Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-11-12
SALOONS IN suTLrR COUNTY.

xrnIct saloon petitions are being cir :
culatsd in butler county professedly in
!. the interests Of the business men, VINO
Are said to believe that saloons in their
towns will draw trade. The men cir
culating the petitions report to Waver-
IL as headquarters. Waverly is In
Bremen county, and possesses a brew
ery. Some of the business men in But
Ter county insist that the business IN
terests of their county have nothing to
do with these petitions, that the circu-
lating is done to promote one class OF
business interest in Waverly.
However this may be in Butler
county the facts are that in nine cases
4 out Of ten in other counties mulct petit
tions are circulated by the brewery in
terests, and when the saloons are es-
tablished, about one out Of three, If not
half are owned by the breweries thru
saloon holding companies. and 1t would
not be strange if the brewing business
in Butler county.
When men talk about saloons help
ing trade in their town they are mis-
calculating the situation most Woe
fully. Let any merchant ask the trav-
cling men who enter his store for one
week how their trade compares in wet
and dry towns and he will find 80 per
cent of them prefer the dry towns for
. their business. Travelling men, too,
are seldom sentimentalists when out
after orders for the house.
If saloon will help trade, why
would not more dry goods stores hard
wore, clothing or shoe stores help
trade, too? They would sell goods or
fall, and if they sold goods people
would have to come to town to buy
them. why not circulate petitions in
Butler county for more stores and ask
the business men to support the move
ment?
Suppose, now, that these petitions
succeed and each of the twelve small
towns in Butler county gets a saloon
to help trade, with, say, an extra one
in Greene, GAINESVILLE, Allison, Par
kersburg and New Hartford. Here
would be seventeen saloons Suppose
they would make the town license 5000.
The law makes the county license 5000.
Each proprietor would make $4,000 a
business is money maker for the sa-
loonist A bartender would cost $50
per month for each place. Heat 500
per year, rent not less than $25 per
month, hauling and incidentals, SIS per
month. Here is an annual operating
expense of $4,000 for each saloon fig
ured upon the lowest possible basis. II
there is 100 per cent profit liz. each
drink retailed over bar it would re-
uuire 5000 worth of drinks to be sold
by each saloon in a year to pay operat-
dng expenses or $137,0 900 worth of liquor
sold in Butler county each year DO help
bring trade to town. But some men
get rich in the saloon business. Sup
pose five out of seventeen could do so
in Butler county. Add $1,000 per year
to the profits of five saloon men, and
Butler county must buy $5O,00D more
in drinks or a conservative total of
1897 nm worth in a vaar
Now, does anyone imagine that when
the people of Butler county spend
1900, at saloons in one year, this
money will still be available to buy
shoes and groceries? The basis of
these figures assumes that half of it or
nearly 100000, will go ito the brew
ers out Of the county or out of the
state; 80 per cent to the saloon mans
profits, leaving 20 per cent operating
expenses to be distributed in the town.