Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1905-09-28
EMPORIUM PA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 1905
The Observer.

days ago of the Abandonment of the
Subway Tavern, a social experiment
the inception of which received great
deal of public attention a little more
than year ago. The Subway Tavern
was distinctly an experiment. Those
who inaugurated it were actuated by a
sincere and noble motive, and neither
they nor Bishop Potter, who gave the
experiment his endorsement, deserved
the Incorporate denunciations which
were heaped upon them The failure
of this particular experiment is very
far from proving that the objects which
it was hoped to accomplish through it
are unworthy objects.
Nine out of ten of those who so bit
terly denounced this experiment are
willing to admit, when directly con.
fronted with the question, that absolute
prohibition is impracticable, and that
we are really shut up to finding the
best practical way of keeping the sale
of liquor within reasonable bounds
When cross questioned, the critics of
the Subway Tavern concede that the
evils of drunkenness would be greatly
diminished if the custom of treating
could be abolished, if what liquor is
sold were free from aduteration, if the
laws against selling to minors and in
toxicated persons were rigidly enforc-
ed, and especially if the motive of gain
were eliminated. These critics admit
that were all tie places in the land
where liquor is sold to be conducted on
the basis of the foregoing principles,
the evils of drunkenness would be vast
ly reduced. The hope which inspired
the Subway Tavern was the ultimate
supplanting of the present way in which
the sale of liquor is conducted by new
system based on the lines indicated.
The experiment, however, has prov
ed failure. What are we to infer?
For one thing, the failure was due in
large part to the unnecessary publicity
which was given to it. 1t was loudly
heralded as an experiment. The in
habitants of the section in which it was
located knew that it was an experiment,
and they very naturally shrank from
putting themselves in the lime light
as objects of social experimentation
and of curiosity to sightseers from
up town and out of town.
The individual who now conducts
the place as an old-line saloon was
good enough to attribute the failure
to the impossibility of serving the Lord
and chasing around after the devil at
the same time. The element of truth
in this way of putting the matter is
that the project both was and was not
business proposition. It's professed
purpose was not to create and foster
demand for liquor, but merely to meet
an inevitable demand under conditions
that would insure the elimination OF
attendant aggravating evils. Had it
been the only saloon in the locality, il
might have accomplished this professed
end. But it was in competition with
old line saloons. In view of that cir.
cumstance, the very fact ofits own ex.
istence was an appeal for patronage
1t was in the inconsistent attitude OF
being at once Indifferent to and indie.
pendent of parsonage and desirous oi
and dependent upon patronage.
The experiment was conceived in the
hope of accomplishing certain results
in which all would recognize a vast inn
provement over present conditions; the
integrity of the motive ought not to be
questioned. But under the circum
stances, the experiment could not sue.
ceed. Nor is it easy to see that the
dispensing of alcoholic beverages along
the lines indicated can be successfully
accomplished except through the
agency of the State itself.