The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-12-29

the year 1000 in the Shreveport bank
Of the princely sum of $4,8zS.5o15I,
have been possible with the saloons ant
the dives and the gros whose re
cepts aggregating an amt conserv
atlvely estimated at from fhree-quarter
10 a million dollars during the same pc
rod Of time principally from the wage
Garner and the class not engaged ii
| banking. i'll financial ventures and i'll tn,
| professions. how much greater would BE-
these deposits if the money squandereC
for beer and intoXicants were spent il
! stores and shops for the necessities. i
net the luxurics of life?
but, reply the antis, much of those
! deposits come from the saloons. Grant
ed, yet if there were no saloons AM
dives and groggeries to absorb the wage
Cf the working classes and the classes
who are not capitalists and bankers. the
deposits i'll the banks and the general
conditions would be bettered in every
respect. as there would be less poverty
and less crime and more prosperity d-
vcrsitied in broader channels of useful
ness and happiness.
tld these gentlemen would have. il
they could, the people believe that the
saloon. as a revenue producer, should
be encouraged for the reason that pro
hlbltlon means for lis 'either an increase
III our taxes or a retrenchment i'll our
expenditures. which is a sordid view,
suggested in sense Of covetousness,
and which is not sustained where pro-
hlbition is being tested fairly and fear
lesslv.
The purpose of this article is not es-
sential to the discussion of the revenue
problem. which may be settled by the
rule applied in all commercial affairs
not connected with municipality.
1t may be remarked indirectly that if
the principle which governs commercial
transactions were applied to the affairs
of the municipality there would seldom
if ever be what is called a deficit Each
and every department would be made
selfsustaining. and if this were impos-
sible or impracticable. it would be
abolished or consolidated with some
other department.
In the careful and economical admin
lstratlon of the affairs Of municipality
there should be no losses or discredits
which a commercial firm or a bank
would tolerate
In support of their contention the
pleaders fer revenue cite the report of
the grand Jury of November I, 1905, of
which w. F. Taylor was foreman, i'll
which it is stated that from our point
of view, after serving six months as
grand jurors, we believe possibly the
greatest evil, constantly at work and
growing, is the secret sale of whiskey
by few white men and large number
of negroes, together with the bold and
hagrant violations of the law in the sale
of whiskey and beer under another
name such as electric bitters. health
tonic 'maltine,' 'invigorator,' etc,
throughout the country wards, all of
which means, eventually, besides other
evil consequences, the decentralization
aud ruin of our already Inefficient
labor. -
The antis could not have presented
facts more convincing in the interest of
prohibition, which apply iarcefully to
Shreveport, which is the ht-of the par
ish. 81
The ants in their Appeal to Reason
and Common Sense quote from a re-
port of the grand jury made and flea on
May 10 of the present year, through
Mr. T. R. Lawhon, foreman, ''the vio-
lations of the prohibition laws of the
parish have been numerous and persist
emf. AS in the case of violations of the
Sunday law, it is very difficult to secure
sufficient evidence to return i'll all cases
where we have felt that the laws have
been violated
These are stubborn facts which no in
telligent and unbiased citizen will at
tempt to contra dict. but these facts en-
pfasize the necessity for the elimination
Df the saloons, the dives and the grog-
geries and the agencies through which
he law is violated or disregarded with
mpunity.
The gentlemen who have subscribed
o the pleadings in their appeal to- rea-
son and common sense, should be re-
minded that in Shreveport during a Sc
les of years the Sunday law was treat
ID with spiteful contempt by the saloons
md the keepers of dives and groggeries |
who were associated and banded to-
yether i'll mutual protection not only |
lid these viOlators of the Sunday law !,
rave the assurance of immunity from
,hief of police, deceased. who was
Il full sympathy with them but