The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-11-08
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF lNTEMPERANcE

st. Louis With h 'Ltd' Th6
the Bar Room 10 the Cause Of Drunk
enness, Disorder and CrIme-Why Men
Of the Gov. Folk Type Arc Needed.
The lid" IS on in st. Louis, or; in
other words, the executive authorities
have enforced and are enforcing the
S"-dGy closing Of saloons.
There has been a tremendous out.
cry and bitter opposition, but Cover.
nor Folk has never finched. The
lid" is on. r
Some interesting figures are given in
a recent issue of the st. Louis De-
spatch, these figures being illustrated
by diagrams which forcibly present
the facts brought out in the statistics.
The Despatch says.
-Four months have passed since
Gov. Folk clapped the lid upon the
saloons Of st. Louis. In those four
months of the Sunday closing law. the
Governors determination. to enforce
it, the sentiment Of the people for
and against the Sunday saloon, and
the lid in its various phaSes-ethical,
moral, financial and Sociological
have been a burning entity in st.
Louis, stirring the community to such
feeling of resentment and Endorsement
that 1t has overshadowed all other To-
cally public questions.
1.-The lids argument Is the record
of police arrests in st. Louis through
the period that the lid has been on,
compared. with the arrests made in
this same period through three prior
years. The figures are those Of the
police. They are unprecedented.
"They show that during the period
that the lid has been on the Sunday
behavior of the city has greatly inn
proved. Drunkenness on Sunday has
decreased thirty-eight per cent. Dis
turbances of the peace on Sunday
have decreased thirteen per cent. AS
saults with intent to kill have de-
creased fifty per cent. That Is. there
have been fifty per cent. less arrests
for assault with intent to kill, thirty
eight per cent. less arrests for drunk
enness and thirteen per cent. less
arrests for disturbance Of the peace in
the time that the lid has been on than
there were in these same four months
OF the three years previous to this,
with the lid off.
.'This is the arithmetical side Of the
lid. It could not be presented before
because the time has been insufficient
to furnish a fair comparison. -Four
months is time enough to make pos
sible a very important, and compre-
hensive test. The Sunday Post-Dis.
patch has gathered these statistics
from the police, and now publish them
for the first time"
In commenting upon this the Mis-
souri, Issue observes: .
"That these figures cover, a period OF
four years, so that the test Is very
ample. They cover three distinct lines
of police court work, drunkenness. dis
turbing the peace, and assault with in
tent to kill. In some instances
three charges may be involved in q
single arrest. but in most cases the
most serious charge is the one lodged
against the individual arrested. But
the lowest percentage Of arrests con:
nected more or less with the saloon,
that of disturbing the peace, Is thir-
teen. which speaks volumes for the
Sunday closing law" )
The Texas Advance makes a practi-
cal application Of this lesson OF law
enforcement, and says:
"The question arises. If such an I'M
mense Improvement can be. shown In
a city like st. Louis, and in so brief q
space Of time, by the mere closing OF
saloons on Sundays, what would be
the result if closed on every day OF
the week, with officers behind the clos
jnr law who would enforce 1t to the
letter? -.
"There is a growing sentiment all
over the country in favor OF a
stcinter enforcement Of law, and we
hail with delight the time when q mar
who violates any law will be looked
upon as he really is-an Anarchist.
The country is in deep need Of more
such men as Governor Folk has shown
himself to be in this matter" :
/ If such tremendous Improvement
results from Sunday closing, which is
but a partial prohibition, how much
greater would be the benefit were BAR
rooms to be abolished?
There is nothing in the St. Louis
lew to hinder men loading up" as late
rs they please on Saturday night n
taking their liquor home to continue
their debauch on Sunday, therefore,
the decrease shown in the figures
t::ven only represents a part OF the
| crime for which the bar-room is d.
rectly responsible. .,
One of the most distinct eHects
brought out in these statistics is that
the bar-room itself is the cause or
drunkenness, disorder and crime, for
the simple closing of the bar-rooms
prevents a great proportion of these
offences against law and order.
Close the bar-rooms for seven days
in the week and the result would be
even more striking.-The Pioneer.