Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-09
A WORD TO THE LIQUOR
INTEREST


nullify the recent action of the city
council against undesirable dance halls
are friendly to the retail liquor In
terest.
1t has been stated that many of the
petitions against the ordinance recently
passed by the council were exposed in
the saloons of the town for signatures
and that numerous signatures were
appended to them in those places.
It is also understood that this effort
to throttle dance hall legislation finds
considerable support among the mem
bership of the Liberal alliance, which
is supposed to be organized especially
for the purpose Of protesting against
and preventing drastic legislation reg
ulating or prohibiting the sale Of liquor.
on the ground that such legislation is
an interference with personal liberty.
If the liquor dealers and their friends
really understand their situation In this
city they will, In the judgment OF The
Herald, be careful not to offend the
moral sensibilities OF the people of Los
Angeles by opposing needed legislation
to prevent the evils which have un-
doubtedly existed in the management
of some of the dance halls Of the city.
There cap,be no question in the mind
OF any man who has investigated this
matter that many OF the dance halls,
as they have been managed in the past,
exercise evil influences over the young.
Some of them have been morally no
better than purveyors to the lowest
order of vice and immortality. and have
undoubtedly In many instances opened
the doors of the brothels of the town to
girls who were, and but for the infiu-
ence OF these dance halls would still
to themselves and a comfort to their
families.
If the element interested In the retail
ing of liquor In the city of Los Angeles
proposes to ally itself with the dance
hall evil, then we wish to call the atten-
tion of that element to what is going on
all over the country:
Within the past ten months five
states of the Union have voted for
complete prohibition within their bor-
ders. This number added to the three
prohibition states already existing
makes eight states, or about one-sixth
OF the total number, in which absolute
prohibition is the law.
In addition to this, numerous coun-
ties, towns and cities in other states
have adopted local prohibition legisla-
ton, so that 1t is now estimated that
out of the eighty million people of the
United States thirty eight million, or
nearly one-half, live in no-license ter
bition.
The cause for the tremendous growth
of anti-saloon sentiment in the United
States, which during the past two years
has amounted to nothing short of a
revolution, is very plainly stated in a
recent issue of Bonfort's Wine and
Spirit Circular, the leading periodical
devoted to the interests of the liquor
trade In this country. 1t says:
The saloon has discredited per-
term of reproach rather than some
thing to conjure with. In the name
of personal liberty saloons have been
run in violation of law and de-
cency until it looks now as If they
are doomed to extinction, except
in our larger cities We do not
mean that all saloons, or the ma
jority of saloons, have been con-
Quoted in a disreputable manner,
but we do mean that a sufficient
percentage of such places have been
badly conducted-that is, have been
disorderly, have sold to intoxicated
men, have sold to women and to
minors, have conducted gambling
adjuncts, have kept open after legal
hours and on Sundays, ETC., to cre-
ate a hostile sentiment that has
crystallized into a war of extermina-
tion, and, save in the larger places,
the saloon as a factor in society
would seem to be doomed. We real
ize that this is big admission, but
the facts demand the admission that
OuI may piOPOAiJ 6ioSP bhO
situation. =.
We think the trade should stop
kicking against the prlcks. If the
saloon cannot be successfully de-
fended-if the cry of personal lib
erty will not save it-then let it go
and let the people decide how they
want alcoholic beverages retailed
in the localities in which they live.
There surely could be no stronger
statement of the obligation that the
decent people interested in the retail
liquor business are under to respect
the moral sense of the communities In
which their business is being trans
acted than the foregoing taken from
the pages of a periodical devoted to
the interests of their traffic.
Two sentences In the foregoing we
desire to call particular attention to.
They are as follows:
THE saloon has discredited
personal liberty and has made it
a term of reproach rather than
something to conjure with. In
the name of personal liberty sa-
looms have been run in violation
of law and decency until it looks
now as if they are doomed to ex-
tinction, except in our larger
cities.
personal liberty is the war cry that