The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-04-27
KANSAS C0l4AENT
WOE AT ST. LOUIS.

WOE AT ST. LOUIS.
1t IS probable that the next num-
Der OF the Brewers Year Book,
which will be issued a year hence,
will contain much literature of a
sombreS and despairing nature; there
VIII! be lamentation compared with
which the outpourings of jeremiah
VIII seem like cries of exultation; and
there will be dirges more dismal than
the Wall1ngs of Mariana in her Moated
Grange; and 1t will surprise nobody
II there is a mourning border to each
page.
Truly, the brewers have cause for
grief They used to feel bad
lost to the cause; but in these later
days states go dry, one after an
other, and many of these states which
declare for a permanent drouth, were
formerly partial to the morning tod
dy and the evening highball. Some of
the southern states which have shoo-
ed away John Barleycorn, have a pop
ulatfon of colonies, who have always
borne, without reproach, the grand
old name of booze fighters, and the
loss of such states fairly paralyzed
the AnheuSer forces. ess.
But the straw that breaks the
camePs back is the attitude OF M1ssou-
ri. 1t seems probable that the Dues
ton of licensing saloons in the state
will be submitted to the voters. and
the Anheusers know what that means.
Four or five years ago such a propo-
sition would not have scared them
much, for Missouri was then suppos-
ed to be welded to the profane IDOL
of booze; but the brewers have at
last learned that public sentiment is
opposed to their business, and they
are in deadly fear of that sentiment,
when it is permitted to express 1tseH
at the polls. They know that the sa-
loon will be voted out of Missouri as
surely as the sun rises. If the people
are given a chance at It.
Hence the activity at st. Louis. The
business men view with alarm the
possibility that thousands of brewery
workers will be thrown out OF employ
ment in case the saloon is suppressed,
and there will be general chaos If the
big breweries are compelled TO smut
down. 1t is the same old bogle that
was worked hard enough in Kansas
If the saloon is voted out OF missouri.
the building it occupies Will pc useo
for some legitimate trade; the brew
cry workers will find other employ
ment; the city will suffer no setback
whatever. s-.s
Even if the contrary were the case,
1t would make no difference. The sup
preston of the booze traffic is not al
together a commercial question; 1t
has moral element which is OF more
consequence The people of this coun-
try have made up their minds that
John BarleycOrn must go; MS going
may cause some grief and loss to GER
tain interests, but think of the DESC
lation caused by his staying!-Empo-
ria Gazette.
IS THERE ANOTHER?
A few months ago it was reported
that "Scotty." the Death Valley wonder.
champion fool and transcontinental
traveller, had gone broke, and enlisted
in the United States marine corps;
good place to curb such turbulent
creatures. 1t is hoped that this was a
mistake, or otherwise a late South Da-
kota dispatch would indicate that there
is more than one %Ecotty,' which is too
much of a calamity for one big coun-
try A man has appeared at Gregory,
s. D., to take claim who claims to be
the man from Death Valley. And there
is one thing to substantiate his claim;
he is broke No one can travel the
gait that made Scotty Famous, and long
maintain a. bank account Another in
dicatfen that the embryo Dakota farm
err is the man who burned money In
New York and Chicago is that he says
he wants to lead a quiet life, and i'm
mediately hunted up a reporter to tell
him about it.-Atchison Globe.