The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-04-04
EHE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
tbs VICE OF INTEMPcRANCE

rhe Saloon, Iicensei or Unlicensed, is n
Crime Brceder-lhe Connection OF tha
Liquor Ira nic with Paurerlsm and the
Inmates of Jails and Insane A"y1ums
In one of the newspapers Of 4 pros.
porous Pennsylvania town several ar
tic!es have of late appeared urging
the people to withdraw their Opposi'
ton and permit tie licensing OF hotel
bars and saloons. The people are re
minded Of the undesirable fact thai
there Tow exists no little illicit selling
of LIQUOR, and that the peramDuiatlns
nuisance-the beer waGOn-1s every
where in evidence; and then they are
asked-which is 10 be preferred: The
fallacy here lies in the writer's taking
for granted that the coming in of tie
licensed saloon implies the banishmeni
of the speak-easy. and of the heer
wagon. which is an utterly g~roundiess
assumption. 1t might seem a~ntecedent
" probable that the licensed saloo1
would. in it's own interest. combat and
drive out illicit selling. But this eX
nectation is not realized. Almost e
has the saloon.keeper been known tt
prosecute the speak-easy. For the IL
censed saloon as we'll as the speak
easy is a transgressor of law anC
they who live in glass houses musl
not throw stones"
The question above quoted ought TO
be amended as follows: Which is to be
preferred, the speak-easy and the beer
or the speak-easy, the beer
WACO and the licensed saloon? But
49, I.ooo4 - fho sGro O,t10 Wv lnpnSp1
saloon" intimates that the disorder
and crime chargeable to drink will be
eliminated by the introduction of that
highly respectable and uniformly or
DERBY institution-the legally constltut-
ed saloon. This, the reader is assured,
is not an assumption but a fact which
can be proven any day by looking at
the court records relative to the num-
Der of criminal cases coming from il
cense and n%o-license districts respect
lively.
Under authority of an act of the
LEGISLATURE of Massachusetts, 4 few
years since, the Bureau of Statistics Oh
Labor made an investigation of the
relations Of the liquor traffic to crime,
pauperism and insanity. At the time
of this investigation about One-half the
population of the State had licensed
saloons. the other half being residents
of cities or towns or townships where
the licensed saloon had been voted out
under the provisions Of a local op-
ton Law.
The report of the Bureau shows that
in the license cities and towns the ar
rests for drunkenness were 1924 for
every 1000 Of population, while in the
%no-license cities and towns there WeEe
0.94 such arrests for every 1000 OF
population. Arrests for Offenses other
than drunkenness were 22.34 per thou
sand in license cities and towns. while
in n%o-licensed cities and towns such
arrests amounted to but 1926 for every
thousand of population.
In the face of such results. from an
investigation that was official, unDl-
ased. thorough and Statewide, little
credence or influence can be given
the haphazard assertion that the court
records of any Pennsylvania county
show that more criminal cases orig
mate in no license than III license dis
trictS.
From the same report we learn that
during the twelve months covered by
the investigation and in the entire
State. out of all convictions for crime
&C in every 100 were for drunkenness.
In SO cases out of every 100 convicted
of various crimes the offenders were
under the influence Of liquor when Ike
crime was committed. And, eXciud.
ing minors, out Of every 100 persons
convicted of crime 06.44 per cent. were
addicted to drink.
Surely the man who describes alco-
hol rs Satan in solution does not
shoot wide Of the mark, and it matters
not as to results whether the drink is
procured in a gilded, palatial saloon
or in q f~oul-smelling joint.
John Wesley, when declaring that
liquor vendors are "p%oisoners general
did not add unless regularly licensed
Presbyterian Banner.