Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1903-11-12
W. c. T. u. COLUMN.
For COD, Home and Native Land.
This department Is under the management
and control OF the Belding w. G. T. u
BENEFITS OF Local Option.

4
lof taking advantage of the laws that
ALREADY stand upon the statute
books. You have objections? No
doubt. What are some of them?
% The law will be violated. With.
out doubt this is true and it is equal
~ true of state prohibition. 1t is
well 10 remember when we clamor
for more and despise what we have,
that this same objection holds against
prohibition in the state. (2) Liquor
will be sent in from other counties.
There is little doubt of this; but is it
not equally true OF the state2 There
is not one objection against
local option that cannot be raised
against state prohibition, except
that the state is larger territory
than the county and that objection
does not have much weight when
we remember that the state is about
as small in comparison with the
| United States as is the county with
the state We have law already
giving people in the county the
chance to outlaw the saloon and
there are many reasons why this
should be done.
l. 1t will decrease drunkenness
and crime.
Look at these absolutely reliable
figures. In Salem, Mass, in 1896
SO the city was under license. Dur
ing this period there were 1906 ar
rests for drunkenness. The city
was under no license part of 1896
81. Arrests for drunkenness drop
ped to 1886. This is a decrease of
nearly four hundred per cent!
Take another illustration: Pea
body, Mass, was under license in
1896. There we're 907 arrests for
drunkenness. In 1896 "a part of the
year, and 1897 the city was under no
license. Arrests for drunkenness
during this period were only IS, a
decrease of nearly fourteen hundred
per cent!
The prosecuting attorney Of Van
Buren, county, Michigan, which has
been under local option for eleven
years, says: drunkenness has fallen
of more than one-half and assault and
battery cases as much more under
local option as compared with pre-
vious periods in Van Buren, county.
This county has population Of
more than 10000 people, and the
average arrests per year from 1892
to 1895 was only Is. This speaks
for itself. In Allegan county, after
the repeal of local option, drunken
ness increased as 10 TO /.
Eaton county has voted again to
outlaw the saloon. Two years ago
the saloon men stole a march on the
temperance people and repealed the
law. What was the result? A MUIR
der trial has just been concluded
and young boy lS years old goes
to states prison for killing his
friend. The expense of this trial has
eaten up all the funds received from
saloon licenses.
2. 1t will decrease your poor fund.
In Van Buren, county during the
first two years of local option the
expense for the poor decreased 81
600 and the decrease has continued.
3. 1t will decrease your court ex-
penses.
Take Allegan county. 1n 1893 the
county was under license and the
total paid for jury and witness fees
was 4,O73, TO- In 1895 the county
was under no license and the ex.
pense for the same causes was 81 |
543,65. This was a decrease of
Sl, 0lS, 40.
In six years OF local option in Van
Buren, county In the enforcing Of the
local option law the county was
ahead 50, 1913 63 in clear money above
all the cost of prosecutions.
4. 1t will decrease Jail expenses.
Ii in Van Buren, county arrests
fell off fifty per cent it stands to
reason that the jail expense would
be that much less. This is true
everywhere. In many counties in
Kansas the jails are absolutely ten
antless.
Judge Pollack OF the Fargo cir
cult in North Dakota told the writ
er that under license there used to
be from 80 to 60 cases on the docket
every term, and at the last term of
court, with no license in force, there
were only three cases on the docket