The Tucson citizen., 1902-09-30

purpose of the suggestions that follow,
that we are agreed that the saloon, or
at least certain saloons, are injurious
in their effect upon the morals Of Tue
son, and that they are productive of
dissipation, extravaganza and crime
Will assume that the editors of the
thlec papers, and the great mass of
the people of Tucson are honestly de-
siTOus of restricting the evil as far as
possible. There are two ways in which
We can attack the liquor traffic: one
by prohibiting it entirely; the other,
so to speak, by ''hobbling it." In
spite of the unanimous agreement of
the three papers that have men
toned, it seems that neither they nor
the majority of the people are yet
ready to prohibit the liquor traffic. To
prohibit it would seem to be the logical
conclusion. for the traffic is either
right or it is wrong. If it is right, we
should not even hobble it by taxing
those engaged in it more highly than
! we do those in other business, or by in
terfering with it in any way. If it is
wrong. it should not exist. But, since
all will not follow the conclusion with
their votes to prohibit this traffic beg
to be heard with some suggestions for
the consideration of the voters as to
the expediency [ this proposed method
to ''hobble" tin l1auor traffic.
J 1t is contended that by the imposi-
! tion of high License the city will wipe
out ''the dives aud irresponsible sa-
K ons." Thai means. without ques-
tion, that it puts monopoly in the
hands of few saloons. and gives to
them greater business 1t would seem
to me that there are very few persons
who will not assent to the conclusion
that the brilliantly lighted gambling
| houses. with their fancy bars and un-
| limited supplies of drinks, with their
rag-time music and their crowds, do
| far more damage to this community.
in the way of attracting men to drink
and to gamble. and to other vices,
than do the less pretentious places.
/ The monopoly that the high license
will give in Tucson will operate, as it
has operated wherever it has been
tried, to furnish. the few saloons with
the greater means to put in plate
glass mirrors. beautiful chandeliers
and gaudy and sometimes indecent pic
lures. more comfortable chairs AMI
greater attractions That the dives
are more productive of crime in the
city of Tucson than are these brilliant
ly lighted '..f1rst-class saloons is some-
thing that the voters had better invas-
tigate before reaching that conclusion.
The whisky that is drunken in 'the
/ n ~ Ol-a
more Quarrelsome than the whisky
that is drunken under an arc lamp out
of cut-glass. to the tune of a hard
, thumped piano, and the murders and
affrays that have core to my attention
since I have been III this Territory
more frequently occurred in the 'flrst.
class saloons than in ''the dives" AS
to the "booZe," which sends men reel
ing down the streets, it sends them
reeling more often from a crowded sa-
| loon than it does from the one with
only few patrons. A fifteen-minutes
walk after 10 o'clock at night among
! the saloons of Tucson will show any
one that the crowds are in the saloons
that will still be doing business after
| high license goes into effect | do not
need to mention the broken purses and
broken hearts, and even suicides that
have followed from few nights of
gambling in our 'first-class saloons. -
To cite facts on this question would
be only to abuse the courtesy of the
editor in granting space for this COM
munication.
Perhaps a more important situation
produced in city by high license on
the saloon business is the tremendous
grip it gives the liquor dealers in mu-
nicipal legislation We all know that
the man who can go before the city
council and say: Gentlemen, am one
Of the heaviest tax payers there is in
the community. and | am backed in
the representation I am about to make
by number of others of the heaviest
tax payers in this community. and we
want you to do so and So" is a man
to whom the council will surely listen.
Furthermore, high license brings in
very large revenues to the city treas
ury. After the city has accustomed
itself for few years to this large rev.
enue. the saloon keepers point to the
schools and say: eve support those
schools" The other tax payers become
timid. They fear to attack the saloon
business. lest, If the saloon business
be crippled, the taxes of the rest of the
community will be raised. A high
license puts the whole community into
a form of partnership with the liquor
traffic, making it a sharer of the
profits of the business, and giving not
only an undue but an almost dictate
rial power to the group of saloon keep
ers who pay these high licenses, and
contribute so much to the support of
the city. To dislodge the saloon where
it is protected by a high license, and
even to pass an ordinance compelling
it to close for few hours at night or
on Sundays, or on other holidays, or
to pass an ordinance restricting it in
any reasonable way, becomes almost
an impossibility when once the organ
ization of saloon keepers, behind It's
breastwork of high license and big