Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1908-05-21

we are tOld ny tne aOVOcOte6 OF the
saloon that If the saloon is voted out oil
Morrow county it will stagnate business
depreciate property and drive out many
people. That if We have prohibition the
law cannot nor will not be enforced
Now statei ents are not facts, nor mere
assertion evidence anywhere What we
want to know in this discussion is the
truth. And as Patrick Henry said, "We
have no light by which we may be guild.
ed but the light of experience, and
guided by that light we must be gov
1 erned in our actions in this contest
| Waving the moral issue for few min
utes and confining ourselves 10 the less
er-the tinancia! side of the argument,
and letting our brother who dreams OF
"mills' instead of dollars dream on, we
wi pass for moment to more stupen-
dous sums.
1t is the boast OF the lIQnor traffic that
it's existence is necessary to the life and
prosperity OF nation, state and commun
! Iitv--that these could not get along with
out the revenue arising from the traffic
! Taking their own boast we quote from a
leading liquor Journal, The Champion
of Fair Pla, i" of Chicago. 1t says
THE United States government has
spent from 1863 to 1907 for its magnifi-
cent navy, $l,S92 Az $40. The liquor
trade Of the United States during the
same time paid Uncle Sam $3,540,O1l,- :
S93 What would the country do with
out that enormous revenue?' At first
| reading that amount seems large indeed
but let us look at the other side of the
led er and we may then get some sort
of concept of the situation. We shall
then see whether the government has
been a gamer or looser in this deal.
Carl ID. Wright, the great government
statistician, Gays that for every dollar
received from the liquor traffic it costs
the government $21 co.
Let us see how near right he is. Prof.
Charles j. Bushnell, Phi. D., of Wash
ington. u. c., has lately shown that the
annual cost to the United States of "ab
normal dependents" is S50O,0O0. 900.
Prostitution, S700000,000, professional
crime, $3.50, ,O00, 900, aud estimates un-
professional crime at 81 200, ,000,0 The
chic, authorities OF the country such as
Judge Noah Davis and other eminent
iurists have fixed the per cent. of crime
in the United States due to the liquor
traffic at from 50 per cent to 80 per cent,
and DR.. Willard Parker, the abest ply
sician New York has ever had, fixes the
per cent, due 10 drink, of idiocy at 35
per cent, lunacv at 45 per cent, crime
so per cent, and pauperism at 80 per
cent. A most C nservative estimate of
crime due to drink is IS per cent. TAX
ing these estimates a basis and We
find that the 35 per cent and As per cent
above, averaging 40 per cent of amount
paid for lunacy and idiocy is $l75 000 900.
rs per cent of criminalty, professional
and unprofessional, would be 81 1897 500,-
600. Supposing prostitution to be 50 per
cent due to drink aud you have $455,-
600 900 more, to which add the drink |
bill last year OF 81 $50, 900, 900. Now add
to this the loss from the productive pow.
er the LOG. 900 "a abnormal dependents"
out of the 265, 900, 1900 paupers OF
the 50 900, 63, $50 criminals out of S5,-
900, the l 100000 worthless besotted |
victims of the traffic and the 100000 |
tramps turned on the road every year
because of drink and you we an army
of | ,54l $50 persons whom, according to
Carl D Wright, are worth on the aver
age as producers Sl050 per capita and
you have the enormous sum OF waste,
not counting loss of character, manhood
and soul, OF S., 9l2 ll3 .646, to which add
the above items OF the cost or drink and
You have the amazmg sum OF $9,579.-
6l3 ,646 that the nation pays annually II
for the privilege OF collecting S3, ,540.-
OIL 500 during an entire period OF Al
wears or an average of $50, ,454 SIS, an
nualy. Shades of our fathers is that
business? Reminds me of a man pay
I II
What stupendous business talents we
have anyway. But stop. The drink
bill of the nation alone for that same a
years has been somethi z like 500 250,-
$50, ,913. Now ad.. TO this the other vast
sum due to the traffic. making an allow
ance of the smaller amount of crime and
expense, as we 30 back, and allowing in
the average OF Al years that the cost is
bat one-thrd of the amount now paid
and you have an average OF $2,643,2 ,204,-
54S, per annum, or sum total OF Sll6,-
3Ol 600, I12. which added to the amount
PAID for drink in the same period and
you have the stupendous sum OF Sl45,-
551,7Sl025. Now bri Z out that little
mite OF So $40 ,0l ,S93, for which the
government had to pay the enormous
sum above in order 10 meet expenses or
'hust" and you VIII see what fools We
mortals be. Wise craftsmanship and
sound business sense that. No wonder
there is so much poverty. We need a
thunder shower of business men and
business sense in this nation,
But what about the effects of the sa-
loon in communities and states you ask.
Doesn't it pay there? And isn't it |
fact that prohibition does not prohibit?
Let experience again answer. There
is poor old "bleedin" Kansas poor old
thing with her grasshoppers and prohl-
bition TO make her sad. Guess she has
gone to the "b w-wows" long ago. But
let us see. Governor Hoch says that
the law is as well enforced in the great
bulk of countle as any other law and
facts prove it. and il is proving that 80
per cent of crime is due to drink and 90
per cent of pauperism. Before prohibi-
ion went into effect there, the Internal