The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1908-02-21
n
EDITED BY A. MURRMAN
who alone is respon sible for what appears i
this column
What is responsible for the increas-

from our five saloons?
Who is responsiblefor the"bowery'
aspect of our leading business street,
made so altogether by the saloons:
Who's to blame for the fact that the
first impression of a C. is tina,
NJ .lbank is "'on the bum - as a travel
ling man put it the other day when
speaking of the place to other "knights
of the road?" That question is no,
fully answered by saying-"The
saloons are responsible,' for the sa
looms cannot ply their Ubiquitous
trade, except as other influences unite
in giving them "a special right to do so.
The answer is found in a careful
perusal of the petition which some OF
our citizens signed last year asking
that licenses be granted to certain
men to sell-what? Just liquors? Or
did they name some supposedly harm.
less beverage. or some drink the name
of which might have innocently be.
guiled them? Did they leave any
room to question just what they wanted
dore by the men who were to be
licensed? And was it devoid of any
moral turpitude? What was it they
petitioned Tor? Read it carefully:
eve the undersigned twenty or
more free holders, voters Of the
Second ward Of the city of Milbank,
County of Grant, nj state of South
Dakota, over the age of q years and
free holders thereof, do hereby re-
present that-----intends to en-
gage in the business of retail liquor
dealer and in the selling of INTOXICA-
TING liquors at retail and that said
-----is a person of good moral
character and one who can safely be
trusted to engage in the business or
calling of selling INTOXICATING
liquors at retail and that the said
petitioners hereby request and petition
that a license or permit be granted to
said-----to engage in the sale of
INTOXICATING liquors at retail in the
said city of Milbank and in the Sec
ond ward thereof, ETC., ETC."
Please notice that these petitioners
three times specify that INTOXICATING
liquors are to be dispensed-that is
what they want sold-INTOxICATING
liquors. Now, what are "intoxicating
liquors" for? To intoxicate, of
course. And why should supposedly
decent men wan to see their fellows
intoxicated? And if they don't want
to see them intoxicated why do they
petition for the sale of Intoxicating
liquors: Especially when they know,
as all of them must that in the many
years of license in Milbank, every one
of the men of supposedly ''good NOR
al character have made men drunk
weekly, if not daily by sucn sales?
And after we have given them a legal
right, a special privilege, to sell men
that which is ~avowedly to intoxicate
and after it has done its natural and
lega work, and these drunken men 20
the things which drunken men always
do, why do we seek to punish them
for what they do? Surely Won should
not object to intoXication so long as
you favor the sale of Intoxicating
liquors. And If q do not object to
intoxicatiCn. neither should you object
to what men do while Intoxicated.
If you ''license the itch' you should
not ''punish the scratch, 'for they are
related to each other as cause, and
effect, as the saloon to crime.
Do you really think that our saloon
keepers are men of ''good moral
character" The court records will
show that at least one of them is a
self-con:essed law-breaker, and what
sober citizen imagines that the rest of
the Duncn are any better!
Saloon keepers as a class not only
produce the criminals by their sales
of intoxicating liquors. but they con-
stitute a criminal class themselves.
If they had their deserts the vast
majority of them the world over
would be taken from ''behind the barr
and put "behind the bars" where
they belong. and while our local
saloon keepers are probably no worse
THAI others elsewhere. they are GER
tainly no better.
And if it is a good and honorable
thing to sell Intoxicating liquors, why
do the men who sign these petitions so
seriously object to the publication of
these legal documents?
Surely, the people of Milbank have
a right to know who the men are who
send drunken men staggering down
our streets, who send them home to
wife and children to raise the devil
there: who so tempt the weak and
errlng as to force them first to the
Kelley Institute and then in sheer des
peration to a suicides awful end.
Among those most responsible for
these conditions are the men who
petition for an institution which has
always produced Jncu, duQ Wnlcn
always will, and, mark what we tell
you, HI PEOPLE SHALL KNOW. yes,
ALL the people shall know the names
of all the men who so demean them
selves as to pray for the granting of
such licenses.
The editor Of this column has not
asked for the privilege of inserting
the list again in any OF the local
papers, knowing from rumored threats
that such a course might subject the
local editors to q temporary loss,
which he does not wish to
do, but instead of that the
list will be published in a STATE
paper, and q copy will be placed in
every home in Milbank so that a much
greater publicity will be given it
than would have been possible if a
local paper had published it as last
year.
If license carries, (which is not like.
ly the next list will be published With
notes, In July, and will be made the
basis of az active post-electiOn
in which the temperance ele
ment will align itself with such mer-
chants, men, and other forces as are
to it's PRINCIPLES and will