The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1908-02-28
AN EASY WAY TO
RAISE RE JENUE

q Whenever the liquor intercrest
4 are endangered the first, and nd
d mittedly the only, argument or Pile
d they make OF any strength is: No'
\ are striking at II source of reVenu
4 30 your county. In this count,
, they point to the meagre 81 miles o
2 county roads and say, "What viii
you do to get further rock roads /
, our revenue Is lust?" When Their,
: il taken into consideration tn,
total expenses that arise from drink
not only such as are covered by
costs in criminal cases, the amount
them is as nothing. But let 1t be
said, for the sake of argument, that
the revenue does all that is claimed
for II and that there is clear profit
to the State and county from saloon
revenue, to what are we led? IT.
respectively OF the evil effects that
may follow, let us get our revenue
in the easiest way. 1t is possible
for town and county and state and
government to be run without cent
of taxes assessed against the indi-
vidual. There Is Western state
| that charges II license of ~ cents n
month for each gambling table. We
can license gambling, dens of vice,
horse racing, lotteries and even go
to the extent of openly licensing
crime. All of these things would
be glad to pay n tax that would
bring them under the protection of
the law But what will be the in
evitablC effects of such course?
Money to run tn" government, yes,
and plenty. A day in which the in
dividual would not have To pay any
taxes of any kind directly. But with
this easy way of raising revenue
these among other things:
Sons and daughters debauched and
sold body and soul to moral obli-
putty.
A time when citizens of n com
munity, county state and nation
would become too poor to patronize |
even these evils. They make no re- |
turn for the money spent upon them
Like pouring water through sieve,
such sources Of expenditure leave |
absolutely nothing of value in their /
path.
Society would soon become demon
allied and no mans person, life or
property would be safe.
Even the suggestion Of licensing
such evils is abhorrent to the moral
sens" Of the entire populace, and no
one except such as those whose
ideas of morality are greatly dis
tortcd, would consent. Yet It is
true, in measure, that these evils
are with us to some extent and in
of law. Infinitely better
the condition, however, than were
those things legally licensed. What
return they made in dollars would
be lost in manhood and womanhood.
IT the licensed saloon il an evil:
II il is one of the sources OF crime;
Il through ii the morals of society
are debauchcd; If il stands for the
oss of true manhood and woman
hood in the smallest measure; If il ,
eads into lives of shame pure !
daughters Of Il few homes; If IL laws I
is hand upon single boy OF com '
nunity and destroys his life and
obs society of his productiveness /
md usefulness II II costs single {
life a year directly or indirectly
through its influence; If It robs the
Of his right and power
% support his wife and children and
he professional man OF his intellect:
I 1t does, even In part, any of these
hings, or all Of them, then il can
lot make any return to society in
iOllars and CENTS. Do you know OF
| single manslaughter that resulted
rom drink purchased in the saloons
n the past five years? Do YOU
Snow a single man, goodhearted
nan and well meaning one, who
has lost his manhood? Do you
Snow of single home blightcd by
he curse Of drink and that thirst Of
rink continually fed by the liquor
rom the saloon2 Do you know any
who today are wearing the stripes
n prison house or who have gone
o violent death because of drink? |
Against these place IA narrow ribbon
hirty-0ne mites long, rock roads Sc
urcd I'm the past twelve years, what
las been the gain2 Is that narrow /
trip able to pay for the life Of a
ingle man? for the shame of IA
ingle young woman? for the de-
of singl" boy? for u
ingle hcartache of one woman whom
man has sworn to love, cherish
nd protect, or single grey haired \
'Oman who through the pangs Of 4
firth brought into the world her first h
Orn son? Z
Yes, there is an easy way OF col j
citing revenue, and one that will a
low large in figures upon one side
the sheet. But upon the other,
ipenses of policing, menaces to
fe and property, misery and shame, :
lime and bloodshed. Soberiy ask
n