The Coconino weekly sun., 1896-07-02

which are just now expressing the at. ten,ion of our people. many of them questions of vital importance.
 Take the water problem, for ex- ample. It is most essential that suf- ticient and permanent water supply should be provided for our little town if we expect 1t to flourish and pro- gress. Lack of water means the cur tailing of the business of sawmill and stone quarry. consequent reduction of railroad shipments, consequent falling of in consumption of agricultural pro ducts and of merchandise. and loss Ot population.
 But then there's the whisky ques. tion! Too much whisky means loss of productive power in its consumers. the diverting of money from the legitimate channels of trade. and, as result. a loss in production and of consumption in the community. -
 Every body is interested in the water question and is striving by all means to aid in obtaining sufficient water and to do what can be done to solve the problem. That is right. Every citi- zen should do his part in matter so vital to the common welfare.
 The common welfare is somewhat at stake iu the whisky matter. too. Com mercislly our town is suffering on &C., count of the traffic in intoxicants. Its reputation is suffering from the same cause-witness the article in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly" for June entitled 1.-The Grand Canyon of the Colorado" in which the worst features of our environments here are set forth very strongly. The character and effectiveness of our citizenship is suf. fering from this business. The moral worth of our boys-and even of our girls--is endangered. Hence, every body must he interested in doing away with this business as much as in Ob- taining water? An. well-that is to say--lha,'s different, don't you see? So il is! One affects business matters only; the other touches al! the depart mrn,s of our community life.
 Then there is the tariff. The sheep men are hoping for a restoration of the Mckinley tariff, and consequen, rise in the price of wool to the place it held in '92. Undoubtedly this would be great blessing to them, financially speaking. Sheep raising would again become a profitable business, and tae benefits of the improvement would not stop with this one industry, but would make themselves felt in every branch of trade in this region.
 But then the (prsc,ical) "frec trade" in whisky is doing considerable injury to some sheepmeu and good many other men in this commuuity-fnau- cial injury, social injury. moral injury, spiritual injury. Wouldn't it be well to arouse d little in taking this matter in hand and putting a stop to the leak age which it entaiIsP Foreign wool, under free trade policy. has about ruined the sheep industry. The '.for- eign" whisky that's been comiug into Flagstaff ever since it has had All ex. islence has absolutely ruined a good many persons and partly ruined good many more in body. miud and soul. We're going to try to have this free trade policy changed. and are shouting for Mckinley and praying for his sloc ton so this may come to pass. Of course we're doing all we can to change the whisky policy too. We'll. hardly. That's different case. don't you ssee
 A good many of our people are per- suaded that free silver is what we are needing most. We need more money, f and then prices will be higher, wages better and every body more prosperous. That may be fact, and there seems A good deal of reason to believe it is. More money would be good hing f,,r any of us if We make good use of i,. and it's what a good many of us are striving after-most of us, in fact. But then if the thousands of dollars that annually go over the counters of the Flagstaff saloons and acruss tl,e far" tables were to be saved or diverted |" s""' useful channel it nigh, help to tide "v'r the time we will b.r. ,, wat Tor the free coinage of silver. m'g"' add to the prosperity of the , 4 |