The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-03-02
DlSPENSARY VS.. SALOON.

The Advertiser wishes to open its col
umns to the fullest discussion of the
Dispensary VS. the Saloon. As a begin
ming it presents g. paper read last even
ing at the Research Club and would be
glad to follow it with letters from men
and women who have rational ideas or
useful facts to impart.
The main point about the dispensary
is: Would 1t, by displacing the sa-
looms, lessen the evil of drink? Upon
that point the Advertiser is not yet
prepared to offer an opinion. The ex-
perience of South Carolina goes to
show that since the dispensary was
started drunkenness-that is to say,
public drunkenness-has practically be-
come unknown and crime due to drink
has decreased thirty per cent. The alb
sence of the saloon and the inability to
treat" at a bar and the absence Of
those causes of crime which are found
in 1.-The assemblage of men where,
through common drinking, they are
made quarrelsome, surely counts some
thing for temperance. Other causes
which reduce the consumption of liquor
are: The elimination of the element Of
personal profit which also removes the
incentive to increase sales: limited
hours for buying liquor, thus decreas-
Ing sales; the uniform rule under the
dispensary system of selling for cash:
the absence from the dispensary
counter of lemons. ice, sugar and other
visual indictments to thirst.
We must, however, study local con
ditions as well as conditions else
where to determine whether the
South Carolina system would lessen
the aggregate consumption of liquor
here. The heaviest drinkers among us
draw from the bottle rather than from
the bar and the, cheaper they can get
their liquor in bulk the more they may
buy of it. We refer, of course to the
natives. These people do not care,
much for bar drinks at TWENTY-FIVE
cents apiece. The drinking Hawaiian
likes to buy a quart of gin and carry
it home to his family, where all hands
turn in to consume the beverage Now
as dispensary liquor is sold elsewhere
at much smaller margin of price
than saloon liquor, and assuredly it
would be sold that way here under any
system this Legislature might frame,
it follows that the native who now gets
quart of poor gin for 81 might get
three pints of good gin for the same
money, and thus would drink so much
more.
Now we come to the sideboard Next
to the bottle trade the use of liquor in
private rooms must be considered. If
pure liquor can be bought here less the
great margin of profit demanded by
private dealers, one would think that
more of the stuff would appear on the
sideboards and that it would be more
lavishly used. Francis Murphy thought
Honolulu's sideboard a greater curse
than the saloon and perhaps he was
right. Assuredly the private stock of
wine, beer and spirits is enormous.
The saloon having been displaced by
the dfspensary, the patrons of saloons
will strive to get liquor elsewhere.
What their chances would be for buy
ing by wholesale as much as they were
previously accustomed to buy at retail
we cannot say. It would be a rule of
the dispensary, if the South Carolina
law We're followed. not to sell to habit
ual drunkards or persons whom drink
makes dangerous. What would be the
effect of such deprivation upon the
growth Of an illicit liquor industry?
1t is well known that the chances of
dispensary law passing this Legisla-
ture are much increased by the opinion
that 1t would enable the consumer OF
liquor to buy more for his money.
These are the facts and arguments
pro and con as the Advertiser finds
them. The facts seem well attested:
the arguments may be open to amend
ment. For that purpose any one who
can throw light upon the general sub
1ect is welcome. within reasonable
bounds of space, to use this paper as
medium.