American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1908-07-04

the saloons across The rtNer, where they
will thrive without police protection.
or keep them here and receive the rev +.
cnue with which 30 lessen their taxes.
Vote the saloons out ard increase
your taxes, without lesserlng the saloon
evil.
Retain the saloons where they are
and keep your taxes at a minimum,
Which, Power City Tines.
As an answer 20 the revenue feature
Of this matter. the Press is constrained
TO tell the story ~ how American Falls
came 10 have high license. II did not
expect to use the story except IN the
event that an effort should be- made 70
reduce ihc license az was contemplated
when the ordinance was passed, But
il answers the revenue feature 30 sd-
mirsbly that !, Is here given. and the
Press believes II will no, be denied. In
justice 70 Mr. Aeko~n the Press de.
sires TO say that the information did
not come from him But when the
story was FIRST known the facts a. re-
lated below we're submitted 70 him ard
he said they were true.
just after the death os Tom Ray had
closed the Turf saloon. member Of the
village board Of trustees cam. into
Oliver & MeKo~n's store. and in the
presence Of other parties. stated. in ef-
feet. tina, the closing Of the shops in
PoeAtsllo was making II hard for the
saloons th~rr. and q number of them
were coming here for talking of doing
sol 10 open up. This pxrty expressed
great fear that American Fails would
be oycrrun ~ish saloons ard the license
ought To r. raised 10 keep them out.
He mAds<ne proposition OF suggestion
To Mr.. Meko~n that the license should
be raised to siupo. Then. he said. shcn
u comes time for the saloon men here
10 pay for their licenses we car drop
them down, and at the next meeting
put them up again.
Mr.. Mekovn objected. TO the propo-
sitson. Nevertheless. at the next
meeting Of the board. which was held
In a very short time. an ordinance was
introduced and passed making the u.
esnss $1,000. az the party first referred
10 had suggested. Mckown fought the
matter. claiming that IL saloons were
To be allowed at ali. no man who de-
sired TO come here and invest his moncy
should be prevented from doing so. II
u was proposition to do away with
saloons entirely Il would be different
matter. And so he contended for a Il.
cense Of $500. Mr. Johnson, who is a
prohibi,ionist. thought that the license
could not be placed at too high a figure.
He was willing to make Il $500. or
even higher. The other three members
advocated $1,000. and az they were a
majority. IL was fixed at that. Will
anyone say that they did not intend TO
reduce IL in octobcr3 As the board is
now consti,uted. the license can be re-
duced whenever the three members
who placed 1t at 5000 want to do so.
Readers OF the Press will remember
that the issue of the paper following
the passage of the ordinance stated that
"thc day Of low license in American
Falls has passed forever, and that
three Of the trustees stand for high
license and two for prohibition. The
story as related above would have made
interesting reading at that time In con-
nect'on with the passage of the ordi-
nance, but its publication would have
served no good purpose. 1t is now CIV
en- to the public to show the inconsis-
tency and insineerity of some of the adj.
vocates of saloons for the sake of
revenue. In view of the facts above
stated. every citizen has the right to
believe that had 1t not been for the
temperance agitation which has since
begun, the license would have been re-
duced when renewal time came. and
they have no assurance that this will
not yet be done.
1t was not long before the license
was raised to $1,000 that one of the
trustees, who is now In favor Of saloons
on account of the revenue the city de-
rives from them, said that the "ss.
loon license should either be reduced or
the licenses Of the other business houses
increased. = giving ~ his reason that
there was no reason why 4 saloon
should pay more than any other bust.
ness. The names Of the witnesses who