River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-03-26

cases on the docket. Before the saloon:
were closed the city fathers were won.
| dering where to get money to build ar
extension to the jail To-day its doors
hang idly on their hinges; we have nc
use for the jail we have.
Il have a letter from the mayor of a
city where there were only two arrests
last year, and those were two men who
got drunk at independence, Mo-, and
took the wrong road to get home. /
have letter from the police judge OF
our own city showing that day after day
goes by without a single arrest in a city
of over 100000 people. Fifty thousand
people gathered in the heart of the city
during carnival week last fall and there
were only four arrests. The men in
charge stated that it would have been
impossible to have had it had the sa-
looms been open.
Il have here a letter from the com
missioner of the poor farm stating that
there has been wonderful reduction in
the sending of old people over the hill
to the poorhouse Their sons and
daughters are taking care of them in
stead of making them subjects of char
ity.
81 have letter from the secretary of
the associated charities of our city stat
ing that for the first time in twenty
five years the associated charities had
not a burden greater than it could BEAR
81 have a letter from the director of
the orphans home, stating that during
the time the saloons were open the aver
age number of children they had to
care for was fifty-six. To-day they
have twenty to care for, less than half
the number they had when the saloons
were open.
every saloon was closed on July 3,
1906. Less than three months after that
our schools opened. In former years
we had to employ from six to eight
additional teachers by reason of the in
crease in population, but there was such
an unusual demand for admission that
we had to employ eighteen new teachers.
[ went to the teachers and said, From
whence comes this large demand for adj
mission to our public schools? The re-
suit was list of 600 boys and girls
from II to IS years of age who attended
the public schools last year for the first
time. And they gave as a reason why
they had not attended in former years
that they had to assist drinking father
to earn living for the family.
"Nor are these Improvements and
conditions peculiar to Kansas City,
Kan.," said Mr.. Trickett in conclusion.
"They have been duplicated in every
city of our state in which the prohibi-
ton law has been enforced; in Topeka,
Wichita, Junction City, Fort Scott, COT
feyville, independence and other places.
You may go all over the state and the
people will tell you that every single
city, without an exception, where the
prohibition law has been enforced has
enjoyed boom, a prosperity such as It
never knew before. I believe that the
prosperity of Kansas is due quite as
much to the prohibition law as to the
good crops. There are three places in
Kansas to-day where man can get
drink, where the law is openly de-
fed-Leavenworth, Atchison and Pitts
burg-and in every one of them the
population has decreased. On the other
hand, the population of Kansas City,
Kan, has increased more rapidly than
that of any other city in the state; next
comes Wichita, Topeka and Parsons
all prohibition towns.
WILLIAM E. CURTIS.