Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-12-08
The Countenancing of Dives.


The Argus regrets that Alderman
Smith should have seen fit to introduce
the resolution he did in the council
last evening, and furthermore that
seven of the aldermen present should
have voted for its adoption. Such ac-
ton can accomplish no good end.
Whether so meant or otherwise. it will
be construed as an endorsement of the
lower order of saloon, which be it said
to the credit of Mayor Schaffer he is
seeking to weed out. And as far as
The Argus is capable of judging the
mayor is acting entirely within the
scope of his official prerogatives in the
course he has taken. 1t is up to him to
say to whom he will issue saloon
licenses and to whom he will decline
to grant the liquor dispensing privilege
in Rock Island. If obdurate saloon
men whose licenses have been revoked
for a cause, seek to drag the city into
the courts the proceeding is not one
that can be laid at the door of the
mayor. Unfortunately anyone can be-
gin law suit, whether he has right on
his side or not, and unfortunately, too,
may stand show of winning law suit,
at least of baking the ends of justice,
whether he has right on his side or
not. But that does not alter the prin-
ciple involved in the least.
The mayor of Rock Island has taken
la stand for the better regulation of
the liquor traffic of Rock Island. To
the furtherance of these ends he has
refused license to the owners of a
number of joints, so VIGOROUSLY bad
as to be not only offensive to public
morals. but to bring the entire saloon
traffic into disrepute. The mayor has
been firm in the position he has taken
and has declared that so long as he is
mayor he will not issue another IL
cense in place of one. revoked for cause
to the person or for the location hav-
ing the former permit. With one ex-
ception, and that act on the mayors
part is to be both deprecated and de
plored, the mayor has been steadfast
in his position with reference to the
dive element in the liquor traffic. No
one can honestly say that the city has
not profited by it, and no one can say
| that the saloon business itself has not
profited by it.
When Mayor Schaffer took his stand
for better moral conditions, The Argus
gave it's endorsement to his policy
| Having for years condemned the eX
istence of the dive, it upheld the pur
pose to remove it. Where it has al
ways stood The Argus stands today
Regardless of who is mayor The Argus
will at all times and under all condi
tions sustain the hand that strikes a
rottenness and debauchery. To re
lcede under any stress from this att
ltude even were such an inclination
possible would be not only unworth.
but cowardly.
With the theory that the legitimat
saloon should be both properly regu
lated and treated fairly, the idea tina
the dive may also exist is incon
patible. In restriction and regulation
: of the decent saloon and complete oil
liberation of the low saloon repose
the only practical method of dealin
with the liquor question.
From its own view point, The Argu
feels that the council gave evidence c
: weakness in attempting to shirk tn
: responsibility for decency in saloo
Icontrol. Surely there is nothing that t
| the public mind is so abhorrent a
a supine Indifference to that which
Enthusiastically wrong. How much wors
: is a manifest purpose to officially side
step the responsibility for the checl
ing of that wrong.