The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1905-02-18
produce from the Pacific Church
man the following:
THE SUBWAY TAVERN

4
\ Very many of the readers of this
paper will recall the avalanche of
criticism, varied sometimes bv
somewhat coarse abuse, which.
some time since, greeted the an
nouncement of the fact that Bishop
Potter had taken part in the OPEN
Ing OF Temperance Tavern" at
the junction of Bleeker and Null
berry streets, in New York CITY.
AS churchmen understood at once.
the experiment was an attempt to
combat some of the worst features
OF the liquor traffic, simply by pro-
Vld1ng decent place in which al
cohol1c and non-alcoholic drinks
should be served together with
properly prepared and nourishine
food, and where neither the ar
rangement of the place or the inter-
ests OF its conductors invite to over
indulgence. AT the outset it was
stated that no profits were to accrue
to any one from the undertaking,
and that IN the case of all their re-
treshments only that which was
strictly trst-class would be set be-
tore patrons. To protect those to
whom the use OF alcoholic stimu-
lants were repugnant, the two sorts
OF refreshments were served in sep
arate rooms, which, while commu-
nlcating with each other, were pro-
v1ded each with its own street en-
trance; and in the department in
which the alcoholic drinks were
served, as we'll as in that in which
they were not served, every in
ducement was laid before the vis-
1tor to place the social above the
bibulous instinct,
1t IS almost exactly six months
since the Subway Tavern was start
ed, and is Of course too soon to con-
graduate ourselves upon the un-
qualified success of the experiment;
but certain facts presented edito-
rally in recent issue of the Out
look bear witness to the fact that
the institution has been of service
to the really temper ate part of the
public, as we'll as attest its value
as a weapon against over-indul-
gence. During the warmer au-
tumn months the receipts from the
bar at which no intoxicants were
sold ran as high as 500 a day, rep
resenting the serving of twelve
hundred persons with non-alco-
holic refreshments. At present
some 200 working men daily take
their lunches in the building; and
since the opening of the tavern
three saloons of a more or less
questionable character doing busi-
ness within block of it have been
obliged to close their doors. In
other words, the institution has not
only provided place of refresh
ment where those who do use them
are under inducements not to mis-
use them; it has also actually driv-
en- out Of the neighborhood three
of the old-time regular saloons in
which every effort had been made
to make men drink, and in which a
large proportion of the liquor sold
was little short of physical poison.
Whatever views, therefore. may be
held as to the sagacity of Bishop
Potter's action in lending his pres
ence to the quasi-religious ceremo-
ny with which the Subway Tavern
was opened, no advocate of temper
ance in the wider or saner sense,
can find in the history of the un-
dertaking thus far, cause for any,
thing but satisfaction. AS we have
already said, it is too early to pass
Judgment on the experiment as a
whole; but if it continues as it has
begun those who opposed it will
have to bring better arguments
than they have yet marshalled to
prove to sensible people that it is
anything but blessing.to the cou-
munity in which it has its place,
and those who emptied the vials of
their somewhat vitriolic abuse upon
the head of Bishop Potter NAV