Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1909-10-26
The saloon and Prosperity.

his own town or community. A fair
index Of the prosperity OF any COM
munity is the number OF families
that own their own homes.
Statistics compiled by the census
bureau in 1900. and published by the
Anti-Saloon League. show conclu-
l'sively that those states which were
dry" or mostly dry" at that time
had much larger per cent OF fami-
lies who owned their own homes
than did the wet states.
In New Jersey (wetl there were
40S,99S homes; 1860 families
owned their own homes. or 33 per
cent Of the whole number. Mary
land (wet) had 23s,S73 HOMES. The
number Of families owning their own
homes was 9O,702, or 81 per cent.
Nebraska twetl. had 2f7 $50 homes.
The number of families owning their
own homes was 12O,705, or SIS per
cent. Delaware twet) had 39,O07
homes; 1854 families owned their
own homes, or "a per cent. In Iowa
(mostly dry) there were 4T6,71O
homes, and the number of families
owning their own homes was esq.,
76O, or So per cent Maine (dry)
had 1888 homes. The number OF
families owning heir own homes
was 102,537, or So per cent. Yer
mont dry had S0.559 homes. The
number Of families owning their own
homes was 47,751, or 50 per cent.
The egeneral conditions that exist
ed in North and South Dakota were
almost identical. South Dakota was
wet, although some of its best towns
had no saloons. North Dakota was
dry. There were s2.29O homes In
South Dakota. The number Of fam
lilies owning their own homes was
56.7S5, or 50 per cent In North
Dakota there were $500 homes.
The number of families owning their
own homes was 49,163, or "A per
cent. a showing of per cent in ia
vor of dry North Dakota over wet
South Dakota.
The question asked more frequent
ly, perhaps, than any other, is, what
will be the effect OF prohibition on
the business interests of the city and
county. The experience OF places
where prohibition has been tried is
that business has improved; as
shown by letters from ali parts OF
the country.
The ex-mayor of Boulder, Colo,
Gays under date of April 20, 1907:
The talk about saloons being good
for business is all moonshine. Towns
in northern Colorado which have
been without them for years are pros
porous. Our schools. II affected at
sll. have been much helped. the state
university especially. In the two
years OF no saloons sST5,O00 have
been spent in buildings. rs per cent
of it by people of pronounced anti
saloon feelings. Our town is u, 900:
tax with 16 mills on valuation of
$3.75O.000. On April 6 the town
voted on local option who ther this
town should become anti-saIoon ter
ritory or not: the vote stood 100
wet. 240O dry. which tells its own
story. The saloon business is a nuis-
ance. Just now our county Will pay
over $1,000 for six murders in a sa-
loon brawl In one OF our mining
camps"
/ The present mayor OF Canyon City.
Colo. in a letter dated June is,
1909, makes the following state
ment:
Dear Sir: Replying to your let
ter of June 10. 1909. inquiring as to
the conditions of our city under dry
administration, will say that during
the past three years that this eommu-
nifty has suffered greatly from loss
Of fruit crops by frosts. this being
| about the greatest industry we have.
Naturally a crop loss would make a
| very serious financial stringency in
) an ordinary town or city, but we are
} happy to say we have reason to be-
! Iieve that Canyon City Is well in
j front as to prosperity as compared
to other cities OF this state
3 The greatest contributor to this
7 prosperity, during a time when We
were hit 50 hard with frost. we be
lieve to be the fact that Canyon City
: has no saloons 20 support.
= Our business men are. most oil
!. them. opposed to the saloon, and give
/ as their reason that collections arC
!. better"
81 In a letter of recent date th'
b mayor OF Fort Collins. Colo, says
: The population OF Fort Collins &
: about $4,000. It has been dry 70