Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1900-06-02


Protection the Liquor Men Decide
to Run No Further Chances.
End ola System that Has Yielded Suf
fcient Revenue to Run the City
for Years.
The system of dealing with the
liquor problem that has been coun-
tenanced and approved by the people
of the Missouri slope cities during the
past few years is at In end. The
open saloon is now a thing of the past
and the genuine "blind pig" system
with which the eastern part Of the
state has been cursed, will undoubtedly
supplant the license system.
So far as the city Of Bismarck is con-
cerned the action of the proprietors
Of Liquid refreshment' places in
maintaining thus far and in closing
their doors at this time is entirely in
obedience to public sentiment. The
people of the western part of the state
have never looked with favor upon the
prohibition clause in the state consti-
tuition nor the prohibition ukase on
the statute books. Law not backed
by public sentiment cannot be en-
forced successfully. The attempt to
enforce an obnoxious law-as had been
proven in this section on several occa-s
sions-resulted in endless expense and
barren results. The sentiment Of the
people and of the leaoing taxpayers of
Bismarck finally crystalized in oppose
tion to further litigation and court ex-
penses in useless attempts to enforce
the letter of the law, and in favor Of
dealing with the liquor question in a
practical manner.
Without going into details but to
deal directly with results let us see
what has happened. It is admitted
that during the last six years Bismarck
has been as orderly and as free from
crimes incident to the liquor traffic as
any other city in the state. Prohibit
ton confscated about ,$20O,O 900 of tax
able property in this city and shut off
about $4,000 yearly revenue from saA
loon licenses. This was a severe blow
to a city whose debt-the inheritance
Of early days when Bismarck was the
end of the road and the place of trial
of all the criminals incident to the
frontier-was beyond the constitu-
tional limit. The attempt to enforce
the prohibition law against overwhelm-
ing public sentiment but aggravated
the conditions and added to the debt
burdens of the people. Is it any won
der they finally favored emergency
measures? f
AS a result of the system in practice
in Bismarck the entire general run
ming expenses of the city have been
met by revenues collected from re-
sorts where it is we'll known liquors
have been dispensed-not through any
license to violate the law given by any
of1cial-but in response to we'll defined
public sentiment. The money of the
taxpayer, has been applied to the city's
old debts and as a result the city is in
better condition today financially than
at any time for tl-.een years. Could
the present system of obtaining rev.
enue continue it would be possible in
a few months to refund the indebted
ness of the city in low interest bear
ing bonds and use a handsome surplus
in grading the streets and making long
needed repairs of the sidewalks.
But the old system is at an end. Our
liquor dealers are. in the majority OF
cases, old residents, and owners OF
the buildings wherein they have been
doing business. They are not blind
piggers as these outlaws are. known
in the eastern part of the state. They
are men of families, men Of financial
standing and DO not desire to take any
further chances in injunctional suits
or fine and Imprisonment sentences
They do not desire to embarass the
officials nor the citizens of the com:
munity in which they have lived fo1
many years and they have. there:
fore. yielded to the exigencies of the
occasion and closed their doors. The
revenues to the city from this. source
will cease and the b~ootlegging era be.
gin. # the record of the past can be
relied upon. This condition will cu1
short the revenues of the city and vii
IN no manner decrease the evils of in.
temperance.
Call at b. S. B~eardsley's drug store