The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-03-31
KANSAS CONAENT
THE KANSAS DRUG STORE


Inc Kansas drug store has become
sort OF universal joke because. when
the prohibitory law was enforced only
systematically, the state was beset with
many joints which pretended to be drug
in disguise.
The majority of them made the Slim
NEST pretense at carrying on a drug
business. Such places are practically
wiped out, and the Kansas druggist
WING sens nquor does so under iron
clad restrictions that it is next to i'm
possible Tor an applicant to get liquor
unless he is acting in good faith.
Inc anti-saloon forces in Nebraska
are Waging an unusually energetic war
TINS spring, with good prospects of ex-
tlhgulshlng the saloons entirely The
newspapers are full of arguments on
one side or the other, and the fayorite
argument of those who are opposed to
prohibition Is that the closing of the
with Kansas drug stores'' To this
extent has the Kansas pharmacy be-
come a byword.
Now. the truth is that there are
more fake drug stores, devoted to the
liquor business, in a Nebraska town.
than there are in ten Kansas towns
OF equal size. The restrictions gov
ernlng the drug store liquor traffic in
nigh license communities are some
times drastic enough in theory, but in
practlce they are nothing more than a
hollow form. The Sunday whisky trade
In Nebraska drug stores is something
enormous, and is carried on boldly,
Inc mayor Of a Nebraska town of
some size, is a druggist, and the other
DAY MS emporium was .raided by Off
GERS or state temperance organiza-
ton. All kinds of liquors were found,
and the enterprising mayor Is out on
bond.
The Kansas drug store has suffered
under obloquy long enough, and should
cease to be the favorite argument of
booze advocates in other states. At the
present time it is a highly moral re-
sort for refined women and men, and
the thirsty customer might wink until
the COWS came home, without getting
anything stronger than root beer or
jap-a-lac.-Emporia Gazette.
TREAT RAILROADS FAIR.
Railroad managers over the country
are planning to make test cases of the
reform rate laws in several states, in
Guiding Kansas, and rush them
through to the supreme court, to see
II more of them are not unconstitu-
tional. If the laws of other states
than Minnesota are unconstitutional
they will probably share the same fate
as the Minnesota rate law, and they
should. The country has gotten along
very well century or SO under the
constitution, and that document makes
ample provision for the regulation of
interstate commerce at the same time
leaving the states ample range for the
regulation of the Industries within
their borders. More than this, the
country has no right to expect, and
having learned the folly of too radical
legislation. there is not likely to be a
violent objection. The railroads are
an important necessity to the country
and we know what happens to the
country when they are crippled. Per-
haps even radical action has its use
fulness in starting something, but it
has outgrown it's usefulness in this
country. Corporations, as a rule, and
railway companies in particular, are
showing more of a disposition to deal
fairly with the public, wherefore it is
certainly time for the country to per-
nit them to do a legitimate business
in their own way; as long as the rail-
roads do not fnJure the country, the
country should not attempt to run them
by mob law.-Atchison Globe.