Semi-weekly herald., 1909-08-16
And these reforms are not confined

| And these reforms are not confined
TO Deadwood. but prevail throughout
the Black Hills. A very different class
OF population is here now from that
which occupied the country fifteen or
even ten years ago, and in no part
of the United States can be found
! communities of higher degree of mo-
| rality, of a better education or OF
greater sympathy with law and order.
The gamblers and disreputabIe char.
| acters were driven out OF one town
after another until the hills were en-
tirely rid of them. The last place to
close down the lid" was Edgmont..
a railroad and cattle town. in 1907.
There are now sixty-one saloons in
Lawrence county. with population OF
| 1900, and sixteen saloons in Dead
wood City. with population OF 1000,
and each pays license fee of $500.
Since May 1 every saloon has been
closed all day Sunday and at IL O'Clock
p. m. on weekdays. Until then they
were open all night. Some of them
had never been closed for an hour
for twenty years or more, and when
the order came from Mayor Adams to
) lock up at IL o'clock at night the
barkeepers could not find any keys
lock on the door.
All screens and tables and chairs
are out and are forbidden, so that
the saloons are not so comfortable as
loafing places as formerly. In Hot
Springs the license fee is $500. and
as consequence every saloon but
three has been closed
Everybody agrees that the results
have been wholesome There is no
disorder; there are no crimes; the
iails are empty; the police are idle and
the dssolute and vicious classes have
gone elsewhere.
The brewers. wholesale liquor deal
ers and several of the saloon keepers
are very urgent in using their influ-
ence to secure a strict compliance
with the new regulations for fear Of
the enactment of a prohibition law
The sentiment in South Dakota Is
growing strongly in that direction and
was headed off at the recent session
OF the legislature by the enactment of
several special acts dealing with the
temperance question. One of them
gives each town local option and each
county local option; and if county
; should vote against saloons. the towns
I. would be compelled to comply. Fur
thermore, il county neglects or re-
: fuses to pass a dry law any town or
city may prohibit the sale of liquor
within its limits. Last fall at Hot
Springs the question of prohibition
was tested and lost by a very mar
row margin, which, 1t is claimed, is
due to several old soldiers at the state
home, who were induced to vote
against the proposition on a promise Of
free beer.
The Legislature also passed an anti
treating act, which requires that a
sign, with letters at least four inches
long, shall be displayed over the bas-
in every saloon where it may be plain.
ly seen by every one who enters,
warning people that each customer
must pay for his own drink, and that
any barkeeper who accepts money
from one man in payment for liquor
consumed by another is liable to fine
and Imprisonment. This act has pro
voked great deal of ridicule and will
} doubtless we eyaded as such specific
i laws always are, but at the same time
the temperance people propose to use
spoilers for the purpose of securing
e its enforcement. AS 1t only went into
effect July /, there has been no op-
. portunity for test.
Another law prohibits drinking on
' railway trains. 1t has been customary
for ranchmen, miners and others who
come to town on business to buy A
: bottle of whisky to take home with
them on the train, and, of course, they
0 passed it around among their friends
and fellow travellers in the smoking
[ cars, which We're often the scenes of
: disorder and even murder. Under the
new law every conductor brakeman
. and other trainman and every station
agent are appointed special constable
to enforce this law, and they are re
quired to arrest and deliver TO the
magistrate at the nearest railway sta.
ton every man who pulls bottle of
whisky on train.