The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-10-16
THE sVIPE JOINTS IRE
BEING DRIVEN OUT
NEW BEER SALOONS HAVE HAD
A GOOD EFFECT UPON
MORALS.
High Sheriff Brown States That the
Institutions Have Modified the
MaudIIn RsveIs In the Tough Dis
tricts Of Honolulu.

| Some time ago a plan was adopted
/ By the police department for the sup
preston OF illicit selling OF swipes.
This plan was to Issue licenses to a
number of persons for the selling of
Honolulu beer in the districts where
the swipes evil was most manifest. il
being hoped that the patrons of the
swipes merchants would buy beer in
stead. the after effects of the latter
being much less troublesome than
than that Of the former. High Sheriff
Brown says that the plan has worked
well.
The number of licenses to be grant
ed was limited at first to eight" said
the High Sheriff in an interview yes
terday afternoon, two of the saloons
to be established in Iwilei. four in the
swipes merchants headquarters in Ka.
kaako, and two others along Queen
street this side of Kakaako. The rsgu-
lations were made very strict, the sale
! OF beer to be prohibited after 1880
?. n. and all day Sunday. Any viola
ton of these regulations was to be
promptly atoned for by severe penal
ties. BY this means we anticipated
that those who would drink might be
induced to bug beer instead of swipes,
which was q consummation devoutly
to be wished. When a man drinks
beer he has to drink number OF
glasses before he begins to feel hi
larious. and by the time he has con-
sumei sufficient quantity to rob him
Of his normal senses he begins TO get
logy. and probably goes quietly TO
CT Iii,
glass of ii will make him fighting
drunk. the mixture always appealing
to his ugly qualities rather than to
the humorous or JOYFUL side of his ma
ture. Thus it is plainly obvious that
it is best for the peace of the commu
nifty that the jag be of the beer order
rather than of the swipes variety.
"As soon as the first beer saloons
were established the effect was notice
able. Both myself and Mr. Chilling
worth spoke of the marked difference
In the police court harvests from the
Kakaako and Iwilei districts There
were fewer DRINKS. and the number OF
persons arrested for assault and bat
terry and for being mixed up in ARRAYS
materially decreased. The beer meT
chants were driving the swipes mer-
chants out of business. The result
was so successful that we decided on
extending the number of licenses. and
now there are eighteen of the saloons
running. This is. think, just about
the right number, enabling the saloon
keepers to make enough profit to keep
their heads above water without re-
sorting to trickery, the selling of
r,kr ST ~ h,rc
If the number were increased some
of them would quit the business, and
all sorts of trickery would be resorted
to on the part of the others, the re-
suit being that the situation would be
much as it was in the first place.
The swipes evil is one that has
given the police department great
trouble. While we knew that swipes
selling was going on. especially in
Kakaako. where practically the whole
district goes on jag every Saturday
night, we could seldom catch the
swipe sellers in the act of selling the
beverage, and without this evidence
we could not secure a conviction If
they feared raid they had all sorts
of tricks to evade the law. The law
only prohibits the sale of swipes, and
we could not prosecute for the max
ing of it, therefore they would fire.
quentiy club together. each furnishing
part OF the ingredients, and while
one OF the fellows who understood the
business would mix the stuff some
thirty or forty would watch the brew.
and when it was done they could all
get gioriously drunk while the of
ficers could not arrest them, even
though the whole process were gone
through before their eyes.
Both Mr. Chi1lingworth and myself
consider that the licensing of q lin
tied number OF beer merchants is a
great shing in these districts It has
been clearly demonstrated to us, and
while It might to the casual observer
frcm an external viewpoint seem 10 be
only licensing so much more trouble.
anyone who understands the situa-
ton and the peculiar difficulties that
have to be dealt with in these rough
disticts will immediately see the wis
dom OF the plan
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