The daily sentinel., 1907-11-12
HOW THE TOWN
BECAME DRY"
Managing Editor Of the Denver News Tells OF
the Interesting Battle IN BrmiDghsm, the
Pittsburs of the South. Corporations on one
Side. Labor on Obher-.-f Liquor Dealers are
Wise in Colorado Prohibition Improbable.

, portant reason of all was that the
saloonkeepers had worn out the pa
thence Of tne public. The saloon
keepers had defied regulation. and
the public absolutely refused to per-
init unregulated liquor traffic. The
logical result was prohibition.
And It was both curious and in
structive to watch the lineup for
drought and wet weather. The two
biggest corporations In Birmingham.
the Tennessee Coal and Iron COM
pahy and the Southern company,
both entered the lists in behalf of
liquor. The labor unions went In on
the other side. The companies claim
led that they could not get good me-
chanics to come to a town where
their liberties were curtailed. The
workingmen answered that this was
much too thin a blind. The compan-
les wanted liquor because only the
men who drank liquor, and too much
liquor, would patronize the company
store. The sober workers could keep
away from that engine of extortion,
and did 1t. The men who lost a
days pay each week getting over a
headache went to the company store
for the same reason that the boy
stood on the burning deck-there
was no other place to go. That was
the way the unions put it; and their
contention was supported by the fact
that the Independent operators who
employ skilled labor but kept no
truck stores. were out for prohibi-
tion.
Well. 1t was beautiful f,et, and
the "drys" won hands down. I'VE
IL try 1t SPELL" said one old citi-
zen. "If 1t doesn't work after we've
given 1t fair trial. we can always
change. But the saloons can't run
this town"
And there is the thing that seems
to the News to be of most interest
to Colorado.
We are not prepared to indorse
prohibition ourselves. We think
there are many objections to 1t which
have seldom received fair consider
alton. But we can readily imagine a
condition in which we would accept
evils, and we believe, 5,.cTe is an ele-
ment of the liquor dealers of Den
i-er who are steadily, though uncon-
sciously. bringing that condition
about.
Colorado is mighty nearly ripe for
prohibition movement. II the IL
OF that movement Indefinitely. II
they would scrupulously obey the
law, wipe out the wine room, close
at the specified hours and ON speci-
fied days, and keep their business
out of machine politics. it could go on
till the crack of doom. Most of them,
we believe heavy majority of them.
would be glad to do this. But there
are some who want dollars. no mat
ter how dirty, and these have secur-
ed a political pull that enables them
to force their decent brethren into
lawlessness. And the lawlessness
will have to end mighty quickly or
1t will be ended by a wave of indig-
nation that will wipe out lawless and
lawful saloons together.
Mayor Speer and Governor Buch-
tel are permitting their saloon GRO
MES to reap rich after-midntght
and Sunday harvest now. But the
price of gathering that harvest may
be the loss of the chance to do even
a lawful business.
For, depend on 1t. in the long run
no American city is going to be gov
erned by any group of special inter-
ests; and of the special interests In
politics today, the liquor interest is
most open to attack.