The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-02-07

License forces the saloon into politics,
disciplines the enemy, and so is the
source of untold political corruption.
The licensed liquor traffic cOrrupts the
police force and the lower courts, and
is the chief source of municipal mis-
rule which is the principal peril of free
institutions.
License apparently brings revenue
to the State. and SO intrenches the traf-
fic behind the cupidity of short-sighted
taxpayers. 1t robs Peter to pay Paul,
but it does not pay Paul. The expenses
which the traffic brings upon the com
munity greatly exceed any profit arising
from license fees. But this fact is
overlooked by average voters. The
money there appears to be in license is
temptation to the State and chief
scource of the political power Of the
saloon. 1t is, nevertheless, the estimate
of the best statisticians that for every
dollar which the State gains by license
of the liquor traffic, it loses $1S by d.
rect damages caused by that traffic.
License does not for any length of time
diminish the amount of sales of liquor.
although for awhile it may diminish
the number of places in which liquor
is sold. But the large establishments
often own the small ones and foster
the illegal trade of the latter. The
gilded saloons want the low dives kept
omen to receive the refuse constituency
of the former. When the drunkard be-
, comes noisy and loathsome sot, he is
3 turned out of the upper into the lower
5 grade of saloons.
/. License gives the traffic legal, indus
t trial, political and social responsibility
:. and so increases the power Of the saloon
t to tempt the respectable classes, and
s lowers and corrupts the temperance
e sentiment of the community at large
= The city government of Omaha, under
= High License of the saloons, has SUM
q to so low a level that it now derives
large revenue from arrangements nearl.
l. approaching the licensing OF houses o
IS unreportable infamy.
s. License prohibits Prohibition, for
t. always provides for the continuance o
If the traffic. The revenue which the mis-
r. led voter suffers the State to obtal
n from High License, although it by n
" means covers the damage inflicted b
in the traffic and is collected from tn
IS victims of the saloons and their famllle
he operates as a golden bar to Prohibition
m The higher the license fee the hlght
ur and stronger is this bar. 1t is motor
err GUS that the policy of License is favore
SO by politicians as a means of defeatllI
iaI Prohibition. The Chicago Tribune vel
IS. Justly says: High License, reasonae
10 and properly enforced, is the only pa
an rier against Prohibition in the prese
It temper of the people in almost eve
a State of the Union" In January, los
,es the Omaha Bee said: "The only effe
ne. tive way to block Prohibition is to e
lp- force rigidly High License.
ZEN License is genearlly approved by t
ual liquor traffic itself.
# License, so far as it produces
parently good results, owes its SEEM
lie success to it's restrictive features. l
lfic Brooks Law in Pennsylvania, for
the ample, transferred the power to gr;
can licenses in Philadelphia and Alleghe
ent from corrupt political Boards to Jud
h of of reputable Courts. The Judges gra
wer ed licenses much more cautiously tt
It to the politicians had done, and gave
18th force to the prohibitive elements OF
very law.
be License has been weighed inthe Sc
the of practical experience for hundred
to years, and found wanting. The pres
now power of the liquor traffic and the
.inst rent intemperance of our time, /
ence grown up under it. Over against
quor indisputable fact is to be placed
e Ii fact which is indisputable, that
line. License and Prohibition, when
ment fairly weighed in the balances,
,adth been most significantly approved
Gov their practical results.
,iples License is condemned as wicked
vided by the chief Christian denomina'
of our time. The celebrated declar'