ho-
tel keepers, who lose thousands of dali
lars month by the Saturday clear
ance, there is great gulf fixed. The
present condition is not the result of
any sudden or sDasmodic agitation.
Toronto has grown up under the laws
which now govern it. 1t has never
had Sunday cars or Sunday newspa.
perS. 1t has never had Sunday picnics.
1t has never allowed a man to fish on
the lake front or to go in bathing on
Sunday. 1t has always prohibited
football, cricket, lacrosse and all noisy
games. If two teams get up friendly
race on the road, their drivers know
themselves liable to arrest Toronto
from the beginning has kept the old
time Sabbath, a day of worship and
rest. Toronto is to-day a clean, solid
looking handsome city, with parlia-
ment houses, university and college
buildings better in architecture than
anything New York has to boast. The
cosy brick villas grouped along It's
tree-shaded streets give it wonder
fully homelike and attractive appear
ance. Its people have refused twice
by popular vote to ask for a different
| Sunday and it must be supposed they
| don't want it. Toronto is not growing
rich; wages are low, q mOtorman on
an electric car earning only $1.25 day,