The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-31
PUBLIC HOUSE TRUSTS.
How the Model" Saloon Has Work.
 ed in England.

Social reformers, particularly those of the temperance variety please take mo- tice. Dr. w. H. Holman and his party of sociological explorers from the Ameri- can Institute for Social Service have just come back with grist of new ideas with which those interested in the various phases of social reform can experiment on this side of the water. One of the most interesting of these Is a sort of public house trust which exists in places in England and Scotland. and appears to have its headquarters in the Dunferm- line colliery district, chiefly known to Americans as having been the birthplace of MT. Carnegie of Pittsburg and as the -place that has been about his largest beneficiary and where he has recently purchased a fine estate which he means to make his home.
 Hence the public house trust, which es- tablishes saloons in the heart of hard working. hard drinking districts. And when MT. Sherwell says saloons he means saloons, no Squirrel Inns, but saloons of the warm, brightly lighted corner variety, with rows of bottles, the bar and the bar keep-places where they sell whiskey, rum, gin, beers, ales-whatever particu- lar form of strong water a mans taste may incline to. A man can buy any one of these in a public house trust saloon. but he Is not encouraged to do so. And the saloon keeper Is not encouraged to sell intoxicants to a man who has had enough" Neither is he permitted to sell to children under any circumstances. The man who wants strong liquor-and beer is regarded as strong liquor there-must come for it himself.
 The trust saloon keeper keeps. be- side all sorts of strong drink. which he sells, on demand, all sorts of soft drinks, tea, coffee, pop, root beer, ginger ale, etc. And the organization allows him pre- mium on all the soft drinks that he sells. It is an object to him to sell non-intoxt- cants, to persuade his customers that that is what they want. Not only Is there a premium on soft drinks. but there is no profit on the hard drinks. He Is not allowed to make penny by the sale of intoxicants. The proceeds from such sale go back to the people. In one place they hire a trained nurse who goes from house to house ministering wherever she is most needed with the profits on alco- holic drinks. In another they have bought and equipped an ambulance. In another they have established a library or read ing room. In another they maintain a playground for the children and on.
 Mrs. Holman, who went with pr. Tol- man, acting as his secretary, explains the working of the system thoroughly. Tt
 was in Dunfermline that we saw most of this type of saloon. though they do exist in other places in Scotland and Eng
 land. It is a' colliery district, you know; district of hard and exhausting labor.
 where too many of the men when they drew their pay Saturday would go to one of the old type public houses and drink themselves Sodden, and by Mon day. with the whole week before them, find themselves penniless and their fam flies destitute. Then they began to estab- fish these saloons. Where they could they bought out existing public houses
 Often they could not, for owners de- manded such exorbitant prices. And in such cases they simply established them selves near by. Often they have forced the man who would not sell out of busi- ness.
 These places are not in the hands of municipal authorities. They have no municipal backing. They are run by private organization which calls itself the Peoples Protective Refreshment As sociation, or words to that effect; but it Is better known as the Public House Trust. Of course. they have the good will of the authorities. No attempt is made to furnish them elaborately; to give the people something much finer than they are accustomed to. That has been tried and 1t has been found that it does not work. They don't like it. They are not at home in it. And they fight shy of it. They are used to bare. wooden floors and tables of bare boards, some times laid across trestles, sometimes cheap deal tables. and to long, bare wood- en benches. The trust publicS' are fur nshed in the same way. They are clean, but not luxurious. Only in one case did I see any attempt at making what we would call dainty or inviting quarters; it
 was luxury compared to the others, but | very simple luxury at that Over there, you know women go to the public houses There is not the stigma that would at | tach here to a workingman's wife ire Quenting a saloon; perfectly respectable, wel-thought-of women do 1t.