River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-03-26

| shopping and spend their money and
ruin our town generally. One day a
delegation composed of two bankers and
three merchants, who had been appoint
] ed by the business interests of the CITY.
/ came to my Office and spent an entire
morning presenting these arguments
and begging me not to enforce the law.
| | told them that | was not responsible
| for the acts of the legislature, that did
not put the prohibition law on the stat
ute books of Kansas, but | had taken
an oath of Office to enforce it and
intended to do so even if it made a
desert of Wyandotte County and turned
our fourishing city back into field and
| forest.
81 did not know what the result
would be-" continued Mr.. Trickett. 81
did not know whether the city would be
injured, but I had q duty to perform,
and performed it 70 the best of my
ability. For eighteen months Kansas
City, Kan, has existed without a saloon
or a gambling den or a bawdy-house
The mayor, who declared that the saloons
should run, was turned out of office
and fined $1,000; we ousted the chief
of police and the county attorney; 500
buildings are under permanent injunc-
ton not to be used for the sale of liquor,
and if a thousand years from now any
Individual opens a saloon in any one
of those buildings he can be punished.
Fifteen hundred citizens of our town
are under permanent injunctions never
again to sell liquor in that county; more
than 100 former sa1oonkeepers are under
bonds to the same effect; more than
100 others are out on bail, with their
sentences Of Imprisonment suspended
during good behavior, and a hundred
more are banished from Kansas as I'M
desirable citizens. Some of those ex-
lies are saloonkeepers who tried to
evade punishment by having their wives
and children tend bar. We have a judge
who believes that any woman who sells
Intoxicating liquors in an undesirable
citizen. When the wife of saloon
keeper is convicted he promptly SEN
fences her to six months in the county
iail and a fine of $500, but stays exc
cution provided she will leave the state,
that's the way we have prevented wo-
.uen from tending bar in our saloons.
Ne have law in Kansas which makes
,he man who rents building for sa
loon as guilty as the tenant who sells
the liquor, and we have large num-
Der of exiles and other nonresident
property owners on account of that law
who are afraid to set foot on Kansas
SOIL"
"What has been the effect on bust
ness ?" | asked.
''Have you heard of Kansas City,
Kan being wiped off the map?" replied
Mr.. Trickett. "Have you heard that Wy
andotte County has become desert?
Have you heard of any of our banks
failing or any of our merchants clos
ing their stores? Have you heard of
anybody going bankrupt? On the con-
trary, the committee of two bankers and
three merchants who as | told you
came to protest asa st the enforce
ment Of the law about two years ago,
will now tell you or anybody that they
were mistaken and that the abolition of
liquor-selling has been of decided bene-
fit instead of injury to the business in
terests of the city. They will tell you
that the deposits of Our banks have in
creased more than two million dollars
since the saloons were closed and that
the merchants have had to employ addi-
tiona1 clerks to attend to their business.
81 can show you a letter from the
president of the largest bank in Our
city, who was a member of the commit
tee that came to protest, in which he
says that within one year after the
whisky joints and gambling dens were
closed his deposits increased $I,7oo,ooo.
He says in his letter: We think we
have the accounts of more than so per
cent of the business men of this city and
have talked with a large number OF
them about the effects of the closing OF
the saloons on their business. With
few exceptions they have stated that
they are pleased with the results. l be-
lieve this feeling is shared by large
majority of the professional men and
other intelligent citizens
81 can show you letter from the
president of the Home City Bank say
ing that its business has increased 40 per
cent as a result of the enforcement of
the prohibition law. He says that when
people are not permitted to spend money
for a bad purpose they will invest it for
a good purpose. Mr.. Atkinson, vice
president of a bank in Armourdale, one
of our suburbs, says that his business
has increased SO per cent. The presi-
dent of one of our savings banks has
written me that not only has its bust
ness increased so per cent, but that IS
per cent of the new customers are OF
the class that formerly spent all their
money for liquor.
Zone of our business men who was
asked his opinion wrote to a friend, say
ing: Il have been in business in Kan
sas City, Kan, for seventeen years, and
there are more houses, and good houses,
being built; more people are buying
homes, and good homes, and seeking
investments than in any year since |
have lived here. Like most of the bust
ness men of this city, in the past |
have believed in high license and local
option. Now am in favor of closing
the saloons and keeping them closed
Drinking is not a necessity; it IS only
a habit
"The people who objected to the en-
forcement of the prohibition law" con-
tinued Mr.. Trickett. said that it would
'estroy the prosperity of our city; they
said it would stop the erection of build
ings: but the official records show that
during the year after the closing of the
saloons. from July I, 1906, to July I,
1907. Kansas City, Kan, showed an in
crease of 2oo7 per cent in building oper-
4 b40