The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-02-12

Herald Receives CommuniCa-
ton About Experiences of
One Who Says He Knows.
FOR RIGID RESTRICTION
DECLARES STRICT REGULATION
WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM.

| The following communication has been
received by The Herald from Frank r.
| Whitzel, superintendent in salt Lake for
the Bradstreet company:
To The Salt Lake Herald:
note in your columns communication
from an Iowa man as to the workings of
prohibition IN his state Win xctf hermit
a former Kansas citizen a few words as to
+. its workings there?
was raised in a strictly prohibition
family in that strict prohibition state. and
IN a village where prohibition was strictly
enforced Amang my earliest recoilec-
ions are OF boys going after beer and
they always got it. Even in that straight
laced town, no drinker had the slightest
difficulty in buying liquor, though a tenn
peranee man WHO wished it for medical
purposes might have.
When grew older 1 became d CONNER
ciaI traveller, and as such visited almost
every postoffice in Kansas. Less than six
nouns experience converted me, as it
Viii any real seeker for truth from firm
prehibitionist to an advocate of high IL
cenSe and regulation For over five years
| Travelled in Kansas and never yet have
1 visited town where drink could not
be purchased without danger or difficulty
II is so today The hotel porter greets
you with Want a cold bottle, boss, or a
little skier" The druggist needs only an
introduction from mutual friend Tn
doctor signs unhesitatngly his prepared
prescriptions. All men. save the prohibi-
uenist, are ready TO help or at least wink
at the violation Of d law which they re-
gard as. unjust and tyTannical Men feel
that no legislature has right to pass
suoh a regulation, and they break it with
oHt hesitation or tWinEe of conscience.
What effect can this but have upon res
pect Tor other laws?
Liquor Sold Freely.
Prohibit. Not till you renalSe human
nature I know personally that every
n Y fre IL
almost openly. A wholesale liquor con-
Germ driven from Wichita to Kansas City
IN 1907 now sells more than ever before in
its old territory. I saw their books A
Kansas City jug trade mail order house
started with 500 capital. selling in Kan
sas. and disposed of their business four
years later for S6)S,o9o- Into Lawrence,
Kan, an average Of thirty-five cases 81 l
beer come daily by express. l can extend
this list Of examples indefinitely. Pro-
hibit- Speak to a Kansas man OF it-and
the leaders, admit that the law does not
prohibit; they base their support now on
educational grounds.
Effort at Enforcement.
And let no one think Kansas has not
earnestly tried to enforce the law. When
police. state control Of police, consta bies. /
sheriffs, jury trials and all other legal
processes failed. they tried injunctions.
and at this moment there is not town of
over 1000 in the state which the supreme
court has not ensoined from taking any
revenue in any manner from saloons
Property owners are eujoined from rent
ing TO foInusfs, individuals are enjoined
from selling, and violations Of the courts
order are samHarily, sterniy, even saw
agefy punished Aud still LIQUOR is sold
everywhere and to anyone with the price |
" hat sort of evidence is necessary 10 con- !
vince the impartial?
of course, certain people can not or will /
not be mover by any argument. But one /
VINO is earnestly seeking for a practical |
solution cannot but be dismayed BY the /
spectacle of a state, after twenty-eight !
a great part Of its own revenues. running
millions of property, spending other mil
hons in court costs, UpSetting constantly /
us business security and putting strife
and bitterness into the hearts of its citi- /
zens, utterly and absolutely unable to en-
force its laws, and simply because only a !
small portion, and that the least dynamic |
Of its citizens. believe the law is righteous.
confeunds the Issue.
The prohibitionist pefsistently confoundS
the evils of the traffic, to which we all
gree with the existence of saloons which
crux is lust here. When you try absolute
prohibition. you not only transcend, in the /
general opinion. your rights. attempting to
Tx your own standard of conduct by force
upon another who has a different stand |
ard; YOU not only step back into the mid
die ages. where conscience was dictated bv /
n
statute: YOU not merely compound for /
sins YOU are inclined to by damning those
you have no mind to-. but aisO-aDd more
imPortant-you tie your own hands. You I
cannot advance step by step. fer your I
Law SAYS you must jump all at one jump /
I on cannot exercise any Of the evils, for I
the entire traffic must be suppressed. You /
cannot say that minors shall not bu.- I
liquor, FOR you must say that no one shall /
buy il. You cannot forbid the sale to an 4
Intoxicated person, for YOU forbid the sale /
to anyone You cannot say the man who I
sells liquor must be financially responsible I
IA tried and successful plan) and shall be 4
held accountable to the state for viola /
tons of the law, and TO the drinker and 1
his family for personal injury. because I
YOU say that no one shall sell liquor /
Thus the minor BUYS from the boot -legger 1
the drunk increases his jag at the joint /
ami the Crunkard's family NAV starVe for 4
no one is pecunisrily responsible for the 4
damage. And you wear out your energies /
attempting the proven impossible. you de- /
stroy business, not only liquor. but whole |
sale cigars, drugs, grOcsries-almost every /
line is damaEed-and YOU embittsr your /
dearest friends. As in Kansas. so let US
hope II viii never be in Utah.
Limit the Saloons.
I have already suggested an easy rem /
edy which has been tried with the high /
est success. / viii give location and fun i
details to anyone interested. Limit the 1
number Of saloons 10 a certain proportion 1
TO the population. make every saloon Il
keeper be a man Of independent means. let i
him file a heavy bond that indemnity TO /
sufferers, If any. at his hands, will be /
assured. Then let the dram shop be that /
and nothing else. Prohibit screens. chairs. 4
gambling devices, wine rooms, overhead /
psTlOrs. dice. free lunch. pictures, etc. and Il
have hours and conduct rigidiy prescribed. 4
Then YOU viii eliminate nearly all the /
evils OF the traffic. Better you will settle Il
TIE veXed question 2micably. maintain /
ing friendly relations not only with the /
liquor dealer. but with the great public