The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-05-10

visited these two evils are tolerated
and even Winked at and encouraged by
a considerable number Of so-called re-
! spectacle citizens. If the saloon is q
necessary evil. then so also are the
gambling and prostitution, for they are
! inevitable in saloon community Iney
are the principal concomitants of intem-
perance, and the citizens to be consist
ent should license all three evils.
But in Kansas God bless the name Of
KansasD we do not believe that the sa-
loon is a necessary. evil We do not be-
lieve in license. We do not believe that
! license is restriction, for it doesn't re-
strict las I shall show presently)- It IS
surrender It is compromise. Il IS
| partnership with hell
As TO the second and third arguments
/ for license, that saloOnlsts and citizens
would join hands to enforce the law and
| keep out the jOintists and boOtleggers, IN
order that the saloon keepers might have
4 a monopoly of the liquor trade, and the
/ citizens a monopoly of the revenue, the
/ theiry seems somewhat plausible ana
I certainly quite beautiful, but If any one
| here, or elsewhere, knows of single
city on earth where it works out in
actual practice I challenge him to name
/ the city and TO produce the proof
FEDERAL RECORDS.
If the federal records in the various
internal revenue offices scattered
! throughout the country show a large
! number of liquor receipt holders for
any one city in excess of those au-
/ thorized by city or state law to hold
! receipts and if there are but few or
/ not anV duplicates or repetitiOnS among
( these names, it is indicative of exten-
/ sive laWlessneSs in that city If On
! the contrary, there are many names re-
peated among this surplus of names.
or if there is no surplus OF names above
! those authorized to hold receipts, it in
| dicates that an earnest attempt is be-
| ing made to enforce the law.
Guided by this rule, the records show
that the license laws in all the cities IN
which 1 have made investigation are
shamefully violated and trampled under
foot, as the following facts win prove
Decatur, ILL.,, city of 600 people,
contains: Licensed saloons, 55 drug
stores, Is; total number entitled to hold
federal liquor receipts 20; but the total
number of persons actually holding re-
ceipts is 102; hence the probable num-
Der Of joints in Decatur is the difference
between 20 and 102, or %.
And in addition / found that the city
officers were licensing at least nine
large gambling houses and five noto-
! rious -- houses, and that at the
/ instance of small law enforcement
committee, fighting against tremendous
odds, the mayor of the city, c. F.
Schilling, was under Indictment for per
Initung these corrupt places ITO run
just where Topeka7s mayor Albert
Parker, who sits complacently in his
Office in this building while the joints
and gambling dens Of this city run wide
open, just where he should be-not only
indicted, but convicted and placed be-
hind bars, where the other criminals
belong, whom he protects and who are
no worse than he. If this be treason. it
is the privilege of the mayor of this
| city to make the most of it,
Springfield, the capital city of Illinois,
the population of which is almost ex-
actly that of Topeka, contains 148 sa-
+ | looms, 10 wholesale houses, q drug
stores; total number entitled to hold
= federal receipts, 179; total number OF
receipts issued to Springfield, 251, or z
5 more than there are saloons, wholesale
17ra r4r.rrr-
person in every 143 of the population Is
a liquor seller And the city contains
besides over 100 disreputable houses and
scores of gambling dens
Lincoln, Nebraska's capital city. has
> high license Systen-42 saloons, eacn
paying 1000 annually. The federal rec
> ords show that there are 3S joints in the
: city and gambling, prostitution and
nightly holdups and robberies are com
. mon.
: Los Angeles, California, contains 200
saloons, 80 wholesale houses and 43
nquor-selllng restaurants; and over and
above this number, there are. according
f to the federal records. IA joints in that
, city.
Denver, so-called law enforcement
t saloon city, is so infested with gamblers,
prostitutes, dive-keepers and plug-uglies
I Of every description that the citizens
have been compelled within the past five
t months to appoint a vigilance commit
= tee from their own number to guard
: the lives and property of the people.
, DEPRAVED CONDITIONS IN. LEAV-
} ENWORTH
These cities are all in license sta ties
r Let us come little nearer home. The
SCdom OF Kansas, whose license system
his satanic majesty would probably call
a model one. is over in Leavenworth
) county This city contains 12O licensed
saloons, yet there are 224 federal liquor
receipts issued to its citizens, that is
5 to say, 104 more than there are saloons.
She has so licensed gambling houses and
r last number is over so lower than the
} I lowest estimate of her most conservative
citizen One person out of every "a
OF her population is a hquOr-sel or
r one out Of every 25 of her adult male
citizens. One woman in every Is in this
= SalOon-curSed city is not only fallen but
/ IS making her daily occupation, by per
! mission OF the city for a dollarS-and-
cents consideration to debauch charac-
t ter and to destroy public and private
- virtue. LeavenW0rth repudiated prohi-
r bition as fanatical and visionary
scheme of controlling the liquor traffic
She brands prohibition as an impudeni
S fraud. But is she making more of a sue
cess Of license2 The rOttenness of the
. / city is a stencil in the nOstrils of the
Y state. Leavenworth is a disgrace -tc
> every self-respeeting man and woman
in Kansas, from chief executive down rC
f humblest citizen.
i ATCHISON IS WICKED.
f Up in the northeastern corner of the
t state, a few miles north of Leaven-
! worth is a self-righteous city which
4 points with Pharisaical arrogance t.
r her model license system. In March o
= the present year, she had "a saloons anf
0 II drug stores, and I was assured posi-
= lively by her courteous chief of police
= and by some of her good citizens tina
i not to exceed SO persons were holders O
- federal liquor receipts. But the mex
= day when / was in Leavenworth
: found by a careful study of the fedora
e | records that, not so, but SO was thl
e number of receipts which had been is
Z sued in Atchison since July l. 1901
= Moreover. the city is loaded almost {,
the breaking point with debt, and he
rate of taxation is the highest of an
n of the large cities of the state
$ And this last statement leads me {,
2