The Columbus journal., 1908-06-10

Of asu,onage from the farmers IL &c
town should 60 dry. OF cOuse. there Is
division of opinion. but the prevail
Ing sentiment seems to be that the
majority who support the business in
terests of Silver Creek are in favor
of the wet policy. and they are. as a
rule, as fine class of citizens as can
be found anywhere"
RED CLOUD-A leading citizen
says: There are many voters of this
place who favor high license because
of the experience this town once had
under no-license rule. when blind
tigers ran unhindered, and the town
was disgraced beyond anything expert
enced under the license system. do
not believe the matter of patronage
from outside territory would enter in
to the question to any extent"
PLYMOUTH-A dry goods mer-
chant writes: This town is only
from eight to ten miles from Dewitt
and Swanton, which are both wet;
therefore our business men felt that if
Plymouth should go dry. their bust
ness would be injured. This cOmmun-
ity does not want county option. Meth
er does Saline county, to the north of
us. The strict enforcement of the SlO-
cumb law would be better for every
body, and our people are in favor of its
better enforcement"
VALENTINE-D. NJ. Rice, editor
Democrat, replies: 1T is true that the
business men took an active interest
in our recent election upon the ques-
ton of license. During the contest.
the merchants argued that dry town
would produce loss of patronage and
increased tax rates. They also pre-
ferred a saloon strictly regulated to a
traffic in liquor through the drug
stores. bootleggers, and blind tigers,
which are peculiar to some OF the dry
towns"
FALLS CITY-L. J. Harris. Editor
of The Journal, writes: lone reason
for the result of the recent election In
this city was the fact that large por.
ton of the population Of this county
is German. The influence OF the busi-
ness men was for license because OF
the probability Of loss of patronage In
case the town should go dry"
KEARNEY-F. L. Whedon. Editor
of The Democrat. replies: I'm the re-
cent election upon the question OF
license, business men here were gen.
orally favorable to high license and
the enforcement of the law. There is
no doubt that business men took into
consideration the probability that they
might suffer loss of business in case
the town should go dry. and that taxes
would be increased. This sentiment,
of course, had its effect"
LINCOLN-A. I. Israel, Editor OF
The Country Merchant. says: IN the
recent election here l believe that the
majority voted for license because the
voters believe that the sO-called pro-
hibition theory will not successfully
prevent traffic in liquor: also because
the elimination of liquor licenses
would increase the tax burden and
more than probably decrease the vol
ume of outside patronage Of the city's
merchants. I am also of the opinion
that many business men feared that
the elimination Of legal liquor bust
ness would result in an increase OF
lawlessness and have a demoralizing
effect upon the community"
William Douglas. mer-
chant. writes: This town went dry
in the recent election owing to agita-
ton among those who pay little or no
tax. The majority Of our business
men believe that taxes will be much
greater upon the withdrawal of license
money, and they know that trade will
be less. as a great many OF our farm
ers have expressed themselves to that
effect. It was the expressed wish OF
the best class of our taxpayers that
license should carry"
SUTTON-F. NJ. Brown, Editor OF
The Register, replies: Il regard 1t as
a fact that the license issue won be-
cause our business men and taxpayers
feared they would have to pay too
heavy a penalty in loss of outside
patronage and in increased taxes as
results of a dry town."
SUTTON-Henry Grosshans. farm
machinery, writes, I'VE had two years
of experience under the dry policy.
and l regard it as very unsatisfactory.
there being more drunkenness than we
have had under the wet policy. Un-
der the dry regime We had about M
teen places where bad liquor was solo,
and we could not control the trafic at
all: now we have but four saloons,
which are controlled, and there is bet
ter order in town. l am for the wet
policy and a strict enforcement OF tne
SlOcumb license law"
PLAINVIEW-P. F. Boyens, rurnt
ture dealer, writes: Your ln1orma-
ton is correct. Our business men and
taxpayers feared a loss of outside pat |
ronage as a result of q dry policy. De-
cause our neighboring towns are wet.
WAYNE-W. s. Goldie. Editor OF
The Democrat, replies: THE chief
reason why Wayne voted wet at the
last election was because of the ex-
perience of twenty years ago, when
the town went dry. The man who has
been marshal from that time to THIS
and who is one of the best oficials IN
the state. said publicly that he had
more trouble with drinkers during the
one year in which the town was sup
posed to be dry than he had during
several years under the license sys
tenn. He has NO use for the saloon
The Anti-Saloon league representa-
ives mt nm q campaign that was