The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-11-17
THE LIQUOR QUESTION.
Letters From Three Opponents OF sunday
Opening.

the LIQUOR question. without ~pretence and
| without bumbur He has n right TO speak
for evidently he knows what he talks about.
| He has been IN liouor saloons and knows
the sort OF people by whom they are patron
| lied and the motives these men have foo
roinr 10 them The norsons and the re-
| lieious editors who are now coming 20 the
| conclusion that In Justice TO the community
| they must stretch their libcrality so as 10
admit the necessity Of opening the poor
mans club" on sunday do not know what
they are talking about. They know nothing
by experience OF liquor saloons and writo of
them solely from their ima gina tions
They are proceeding on the theory that
there IL an aRer demand by the majority OF
| the people OF New York for more chances
to get drink on Sunday than they now have
| and that a minority of Puritanical prejudices,
| with the assistance of the outside state, are
| cruelty depriving them OF n dearly priced
privilege. II by any chance the Legisla ture
should refer the question TO popular option
In New York these good people would &c.
their eyes opened in n way that would sur
prise them. Undoubtedly, however. the liquor
dealers are Eager for Sunday opening on a
wider scale than at present. and very natural
ly, for with fuller license they could do more
business and make more money on that
day than on any other.
Sunday Is a holiday, men are maid OF on
Saturday and money 20 spend in liauor sa-
looms il abundant. The devil nnds mischief
for idle hands to do. Merely 20 escape from
the tcdium OF sunday idleness there Is more
disposition 70 drink. As II Is, however, even
with a strict enforcement OF the Raines law,
there IL no derivation of reasonable drink
ing 10 cilities. have never. heard anybody
make any complaint OF the sort, except
chronic fault finders. Such obstacles as
there are To the getting OF the drink only
tend to limit the quantity consumed in saloons,
uAI ..1. .a1.A 49,, ,.sth ,Iaarar
heads and stcadicr nerve on Monday MORN
ing, and glad that something stood In the
way Of their making tanks" of themselves
on Sunday. 10 use the expression OF your
mar about towr Nobody regrets having
drunk too little on any occasion. Nobody
feels any remorse because of his having
saved money he might have expended in
making a tank" of himself. Nobody is
distressed at fnding that his head j. not swul-
len In the morning and that he can cat his
breakfast without tho aid Of n cocktail
Drinking mon have not the warmth of ancc-
ton for the liquor seller into whose till they
pour their money which these parsons and
religious editors Imagine. They arc not so
solicitous for his welfare as they supnose.
but arc moro likely 4, cursc him when they
wake up after a debauch.
Numerically of coursos the regular fro
oucnters of liauor saloons arc MANY. but
proportionately they are becoming fewer
find ton mon now who do NOT drink al nil
or who drink only very moderately 1T their
meals 10 one who was of the like abstemious-
moss ton yeprs AGO Mon orc hccominp
moro and moro convinced of the folly q.
making ~tanks~ of themselves for rho hene-
NJ Of LIQUOR dealers have had a good deal
OF experience of politics hero in the city of
New York The time was when il was os
much ms "A politician could do 10 got through
a campaign without going 20 pieces under tn
load of liauor he had 10 carry during il
Whiskey flowed like water Now no poli-
tician Of conseouence is a hard drinkcr
II recall only one and ne Is q dipsomaniac,.
while n larg 20 mart Of them are total ab.tainers
In business circles there is much less drink
ing than formerly. than i'm the DAYS when
salesmen had to niiot their customers to half
tho liouor shons in town. with the conse-
olence that many nne young follows of my
acouaintanco went 70 the devil. Men are
more sensible in these DAYS A quiet tcn-
ua,,,oa r,oyon,.rt nos hoep in r,ogross
under the Impulse OF common sense ana " II
marked among men about town" who
cannot be accu Sed Of Puritanical preJudices
ar any rolivious nr.iudice. whatavor
Now IN, Tnnt's or anv o,h"r ni,n nj, local
N""' Ut fuhh Oh amp "'"ri P'au VI '"'h'
option is adopted these people viii come
forward in a multitude which will astonish
the nsrsors ana Inc reIigious editors -neonle
r. A. ~, -. - -, 90, -
VIM uo W, ~ ~ 'nu''h' "h' haN' wa VI
s,rnmgar woras Of opinrS W. Who do mo,
pretend TO be bound by very stric, moral
iaas Won uonld he sn,n,iscd 20 ana nov
many Of these free Iiyers there are who have
no Use for gin mills
su' anu ~ un nnIS y Una,
- - -, 80.
h,,ra,r,. Errn a." G.,usrs and o,bc,
ho.r-dri,Lf,s neorle. hero are .ue,ci.ntly
rgo,-dot 'snng pSopls' ngiS ,, mr unuS
1Lay are moi m The fr,pt,c .tate me brer