The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-20
APPELLATE COURT.
THE LIQUOR LAWS.
A Veteran Observer Tells why They
Are Not Enforced.

To the Editor of the indianapolis Journal:
In discussing this question we shall be
honest and candid, telling the truth, and
nothing but the truth. though it may be
needlessly painful in some cases to tell
the whole truth. We find no difficulty in
enforcing the laws against larceny for the
simple reason that a majority of the peo-
pie not thieves. neither they in
collision with thieves, profiting by the vio-
Iation of the rights of property. The very
small boy who steals bit of brass, worth
a nickel, or the bigger boy who steals
wheel, or the man who steals horse, is
promptly arrested If caught in the act,
but, If not so caught. experienced detectives
are put on his track, often at great ex-
pense, and all because the people are nelth-
er thieves the accomplices of thieves
To one whose observations OF the drink
habit spans more than three-quarters Of
century the outlook of to-day is not,
however, altogether discouraging. Three
quarters of a century ago, we were q ma
ton of drunkards The popular thought of
the period was that whisky and its near
OF kin were as necessary for health and
happiness as food, and everybody, with
here and there rare exception, drank
The only standard of limitation was suffi-
cient self-control to retain the power of
locomotion. and everybody sold il who
could prove sufficiently good moral char
acter to be intrusted with the business,
and no charge was made for the license
except enough to cover the necessary fees
for making out the papers. 1t would be
impossible to exaggerate the poverty and
wretchednesS and crime this habit engen-
dered. There is nothing like ii now except
in the SUM quarters of great cities. A
decade later men and women began to
cease the habit of drinking and in another
decade a wave of reform had so swept
over the land that drunkards were rare
and social and domestic drinking in cuI-
tured society was rare, and men and
women OF every rank Joined hands in re-
forming those who had acquired the habit
OF drinking and in preserving the young
from the vice. There seemed TO be but one
impeachment in the way of social purity,
and that was the saloon. The people were
in frame of mind in many places, to
forbid it's existence, and to enforce their
prohibition. There was no difficulty in
enforcing prohibition in any community in
which the majority We're non-drinkers.
This was the social condition when the
civil war came. That at once suspended
all special efforts in the cause of tenn
perance at home, and played havoc with
1t in the army. Though, in accord with
the prevailing opinion of the period Con-
gress so amended army regulations that
the daily ration of whisky to enlisted men
was discontinued when the flower of the
young men entered the army, officers still
had access to ii, and many who had been
conspicuous at home in the temperance
work became drunkards and returned home
moral wrecks, several chaplains barely es-
Gaping ruin. What with the suspension of
temperance work at home and this intro
uuctlOH OF Drinking ndDtS IN the social
stratum which these army officers occu-
pied. a of social and saloon dram
drinking was inaugurated. which has grown
to the extent that total abstainer in any
rank of society is now the exception in
stead of the rule. as il was when the war
began. Not only do men drink at home,
but they patronize the saloon. For a while
those who could afford il patronized the
bars in the principal hotels, but this was
expensive, hence they dubbed together TO
furnish private bars at their club rooms
which. being operated without license and
at prime cost TO members OF the club. made
Indulgence much cheaper. Only few
have any idea of how many of the club
rooms. with club bars. are maintained in
| even such a city as Indianapolis. for in
| stance, and they OF every conceivable
rank. from the gilded palace, with its
sumptuous lunch at fancy prices to the
'joint." with its cheap free lunch and
would il surprise the unsophisticated to
see how many of these club men are con-
| spicuous in the most fashionable churches
| in the city. and some of the women's clubs
are not without liquid refreshments OF an
| intoxicating kind at club entertainments
This IS the social condition we have to
| expect when we undertake TO enforce the
| liquor laws. The police dare not hold the
| unlicensed Joint" to account lest the
| .joint" manager compels them to take
| knowledge of the unlicensed club room so
| literally patronized by religious % people,
while these approve the leniency the police
| show their near of kin. the Joint" Now.
when we come to count votes. these club
l the LIQUOR law vastly outnumber