Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-23
OKLAHOMA AS A DRY STATE
Nebraska Visitor Sizes Up the Situa-
ton There.
VILE WHISKY NOT HARD TO GET
Edgar HOWARD Gives an Interesting
Description OF HTS Personal
ations of PrOhibi-
tion's workings.

AtAhA III ChieAAbAAAaf 0Aa
Columbus Telegram, throws some interest
ing light on the prohibition situation in that
state. BY way Of introduction, Judge How
ard declares he has always been opposed to
state prohibition. and yet believes his pic
ture of prohibition in Oklahoma is quite
free from prejudice. His story Is as fol-
lows:
II propounded to thirty persons met at
random the following question: Do you
believe prohibition has come to stay in this
slater I was surprised by the unsnimity
Of the replies to that question. The men
to whom the question was ~propounded rep
resented every calling and class in citizen
ship-bankers. preachers, merchants. rail-
road men. hackdrivers, hotel men. farmers
and ex-ssloon keepers, Twenty-four of the
thirty men declared their belief that Ok
lahoma was a prohibition state. and would
always remain so. Six out Of the thirty
expressed the belief that within a few
years public sentiment would turn against
prohibition. These six were members OF a
strong and growing society known as the
Sons Of Washington This society is about
on the lines of the Personal Liberty
leagues in Nebraska, and its members are
banded together for one single purpose, and
NAhaN Niit VI al bhAABlhdIy VS.
I'm discussing tile future OF prohibition
in Oklahoma one must not forget the fact
that the enabling act which brought Okla
bona into the sisterhood Of states con-
teired a clause for a prohibition period
OF twenty-one years after the state should
be admitted. Some lawyers insist that
under that enabling act there is no possi-
BILE way OF killing prohibition during the
twtnty-one-year period. Other good law
yers believe the sovereign power OF the
state can be eXerted to change the condl-
items at the pleasure of a majority of the
people. l shall leave that problem to the
lawyers and turn my efforts to a study
of the effects of prohibition as 1 find them.
Does prohibition prohibit in Oklahoma?
Yes, and no. The situation is such as to
make impossible the procuring of a drink
of liquor by a stranger unless he procures
it through the ministrations of some
friend who lives here. In such cases it is
easy. I visited several drug stores and
tried to get a drink of whisky 1 pleaded
thirst, and even sickness, but every drug
gist was pitiless, seemingly with no heart
of sympathy for a sick man. Then I tried
1t in company with a gentleman who lives
here and who knows the ropes. It was
easy. And yet l warn every Nebraska
friend against sampling prohibition whisky
In Oklahoma. ! do not believe 1t is whisky
at all. 1t tastes not. nor smells like the
real thing. II smells like drugs. and tastes
Ike limberger smells. The druggist served
1t to us in a glass with phosphates. 1
tasted the stuff and baked My lawyer
friend pleaded with the druggist to give
us something straight. At first the man
said that would be impossible as long as
there were any customers in the store.
Finally all the other customers went cut,
and then the man brought us the straight
goods. I was sorry he brought 1t. 1t was
worse than the mixture. 1 am sure that
II the druggist had been arrested and L
had been called to testify against him he
could not have been convicted by my evil
dence. 1t was not possible for me to swear
that / had drank whisky. In fact, 1 do
not believe it was whisky, but only a vile
mixture of drugs with which to deceive
the fools who. sneak into a drug store for
something which a gentleman ought to take
only in a licensed saloon or in his own
home.
Il visited the sheriff's office and
talked with that official regarding the
enforcement of the prohibitory law. The
sheriff was an honest man, and he be-
lieves 1t is his duty to arrest every man
who defies any of the laws. He pursues
DpSbNeeNAS az SplSHulu zeal. ana ne
finds plenty of opportunity to display
his zeal. 1 was told that there were no
less than fifty professional bootleggers
in Enid. l was talking with Fred Nc
Lain, a merchant tailor. While we were
talking he pointed me to three men who
passed his door and said that each of the
three was a bootlegger. They were
bootleggers in the sense literal Each
carried his bottle of liquor in hts hip
pocket. When they met a regular Gus
toner they conducted him to a secluded
spot. gave him a snort out of the bottle
and collected Is cents. If the customer
took two snorts 1t cost him 25 cents.
IT the court records i'm an
effort to discover the difference between
the number of criminal cases filed during
a given period under license and a like
period under prob ibition. There was not
much difference in the record under tn
dry and the wet regimes. / asked the
sheriff about Jail conditions before and
: since the adoption of prohibition. He
said there was not much change. This
, county is about the size of our owl
t Platte county, but the jail Is three times
; as large as our Jail, and the sheriff care.
for ten prisoners where our Sheriff Car.
' rig cares for one. 1 asked the sheriff
/ II prohibition had Increased or dimin
ihnCu MS guest HSNs anu ne bdiu II wal
! about a stand-off. Then I asked him tn,
i political complexion of the county. II,
6 told me II was brutality republican, an,
I largely by aid OF the niger vote. an,
then 1 understood the situation better
n THE only profit derived from stat
. prohibition is that which accrues TO tn
. bootleggers. the druggists, the Kansa-
s City wholesalers and the express com
n panies. I was told by those In position
TO know that not less than one csrloai
: OF express packages is received her
4 every week from the Kansas City whole
sale houses, and proportionate shipment
n go from that city to other Oklahom
I, towns. ! heard an agent for a wholesal
Z house say that the whisky trade OF tw
d prob ibition states-Kansas and Okla
homa-was worth this year to the whole
sale dealers of Kansas City a profit o
81. 900, 900. II we OF Nebraska shout
r adopt prohibition the interior towns O
Nebraska would be pouring a proportion
- ate golden stream into the wholesal
houses of Council Bluffs and Sioux Cit!
T, Is It better 20 live under high iicens
and keep the booze money at home. @
- IN adoDt state prohibition and give IN