The Press., 1909-09-22

ness to the amount of $40, 900. This
is oooarioned in part by public works,
but tho saloon boasts to make such
works possible without debt. The
town of Simsbury, Conn paid out for
justice orders in the past ten years,
/ five of which have been license and
i've no-license, the sum of $2O23 O5
in the license years, and only $637. 25
in the no-license years, an average of
$405. SO for each license year, and of
$127. 45 for each no-lioense year.
And don't you see that whatever
increases the causes of taxes must in
evitably increase taxes. One cause of
increased taxes Is the depreciation Of
a taxbIe property. Every man knows
thatsthe property next or near to u
saloon shrinks nightly in value.
Every one knows that the property of
every patron Of the saloon depreciates
rapidly Everybody realizes that the
tax paying power of every drinking
man is weakened daily. We know
that saloons increase poverty, crime,
insanity. lawlessness, all of which
increase our taxes Witness the case
of Simsbury just cited. And did you
ever stop to think that If the saloon
keepers of Stafford pay the town
$4,000, they have to get that $4,000
from the citizens of Stafford? And
they have to get the cost of their bust
/ ness and profit on it besides. That
the contribute comes out of those
least able to pay it, the drinking men
and their needy families. Seven
saloons in Stafford, receiving thirty
dollars day, three hundred days a
year. take in 500. 900 year. They
can pay the town $4,000 and never
miss it. But the town cannot pay
the $63, 600 and not miss it from
every Legitimate business. Even if
there is 500, 900 worth of liquor a
year sold in town under no-license
land no one really believes there is)
the absence of the saloon means at
least $40, 900 gain for all other bust
ness. every year. Think of this, my
friend. - Saying this he went his
way. We never realized before the
immense drain and cost of the saloon
The Saloon and Law.
Finding that the eight reasons why
Stafford should have the saloon were
not sufficient to convince everybody.
we tried a new line. We said to a
no license man, "Isn't it better to
have strict enforcement of law un-
der regulated sale than lax enforce
ment under prohibited sale, as the
business men of Hartford said, last
year," He replied. "Firat prove to
me that we shall have a strict enforce
ment under license and lax enforce
ment Under no-license. Why Hart
ford itself, by public statement of At.
torney Klein of Bridgeport, expert
and eloquent counsel for the liquor
traffic, has more blind pigs than
any other city in the state. The
police of Chicago report from 500 to
1900 illegal saloons. Thompsonville,
Conn license town, has recently
had more than twenty cases p: ose.
cuted in court for illegal selling.
Monson. Mass, license town, had
four men. representing three hotels,
fined $175 each for violating the
liquor law. East Hartford, where
the license men claim to be of great
benefit, town now under license, is
reported in the Hartford Oourant of
Sept 13 as follows: Police Clean
Up Three Resol is. East Side Will
Not Know Itself in Few Days More.
The police continued their crusade
Saturday night against the unsavory
elements, and the result was three
raids and many arrests. :. AS the
result of last weeks cleanup ninety
two men and women were sentenced to
Jail in just six days, for drunkenness
and vagrancy. The big day was
Friday, when thirty-seven were taken
to Jail in one morning The police
have filed every cell in the Jail, and
two prisoners are occupying one cell
in some parts of the building. There
are $40 people in the county Jail at
this time, thirty-one of whom are
women. Evidently East Hartford is
not orderly under license. AS for
our own town, we have made a favor
able reputation for ourselves by our
statement of Nine Months of No
License In Stafford. Last year we
had at least twenty more illegal
places of sale than we have this year.
We have had little law1essness and
that has been checked wherever pos
81 BILE. No man has been spared
Places that no man believed would be
raided have been raided When you
talk about strict enforcement 1nder
license, my friend, and try to make
me believe that lawlessness increases
under no-lioense, show me the proof,
as have shown you mine> :" He left
us looking for facts with which to
contradict him.
The Saloon and Schools.
Failing in our arguments thus far
we tried the school question on an
other friend. "Is it not true that the
schools of Mobile were crippled by
prohibition? we asked. "Yes, !" he
replied, at first, because Mobile had
the disgraoeful policy of supporting
the schools by saloon revenue. OF
course when that was taken away it
crippled the schools. But everywhere
else the saloon hurts the schools. It
deprives forty seven out of every one
hundred boys and girls Of high school
education, and seventeen out of one
hundred common school education.
These are facts proved by official
record Of ten no-license compared with