Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1903-11-18
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LOCAL OPTION IN X

LOCAL OPTION IN TEXAS.
Those extreme prohibitionists, who
have refused to accept local option OF
ANYTHING else short of state prohibl-
ton as worthy of their advocacy, have
an instructive object lesson in the
final outcome of the local option crus-
ade in Texas, says the St. Paul Pho
neer Press. 1t is a good many years
since local option by counties was
rendered as a compromise in that
state. But the superior prosperity OF
the dry in comparison with the
wet" counties began to be at once
apparent. Nowhere has the gain to
business, alleged to accompany the
maintenance of saloons, been SO
thoroughly tested by experiment, or
so thoroughly d%isproved, as in the
Lone Star State" The natural re-
suit followed. In almost every an
nual election additional counties went
dry.
Seven years ago the "drys" had
carried a majority of the counties, and
it began to look as if they would ulti-
mately carry the state. To prevent
state prohibition, the liquor dealers
organized, held a convention, and
themselves prepared legislation of a
more radically restrictive nature for
the regulation of the liquor trafflc
than any before placed on the statute
book. Strict obedience to this was
rendered as a consideration for a "let
up" in the local option crusade. But
it wal in vain. More and more coun-
ties went dry. At last reports out Of
246 counties in the state owe 200 had
gone dry. If occasionally there has
been a r%etrograde movement, it has
been only temporary, and has been
followed by larger gains for the
"drys." At last, according to a dis
patch from Galveston, the liquor
dealers have recognized the inevita-
BILE, and have entered into a com
promise" with the temperance peu-
ple-which may rather be called a
capitulation- under which they are
permitted to continue business until
Jan. 1. 1904: and after that date state
prohibition is to be enacted.
The object lesson is one which the
liquor dealers of Minnesota and the
Northwest may also study with profit.
If their fellows in Texas had chosen
10 obey, fully and implicitly, the COM
paratively mild restrictive laws, sim
liar to those of Minnesota, which were
in force in that state-had promptly
closed their saloons at the legal hour,
had refused to sell liquor to minors or
drunken men, and had maintained on
ly orderly and reputable places, it is
probable that they might have con
tinued in business. under the protec-
ton of the law, for an indefinite
period. But there. just as they do III
Minnesota, most Of them persistenely
ignored the law, with the result Of a
steadily increasing growth Of public
sentiment against the traffic
growth that has at last proved over
whelming.
There are several points, however
on uhtoh conditions In NGfnnacoto ~
verge from those in Texas, and make
the probable increase of dry" local..
ties slower here than there. In the
first place the proportion Of foreigner
to persons of native birth in the white
pOpulation-which Is practically TIL
only voting population in Texas-i'
very much smaller than in Minnesota
the number Of foreigners in 1900 beini
only III, 5s1, against 2.249.O 8 native
(a1l but 2S9.326 o. whom we're born o
native parents); while In Minnesot
the number Of persons foreign borl
Or born Of foreign parents was 1911
256, against only 425 $50 native borI
Of native parents. Texas also has
negro population Of 622.041, so man
Of whom seemed predisposed to in
dulge In liquor that 1t vas absolutel
indispensable to the industrial welfar
OF many counties in the state that a.
cess to liquor should be denied. III
necessity Of keeping the negro labo'
ers sober has been q powerful incel
tive to the closing Of the saloons
incentive which is lacking in Il
north.
The suppression Of the salo.