The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-12-02
Varying VielDs Of
Prohibition II N u.
Lalu Is Enforced Where Political Sentiment De
n1ands It, but Blind Pigs Are Great
Euil IN Cities of the Interior

From Staff Correspondent. 7.
Jamestown, n. D., Dec. 2.-Is pro-
hibition failure in North Dakota9
The question is often asked, and an
swered in a good many different ways.
the location. Politicians keep at a re-
spectful distance from the prohibition
question, knowing well that :. it is
"loaded'' and likely to blow them to
atoms politically if they fool with it.
For this reason it is not likely that
prohibition will be resubmitted for
number Of years to come, and the actual
North Dakota will not be learned.
Outside the ranks Of politicians there
are many who favor resubmission, and
they are not all enemies Of prohibition.
A business man with whom | talked in
Grand Forks took the position that pro-
but on account of the vast change in
| population since the constitution was
adopted the people should have another
chance to vote on it. He said:
"The prohibitory clause in the con-
stitution was not very popular when it
was first submitted, as far as the sane
Judgment of our people was concerned.
!
our saloonmen had made fools of them
! selves, and had angered, everybody.
They had been running things with
high hand, and tried to dictate politics
to such an extent that the people were
disguised, and adopted prohibition to
settle their hash. I was opposed to pro-
hibition then, and | am not much Of a
Puritan. I take a drink occasionally,
but I believe prohibition has worked
pretty we'll the state over. It has been
a better thing in the small towns.
Workingmen in the country districts
and small places are more sober and
reliable than they used to be- It used
harvest season a rainy day or two would
result in breaking up a crew. They
would get started and take several days
for a spree. They can still get liquor,
Of course, but it is not so easy, and
there is less temptation to DRUM KEN
ness:
ought to be resubmitted, in consider
alton Of the vast majority of our vot-
ers who were not in the state at the
time of admission, and have had no
voice in the matter. I am not sure
what the outcome would be, but I be-
lieve prohibition would be approved
again.
Conditions in city like jamestown
those on the Minnesota border. At
Grand Forks, Fargo and Wahpeton the
situation is a good deal like that in
Minneapolis with the patrol limits.
They are separated from license towns
in Minnesota only by the narrow Red
only to walk across the bridge, where a
long row of saloons with open doors
welcomes him and he finds every en-
couragement to Stake his thirst. The
Fargo and Grand Forks drug stores do
very little liquor business, and most Of
them do not even take the trouble to
get permits, which allow them to sell
on physicians prescriptions.
- Many tsPigs'' in interior. !,
It is altogether different in the. in
terror towns. Here in jamestown and
in Bismarck I heard no apologists for
prohibition: A prominent business man
Of the capital city said: ..-... -, = =
There is about as much drinking
here as there would be with saloons,
and the town is full of blind pigs. The
men who get liquor in these resorts fall
victims to the association and make
pigs Of themselves, with the result that
there is great deal of drunkenness.
The worst feature, tho, is the way our
The blind piggers and boot-leggers,
| while they are breaking the law, have
no hesitation and no scruples about
/ breaking it again, and sell to boys as
> quickly as to men. It is no uncommon
sight to see boys of IA to 18 drunk on
the streets. They are developing the
worst instincts, and I hate to think
here in a few years. We are sowing
the wind.''
It is much the same story in James
town. A business man here said:
"Every train from the east brings in
big shipments of beer in cases and
by men for their own S Us but G geod
deal is sold out by piggers, who do a
good business, and sell right along to
boys. Only the other evening I heard
four boys scraping together IS cents
to get a pint of whisky, and an hour
later saw them go by hilarious
The same man declared that in COM
seat liquor was sold openly in unll-
censed saloons. The local authorities
will not do anything, and they are too
far away for the sheriff to bother with.
He cited Courtney, a village of 1000,
and Kensal, with 700 people, towns on
the 500 in the northern part Of Suits
man county, of which jamestown is
the county seat. In these towns and in
Wimbledon, another 500 town over the
line in Barnes county, it is claimed
that open saloons are running in def
ance of law. @ ~ s.-..s f.: ..s:- =. / u
The gist of the situation seems to be
that in North Dakota, as everywhere
else, the enforcement of liquor laws is
in the hands Of the local authorities. If
they are prohibitionists in sentiment,
or forced by local opinion to act, they
can keep the blind pig evil down to a
minimum. IF sentiment. is not strong
enough, the illicit liquor business flour.
ishes in the community, and it's state is
worse than under license
:. Stutsman County Politics.
, The political outlook in Stutsman
9 county is cloudy. The machine inter.
9 ests here are guarded by John Knauf
Z and Oscar Seller, aided by H. Cornwall
s the Usage Of Eldridge,O Thomas H
3 Pool, deputy bank examiner at Bis