The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-06-27
The Speakeasy Crusade, IL.

c. w. Travers has at last succeeded
in obtaining two convictions in the
anti-speak-easy prosecutions in which
he acted as informer. The mon who
have been convicted pleaded guilty
or attempted no defense. But the great
majority of his cases have fallen
through and the costs been put upon
the county Mr. Travers has danced
himself into notoriety, If nothing more
substantial, and the people have to pay
the piper.
We wonder how long this farce is to
continue? 1t is no discredt for a man
to go round on mission of reform, as
Judge Edwards said. on the contrary,
the reformers who began the crusade
against slavery and for the alienation
of the thraldom Of humanity in this
and other countries were obscure and
unknown men who were prescribed
and prosecuted TO within almost an
inch of their lives; enthusiasts who
were bounded from pillar to post and
from post to pillar; who We're scoffed,
jeered at and reviled by the hirelings
OF those whose vested interests they
attacked or were supposed To threaten.
As we have said on former occasion,
the public does not believe that either
Travers or Maloney is aCtuated by any
such dsinterested motives. Indeed,
neither of these men makes any pre-
tentiOns to such virtue. But we do
not require in modern reformers the
"a n n ifiG NP hn n Il
All that is wanted is honesty of pur-
pose and incorruptiblity' in discharg-
| ing obligations imposed by the office
voluntarily assumed.
! 1t is a notorious fact that speak
| easies continue their Illicit career un-
| interruptedly, without let or hindrance
from those whose duty it is to see the
| law carried out. They retail more drink
! probably on the whole than the fully
! licensed saloons. They are far more
demoralizing, because they can afford
to give their customers long credit
and they are under no obligation to
discriminate between minors and men
Of legal age. 1t would be more equit-
able if the license laws of the state
| were altogether abolished than that
| they should be violated with impunity
by anybody who likes to set the COM
monwealth at defiance.
If it is notorious. and Judge Edwards
declares that it is, that speakeasies
continue to trade i'm spirituous liquors
uninterruptedly, how is it that the
ward COnstable are not held Tcspon-
siblo? Every notorious speakeasy that
is frequented by the general public
must be known to the constable of the
ward. The fact of the matter is, and
there is no sense i'm Disgusting the fact
that the ward Constables bring into
court returns with their lips swollen
with perjury. There is not a district
i'm the city i'm which even a stranger
may not obtain what drink he pays
for.
Where is the remedy? We can see
only one. We believe the license
laws are altogether too high. If they
were strictly enforced. the trade in
drink would be more or less a mon.
opoly. But as these laws are not OF
cannot be strictly enforced, the leGiti.
mate saloonkeeper is taxed out of tn.
larger part of his profit while the pro,
prietor of the speakeasy has only {
, meet the Llackmail levy of the ware
constable \ license for saloon i.
almost as high in Scranton as it is il
New York. We do not say that licenses
are too high if they could be mad,
operative in the restriction of the sal,
of Intoxicating liquors. What we d,
maintain is that the high license act a!
it is operative in this community prac
tically defeats the object for which j.
was imposed. If it were placed a sucl
, an amount as would bring it within
the resources of the proprietors of tn
speakeasies generally, they prubabl!
would not run the risk of dctec
tion and the grave penalties which tn
law imposes; while the license holder
themselves would form the nucleus o
an effective trade association organ
ized to prevent the illegal sale of drink
As it is, licensed salOonkeepers are to-
few and too Indifferent to co-operat
: for self-protection. The licensed saloon
occupy as a rule the more central part
of the city, while the speakeases stu
the outposts They do not therefor
come much into serious opposition am
competition does not array one sharpl
, against the other.
The time has arrived we think, whe
. the obligation OF detecting breaches o
the license laws should be taken ou
of the hands and from under the re
sponsibiltY of the ward constables an
placed In better hands. Better a stat
license commission than no attempt a
law enforcement whatsoever.
9 Sergeant Hamilton Fish Of Roosc