Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1909-01-08
NO. Al

in every particular.
AS to the liquor business, 1t is the
same at Grants Pass as everywhere
else where local option has been
tried. From the car OF the train
from Medford reaching there yester-
day noon no less than 12 quart bot
ties of whiskey were taken off at the
depot. Three drunken men were
seen on the streets inside of one
hour, being more than the writer
has seen in Medford during the
Christmas holidays. Like other To-
cal option places, there is no deny
ing the fact that the citizens OF
Grants Pass can get all the liquor
they want, but it has driven nearly
all the outside trade from the city.
The trade is now going to Jackson
vile, Gold Hill and Medford.
"A lot of liquor is being shipped
in here from Portland" said Sher-
riff Russell, of Josephine county, as
he pointed out a young man stagger-
Ing down the street. THE great
trouble is," he continued, they send
their money for 1t to Portland, and
even II the houses there did care,
tney have no means of knowing IL
the people who send In the orders
are under age or not. / never knew
OF young men being drunk here be-
lore, but now the sight is a common
one
This Is how we stand" said one
ae leading business men of the
ity. In one way We would like to
'ae Medford go dry because It would
a1se some of our trade now going
IRE to remain at home, where it
properly belongs. The trouble IL.
however, that many who now go
there would go to Jacksonville and
there Is no chance In the world that
making any change in these places"
Would you blame Medford for
continuing the present system?" he
was asked.
why, certainly not" he replied.
You people would be greater fools
lhan take you To be II you ever fol-
low our example. In addition To
more than doubling our taxes. we
nave lost from 25 to so per cent
OF our business, had to do away with
chance to own our water system
and are now forced to give up any
Idea OF paving our streets. You peo-
pie have already obligated yourselves
for these and have interest to pay,
and yet your tax rate is, in reality.
only mill more than ours. And
you are getting the cream OF bus
mess of the valley. Why? Because
you have a better city than ours?
No, sir; because our loss has been
your gain.
The trouble is that It is not our
fault, but that of iAe state 'aw.
Our people here In the city Of Grunis
Pass gave over 200 majority IN IN.
vor OF continuing the .icensa system.
Why should we MT have whnt we
know we wanted Way? Dcra,se
we were downed ny tn. pec,:c Of
the county OUTSIDE Df Grams pass.
another vote would show double
the majority here IA he ri,y IN is-
vor OF the licen ~ sys. ,m. The peo-
pie outside OF th- city hays kill-d
our city but what do they care? It
is not cent out Of tne'r pockets. -
We'll. 30 yoi people want H. let
the people outside of yonf c,ty run
your affairs the sa.ne &c they have
ours here?
"All can say il thd5 1: you dc 50
you will richly de5or5o al tha; you
get"
Snce receiving the Tribune OF the
7th, the Courier has taxed with
quite number of the leading busi-
nesss men OF this city and shown
them copy of the paper. The
first on the list is Mayor II. C. Kin
ney. one OF the Oldest and most
prominent business men In this
city His knowledge as to the con-
ditions which prevail In Grants Pass
at the present time cannot be ques-
toned. First let us say that Mr..
Kinney is the senior member OF the
large dry goods and grocery Arm of
Kinney & Truax. He is the man
who, at the late election defeated
DR.. J. c. Smith for the ONCE OF
mayor. He iB also connected with
the First National Bank of Southern
Oregon. and Is known far and wide
as a leading citizen of the Rogue
River Valley When interviewed
Mr. Kinney said: Our mercantile
business shows large increase for
the last six months and our casf
sales during that time were doubled