The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-04-20

!
In the house of the righteous is much
trea but in the revenues of the wick
ed is troubIe-Proverbs 1916.
The assertion is frequently made by
liberals that a town in which the
public can not buy liquor is greatly
Handicapped; that people will go else
where to trade and that the town will
not progress. 1t is argued that the
only way to have a live, growing town
is to make it "wide-open," license sa-
looms, and keep something doing.
AS bearing on this argument, the
Wichita Beacon publishes the follow
ing paragraph:
"A few years ago people quarrelled
as to whether Manhattan or Junction
City was to be the best town in that
portion of Kansas. Manhattan was a
quiet little village of 5000 people;
junction City was rip-snorting town
OF 1000 population. Manhattan re-
FUSED to allow liquor to be sold. juno
ton City was wide OPEN People said.
the farmers will trade in Junction
City, where they can get a drink
Manhattan said, Wen give them bar
gains in business, but no drink juno
ton City laughed at Manhattan and
said, Come on in to Junction City and
have high old time So they went
along that way. Today Manhattan is
town of nearly 5000 people, with
clean windows, nice sidewalks and a
good breath. Junction City is smaller,
has poor sidewalks. fly specks on the
windows and smells bad. Men still go
to Manhattan to buy goods and get
bargains; they go to Junction City to
puy goods, and get drunk"
The comparison made by the Bea-
con is on startling that the writer here
OF looked up the exact figureG in or
der to verify them Truth compels
the statement that Beacon statistics
with reference to the present popu-
lation of Manhattan are somewhat ex-
cessive, but the figures bear out the
Beacon's point in a striking manner.
According to the census of 1895. juno
City had a population of 4,769; in 1905
it had 5,262. Manhattan, in 1895, had
only 1850; in 1906 it had 1885, and this
spring will probably show a consider
able further gain. In those eleven
years Junction City increased only 493,
While in the same time Manhattan
gained 1926. Manhattan increased 43
per cent, ard Junction City only 10 per
cent.
Junction City. however, is by no
means as poor town as the Beacon's
paragraph would Indicate 1t has live.
progressive business men who have
built up their city. 1t has grown in
spite of its saloons instead of because
of them. Manhattan, however, has
gone ahead much faster People have
been attracted there by its cleanliness
and freedom from vice.
But the time has come when juno
ton City must close its saloons, and
in few years it's people will be glad
of it.. Heretofore they have gone on
the theory that saloons were needed
to attract the soldiers from Fort Ri
ley, and that it is necessary to get the
soldiers drunk in order to make them
spend their money. The trouble has
been that in such cases too much of
the soldiers money goes into the sa-
looms. The business men will discover
that with the saloons abolished the
soldiers will have more money to spend
In legitimate lines of trade. The same is
true of working men and farmers who
ge there
Another city that has not been help
ed by open saloons is Leavenworth |
In 1895 it had a population of 20 1922 |
Ten years later it had 90 9S4. 1t not |
only did not gain from the outside |
but it lost much of the natural gain |
from births.
To be sure, some cities have grown |
and have had saloons at the same |
time. Wichita has, for instance 1t |
1905. But the opening of Oklahoma |
and the natural prosperity of that sec
ton were responsible for it's increase in |
size. 1t grew up spite of its saloons |
rather than because of them.