The Indianapolis journal., 1901-12-03
REVENUE FROM SALOONS.
Astonishing Figures from Statistical
bureau and Other Sources.

To the Editor Of the indianapolis Journal:
If the Indiana bureau of statistics COM
piles no other figures bearing upon that
branch of economies known under the head
of revenue, those it has gathered relating
to the saloon are worth all the bureau has
cost or is likely TO. Here is a revelation
of facts and figures that puts the saloon at
the very head of revenue producers, putting
the saloon industry in a very different light
from that in which it is generally held by
those who rail against it, which will be a
surprise to many. and which will furnish
an argument for its existence, not for its
suppression, which those who seek its over
throw must take into account in their
work
There are, by the statisticians's figures,
1892 salons in Indiana, or one for every
523 inhabitants. old and young, black and
white, native and fOreign-born; or, in round
numbers, one for every 100 families These
are distributed somewhat irregularly, ac-
cOrding to the habits of the several locaH-
ties for instance Hendricks county has
one for every 5323 inhabitants, while Lake
county has one for every 123; Marion with
its 553 saloons. maintains a saloon for every
353 inhabitants, for about every
seVenty-iive families. But this does not tell
half these statistics reveal. There are 31s
incorporated towns in the State. These
collect special taxes for local purposes
VARYING in amounts according to the local
needs. OF these 3l9, reports have been re-
ceiYed from only 2O4. These report for
local purposes $l2,2l4.5O. If the towns not
heard from average with these, there was
received for local purposes in the year
1900 SIP 921. But this is not all. There are
eighty-nine cities in the State These utilize
the saloons for revenue, and the result
| Il. IL. Il.
reported $461,40O was received; of which
indianapolis received $l91,S 500. If the in
corpOrated cities average with these there
received for local purposes that year
S122. .0l0 from the saloon industry in the
cities Of the State. Adding the State, town
and city revenues from this source have
$1.353010, which is nearly double the State
tax of that year, the latter being only
$677 7.67S69
To appreciate this it must be remem-
bered that the saloon keeper pays the same
taxes on his goods that a merchant or
farmer does, and that this revenue is ad-
ditiOnal TO the regular tax on property.
No other industry pays any such a tax as
this; hence, If saloons are abolished, State
taxes must be more than doubled TO make
up for the million and a quarter collected
through the salOOn-a fact which every
man who demands the suppression of the
saloon must face.
But this is not all; 1t is not half. The
general government puts a specific tax upon
the goods handled by the saloon as II does
merchant, or the mechanic, or the farmer,
which. together with the specific tax on all
who deal in them, and upon the plant for
making them, amounted in the fiscal year
ending June 30 1901, to SlS3, 419,57l.67. There
are no exact data for determining Indiana s
share in this revenue, but, dividing it
among the states according to population,
1t will be alb. 1t six and a quarter millions,
making in for the State about seven
and half millions derived from the liquor
business. When, therefore, it is remem-
he mil ions rCf he 10 n
by direct taxation at some point it is easy
TO see what must follow il the saloon is
abolished-hence the value of these statis-
tics IhiS economic measure has, however,
one thing TO commend il: Ii collects chiefly
from those who otherwise would pay no
taxes. Except the gentlemen who take
their drinks at the unlicensed bars of pO-
/ litcal and social clubs those who drink
are mostly too poor to own anything out
or which taxes could be made. Those tony
upplerS are, however, caught on the liquors
the government having secured the taxes in
advance, while they voluntarily hand over
10 the revenue collector behind the bar,
for that is what all bartenders are. They
pay no part of the taxes themselves. They
only collect of the consumer and hand ii
| TO the State Nation. 1t is "A great mis-
take to suppose that the saloon keeper pays
dollar of it. He is only a collector for
the state and the government. 1t IS moth
ing 10 him that the governments share is
| eXorbitant. amounting 10 SD out of every
| SO above the prime cost of the article 1t
costs 10 cents TO make a gallon of whisky:
| II is sold by the distiller for S1.30. leaving
margin of $ll5 of which the government
| gets SL1O and the distiller cents, or one
| twenty-third of the margin.
| II l were presenting these figures which
| In their details. We're q surprise to me. for
! any other purpose than 10 inform the read
! ers of the Journal. l would say first that
! the existence of such number of licensed
| saloons with probably half as many un-
| licensed of high and low degree, from the
/ gllded clubrOOm such as we have in In
! dlanapolis, patrOniZed chiefly by church
members, young and old. to the low dives
| for the debased and ruined. indicates an
| alarming use of intONicants that no pro-
| hibitory law nor any possible enforcement
| OF any possible law can materially affect.
| There must be stronger moral force be-
! hind any law than is now in Indiana
| before the law can be even good auxil-
iary. Miss Willard was right when she
said the supreme duty of the hour is to
! teach total abstinence. The iniquitOus gov
ernment tax in all its details should be re-
moved In toto. Ii began as a war tax,
when everything had TO be taxed: il is con-
tinued in violation of every sound principle
of political economy. 1t IS little less than
Infamous in every detail. but chiefly in
that its receipts come from poor men, at
the expense of home comforts in the fam
| lily. The cost of liquors never can ma
terially lessen the quantity drunk 1t is
supremely Infamous In so much il seeks
20 derive revenue from vice. There Is no
| crime against society that might not as
ha licensed a of -