The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-15
ALCOHOL COSTS
CITY $500, 900
Confined from Page ~

drinks, the s9Ioonkeeper will realize IA
cents per drink for his whisky. Saving
ne gets but eighty drinks out OF a gal
ION, his return will be $1120 a gallon.
out or that~Will have to come the cost
or the settler, soda, ginger ale. cider
ana mineral water he gives his Gus
toners free ION the side as we'll as the
cost OF the lemons, sugar. cordials and
other done that he puts into mixed
. drinks, which the modernized tastes OF
many REQUIRE. Allowing for all this
generosity on his part. it is fair TO say
! that his gross return from every gallon
of whisky sold at retail is $40
Expenses of Proprietor.
Now as to expense. II is a difficult
matter TO strike an average here. for it
rs ike undertaking 10 equaIize Things
mat are not equal and that persist in
remaining unequal. One saloonkeeper
pays $50 month rent and runs the
place with the assistance of another
man who receives anywhere from $50
TO $50 a month and board, or $50 10 $50
month without board, and he is his
own barkeeper most Of the time. AR.
other pays $50 or $500 month hires
from two to five eartenders at salaries
ranging from $50 TO SIPS month. Take.
Tor instance, place where three bar
tenders are employed, and the expense
would be substantially as follows:
Three bartenders at $50, $50 and S1OO
a month, total of $40 a month. or 81. :
$50 year; rent at 1925 month. 81 500
a pear; light, $500 a year; heat. $500 a
year; porters. $1,000 year; lunch, in
surance, ETC., SEQ a year. Total 81. $50
year. $685. a month of twenty-six
days; or $25.57 a day. To get his money
hack he hax~a m
sale of sixty-six and one-half gallons
OF whisky, and ne is still out the price
OF the whisky, 81 a gallon, a total OF
SZo6. This amount added to the month
iy expense makes 1891 month. or $35. so
day, counting out Sundays. In order
to meet his expenses and put in sixty
six and one-half gallons of whisky to
take the place Of that sold, he must sell
an additional 26.6 gallons of the red
liquor, or total during the month of
93.1 gallons.
Gets Profit in Cigars.
A barrel of whisky, if well aged. viii
nave Shrunk TO thirty-six gallons by the
time 1t gets into the hands of the re-
taller, and if he abstains from adding
water to increase the quantity, he will
have TO sell 2.5S barrels during the
month before he gets onto the profit
side Of his ledger. if he keeps one.
Of course ne viii sell beer. wines,
brandies, cigars and other goods usual
ly kept in a wet grocery, so that il is
not absolutely essential for him, should
his running expenses aggregate 1865 a
month, or $3.50 year, to sell a little
over two and a half barrels of whisky
a month in order to pay expenses. He
makes a good profit on beer and cigars,
especially on the latter, as it is Gus
tOmary to sell smaller sizes of faVorite
brands in saloons for the same money
than are sold by retail cigar dealers.
Manufacturers make special sizes for
the saloon trade of their best smokers.
II is said that the saloon that does
not average receipts of $50 is rare
among those that make a pretense of
being first class, so that such a saloon
as referred to in the estimates given is
not hard to find. The $3.50 required
TO be taken in daily before a profit
would begin TO accrue is usually in the
cash drawer by noon or early in the
afternoon.
Money Made by Crime.
But there are saloons on side streets
and I'm remote parts of the city where
the trade runs to big glasses of beer,
and there are many can rushers and
customers who buy their booze" in
TASKS and bottles that do not average
$50 a day But aside from the $1,000
year license they must pay their ex-
penses are small for rent, light, heat.
help, etc. Still they e0ntrive TO make
money by opening early in the morning
and closing late at night or remaining
open all night. Some few add TO their
receipts by standing in" on a robbery
now and then. after the victim has
Hoia 1nra1 mako the
rolling Of him safe Then again some
and their barkeeps are
with the dice box and ex-
pert with cards and by doing an occa-
sional sleight-of-hand stunt when their
victim isn't locking cCntrive 10 pick
up man an honest dollar during the
year.