The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-12-04

: llquO business. That 1t does lessor
! the sale of Intoxicating liquors /,
7 never disputed. Why are the brewer,
} and distillers fighting every inch Of tn,
{ ground il Local Option does not de
crease or abolish the sale Of intoxicat
ing liquors? They will pay high lie.
I ences and smile. But they Immediately
, begin to talk compromise and regula.
ton when Local Option is mentioned
The argument that Local Option doe.
not prohibit must come from some one
else than the liquor forces before II
can have any weight.
We would here quote from an au-
thority upon this subject, Governor
Hoch, Of Kansas, whose broad and
practical experience in this matter Is
worthy of the most profound consider
alton.
Abiding to Kansas City he says:
I'VE are located on the border, only
an invisible line separating us from
Kansas City, Mo. The city ranks fifth
in the list of manufacturing cities of
he United States.
zone year ago therew as 256 saloons
in this county, 200 gambling dens and
about so houses of social evil. Today
there is not a saloon, no open gambling
den, nor a disorderly house. 1t is the
largest city in the world without these
dens of vice, and as we have now
existed about twelve months without
them, it affords a living example of the
fact that a large city can grow and
prosper without social evil. f
"At the commencement of the con-
test a large number Of our people
thought it would ruin business and
destroy u prosperity, but 1t has sti-
mulated business in all lines.
"Our population has increased at a
greater rate than ever before.
"The deposits of the banks have
gained by one and one-half million
dollars.
THE merchants upon our streets
have had to employ additional clerks.
"The attendance in our public
schools has increased largely, and we
have had to employ eighteen addi-
tional teachers. The teachers inform
us that this increase is largely of boys
Il onH ri - Eof fror,o 4 q 10 4 q -
age, who prior to the closing of the
saloons were compelled to assist in
supporting the family, by reason of
the father spending his wages for
drink. MI
"The charitable institutions report a
reduction of more than two-thirds in
the demand for aid. The juvenile
court, which has the care of dependent
children, has had two applications in
the past eight months, while prior to
the closing of the joints from eight to
SS children required aid and assistance
each month.
prior to the closing of the joints,
we sent from Is to Is young men to the
reformatory every year. In the twelve
months since closing we have sent but
two.
"'The expenses for prosecuting Grim
inals have been reduced $4,000 per
annum Expenses for the police force
have been reduced as much more.
"For the first time in 25 years the /
common pleas of the county opened it's !
term the first Monday in May without
a criminal case.
The city courts, created for the ex-
press purpose of trying petty suits, for
the collection of rents and grocery
bills, and formerly crowded with a |
black docket every day, have now prac-
tically no business, for the reason that
people are paying their bills instead of
being sued for them.
"a year ago this city was trying to
devise ways and means to spare the
money to build additions to our city
jails. Today the doors of the jails
wing idly upon their hinges a.i We
no use for those we have"
The Local Option Club is not
in favor of midnight closing
by any means. If the bust
ness is right and legitimate then it
should be treated as any other mer-
camille business. 1t has no reason to
expect any favors that are not granted
to the grocery or the barber shops for
example. If they keep open only for
ten or twelve hours, then there is no
eason why the saloon should be grant
ed the liberty of running at least
twice as long in order to get the money
from the citizen that ought to be spent
in a more uplifting and helpful cause.
Flour, sugar and beef steak are neces-
sary for sustinence. They keep body
and soul together. Clothes protect
from the sharp blasts of winter. The
laboring man and the professional
are able to get these things at
respectable hours. Liquor, which
someone has we'll called distilled
tends to keep proper
nourishment from the system and