Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1899-02-24
The Saloon.
Paper Read Before the Farmers In
stitute, Lime Springs. By
Mrs. j. j. Eessenden.

! have no doubt that some, on first
thought, will consider my subject rath.
er inappropriate for a farmers instl-
tute; but if understand the object of
our meeting correctly, it is not only to
consider what is for our best interests
but also to investigate what is liable to
bring to us failure and loss.
Did the Hessian fly, the grasshop.
per, or any plague threaten our coun-
try, we would soon see concentrated
effort among the farmers to find some
means to avert it, lyet at the present
time there is an evil of far greater
magnitude than any of these threaten
ing us, and one which will leave in its
track greater desolation and ruin. The
dreaded hog cholera which has been
such source of loss to our farmers
for the last two seasons, is a small
matter compared to the saloon peti.
ton which now lies i'll the Auditors
Office. The cholera only effects the
individual or neighborhood financially.
The saloon effects every one within its
reach morally and socially. Most of
US were inclined to smile at the ankle.
ty of those who feared the required
number of signatures would be obtain
ed. 1t did not seem possible that
among SO intelligent people sixty five
per cent could ever be induced to sign
their names to petition to bring upon
our county seat the disgrace of an
open saloon, but as that petition is
already on file it only remains for us to
consider who signed it, and why?
How will it effect the farmer2 and,
last, but by no means least, what can
yet be done to avert this dreadful evil?
l believe the signers of that petition
can be divided into three classes, and
in the first will be found most of the
farmers men whose minds are occupied
with matters pertaining to their own
business, temperate but not posted on
the liquor question, themselves honor
able and truthful and giving everyone
else credit for being the same. Along
comes our smooth tongued man with
his petition and a seemingly plausible
story of the terrible work of the drug
stores, that they not only sold all they
could themselves but supplied every
one else who wished to sell, doing so
much more harm than a respectable
open saloon. Yes, respectable open
saloon! Knowing we'll that he is tell
ing falsehood from beginning to end.
What cares he solong as he can obtain
that mans signature before he can in
fern himself better.
The second class are those who
have already acquired that dreadful
appetite for drink to such an extent
that they are willing to sign anything
to bring that liquor within their reach.
These men are to be pitied far more
than blamed, for what is the act of
signing their names to that petition
but roundabout way of signing their
own death warrant?
The third class are the men who put
their names to that paper for the sake
of the dollars that will directly or in.
directly find their way into their peck
cts.
The saloon keeper deals in liquor
for the money there is in it. Another
man signs that paper because he is
paid for doing so. Another circulates
it because is offered more for this work
than ct any thing else. An official
signs it because it will increase the
number of arrests to be made, and the
man Of property signs it because the
revenue obtained will help keep up the
city expenses and thereby reduce his
taxes, caring nothing for the danger
TO which he exposes his own sons and
the sons and husbands of those around
him; caring nothing for the awful
amount OF suffering, want and misery
which he well knows must follow the
opening of that saloon, so long as he
can save few paltry dollars. l ask
you my friends in all candor where is
the difference in these men and that
saloon keeper, SO long as money is the
object of each.
How will the saloon effect the farm.
er? The temperate farmer will only
be effected by the amount of suffering
and misery Which he will see around
him. The sleepless nights when he
must listen to the blasphemies OF
drunken revelers returning from town,
the constant dread that his property
will be destroyed by these maniacs;
by the danger to life and limb every
time he ventures on the public high
way, and by the knowledge that he
cannot take his family for drive to
town without his boys being exposed
to temptation.
But the Incorporate farmer. Where
is there another man who will SO soon
show the effects of intemperauce as
the farmer1 heliexe in riding