The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-26
SAVANNAH WITHOUT SALOONS.
Mr.. Beauchamp Says They Are Not
Essential to It's Prosperity.

/
The lecture by Mr. Lou J. Beauchamr
at the Guards hall on How to Run Sa-
vannah Without the Saloon" was an in
teresting one
| The idea that the saloon and its opera
ton bears a vital affinity to good times,
doubtless made the subject more inter-
esting than it would otherwise have been.
OF course the position taken by Mr.. Beau
champ was that Savannah can prosper and
abolish saloons.
There is absolutely no hope of aiding
any community by prohibitory legislation
which stops short of the complete over
throw of the liquor traffic. Anything less
! than that has been demonstrated as un-
satisfactory. One-half the United States
| to-day Is without the licens-
ed saloon. and the same is
true of Canada. Saloons have been
attacked by different methods in this
country, such as high license and dispen-
saries. But they have all proven unsuc-
cessful, and especially is this so with the
| dispensaries, as is shown in the case of
South Carolina. There never was more
crime in that state than there has been
since the present dispensary laws have
been in operation. High license has been
advocated in many southern states to cor
rect the evil, but observation demon
strates that there is but one remedy
Thou shalt not
THE saloons are the agents of the peo-
pie Their profits are shared by the peo-
Pile who have licensed and thus legalZ-
ed them Prohibitonists have no ill-feel-
ing against the saloons themselves, there
fore, but against their business, against
the chemical composition of the drinks.
But they tell us we cannot legislate
he 3e, ,-,t,esA I
tutional by interfering with individual
rights. There are no such rights. The
only rights which belong to any one are
those of the citizen. | read only to-day
where a policeman had been dismissed in
this city for misunderstanding too much.
The United States supreme court has de-
cided it is constitutional for the states to
legislate against both the manufacture
and sale of liquor
The lecturer continued by giving Illus
trations and drawing distinctions between
individual and citizens rigsts, the idea
being to prove that the state could legis
late against the liquor traffic to preserve
the rights of society. Concluding the ar
gument an amusing illustration was given
of the lecturers going through calisthen-
les exercises. SO long as he was upon
the stage, he said, it was his individual
right to exercise himself, but the case
was different when he descended to the
audience and struck people by thrusting
his arms about
MY right stops where that mans nose
begins"
The railroads, insurance companies, bus
mess houses and manufacturing establish
ments are all teaching the benefits of total
abstinepce. No railroad will employ a
man who drinks on duty and some roads
will discharge them for drinking a any
time. The life insurance companies know
drinking men live short lives and, there
fore, decline to insure them. With the
railroads detectives are employed and when
they take a snapshot picture of an en-
polye, either leaving or entering a saloon,
that man soon receives his blue" enVel-
ope. With a clouded brain and weaken
ed eye, reliable service cannot be render
ed.
Speaking of the possibility of running a
state without the liquor traffic, the lectur-
er compared Maine, where there are no
licensed salonos, with Ohio, where saloons
run full blast The amounts in savings
banks, as reported from Maine are al
ways in excess, proportionately,o the total
amounts in Ohio. Figures were produced
to substantiate the assertions
The result of local option was shown by
illustrations of towns in different states
The speaker repeated that there is no need
to legislate by halves. The traffic he
said, should either be stopped altogether
or left unmoested.
Mr.. Beauchamp will speak tonight on
THE Effects Of Drink on the Individual -