The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-05-07
ABOUT eREsPECTABLE' sA-
LOOMS.

There is just as much reason for
opening a saloon for the serving of
cocaine as there is for opening one for
the serving of alcohol. Men will have"
cocaine just as they will have whisky.
Not so many of them, of course, be-
cause cocaine is a new drug and the
use of it has not spread SO far Cocaine
acts on the nerves as alcohol does. and
produces an exhilaration far greater
than alcohol 1t is a poison as alcohol
is a poison the reaction being greater
and the destructive results to the hui
man machine making themselves mani
fest quicker. Since men will have CO.
caine then, why should not saloons
with brilliant interior fixtures, marble,
glass, and metal be opened for the sale
of it2 Why should not the sale of it be
Iicensed-high licensed if necessary, so
that low cocaine tdoggeries' be not
permitted to run where the cocaine might
be adulterated. Why not have a number
of "respectab BILE cocaine places where
man could go in and get his cocaine
and come out and go about his business
(as long as he had any.
Then when a man gets full of cocaine
and seizes razor or a corn knife and
runs amuck through the street severing
peoples jugular veins-shut him up
loud voice and with an air of conclud-
ing all argument such as our readers
are familiar with when resubmissiOn
orators tall). Yes, shut him up! Pun
ish the man who so far fOrgets himself
as to take too much cocaine. Plenty
of men can take a dose of cocaine and
then let it alone; then they can take an
other dose of cocaine and let that alone,
too. If the cocaine would only let them
alone. and they would let other people
alone it would be very nice. But they
won't
If we have these cocaine saloons too,
il will do away with all this taking of
cocaine on the sly. Men will not go UP
in the alleys with their pockets full of
cocaine and take an overdose of it and
go stark raving crazy They will be
more moderate. They will only take
it along from day to day in the saloons
and go to pieces gradually. There
should be stringent regulations CThis is
another fine sounding phrase). Boys
under sixteen should not be allowed to
purchase cocaine; they should only be
permitted to know that when they grow
up and became men, then they can en-
ter into the glory of glories with their
fathers and elder brothers and have
cocaine, too. Ii should be set before them
the prizes that comes to manhood along
with the right to vote, to marry, to con-
duet business and so on.
Yes. it is quite certain that cocaine
should not be sold to minors. Hedged
around with these safeguards the sale
of cocaine might proceed and the state
be the gamer by the great revenues
coming from it Murders would be
continuous, the insane asylums would be
doubled in number, men would lose
their wits and their situations, imbe-
Gle and diseased children would be
born, families would be broken up but
the innate appetite of man for cocaine
would be regulated, licensed and re-
spectacle
We hope our intelligent readers will
see the force of the above argument
and apply it to the demands of some of
our citizens for the regulated, licensed
and respectable" alcohol saloon.