The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-05-12
DRY DECATUR IS
NOT DEAD TOWN
Arrests Have Been Cut in Half
TAXATION and Business Little Az
fected-Nvorces Increase.
BY MARLEN Z. PEW.

DECATUR. H.. May il.-There IL
= deal Of 'hbbing' going on these
days about whether prohibition Is a
good thing for a town. Advocates OF
the saloon. driven by financial motives.
and anu-saloon men. altruistic but
Sometimes extreme In their state.
ments and often even fanatical, are
battling In almost every state AM
their press bureaus are issuing enough
highiy-seasoned propaganda literature
10 wad the guns Of history. Their
claims are contradictory
The situation seems TO call for an
impartial statement based upon actual
conditions as found In a city which
has been dry for at least one year.
Decatur has $4,000 people and a lit
tie OF almost every kind of life known
to city. II has been dry for year
and the people have just elected new
DRY mayor. whose instruction 10 10
see 10 II that the local option law is
rigfdly enforced. The town is nor
mally Republican, but the new mayor
Is Democrat His Republican adver-
oary was an avowed wet and for that
he fell. This seems 10 show that De-
catur likes 10 be dry.
There are a whole lot OF local and
state questions which come In 10 In
yolve the situation. but The following
statement of conditions In Decatur Is
impartialiy written and MAJ Se taken
TO reveal the approximate fact:
This Is not dead town" financial
ly industrially or socially. The fac.
tories are running. every one seems 10
be busy and the writer does not re-
me mber OF having visited town
wherein there are more pleasant
faced people TO the city block. where
the people seem to be having better
time In wholesome ways Ga we'll
groomed horse is popular luxury
and where so few ragged people are
seen.
dead Sporting Town."
This Is a dead town, socially. II
''sporting town" may be called live
che II is 10 O'Clock at night and tn"
writer Is looking from hotel window
down upon the main business street.
It In deserted There are no sounds.
there is no ribaldry there or in tn"
hotel. Some $4,000 people are some
where; | suppose they IRE AZ home
bnany Of them asleep. IN an hour d
few hundred people will leave the
heaters Ben Hur" anl vaudeville
IRE the rival attractions There are
few score people attending the NOV
Ing picture shows. The morning news
paper scheduled social. musical or re-
igious meetings at the various church
es for every night this week. Inc
town is baseball mad
| suppose 800 men are al their CLUBS.
Those who drink may drink there
Members keep bottles In lockers In
Dne club. at least. IL Is possible To take
4 warm bottle from a locker and ex'
change il for a cool bottle To be found
n an ice box This local option WORKS
no hardship" on tippling club mem
bers or people who can buy booze III
Quantities and drink from sideDoards'
The mail order houses in Louisville,
ST. Louis. Chicago. send spirits IN.
while beer, shipped in potato or Hour
barrels. or unsuspicious boxes. comes
n from nearby wet towns. such as
Springfield. Bloomington and Peoria
1'he poor man who cannot aford TO
buy bottle or a case may 30 with
but or take trolley ride.
The train arriving here on saturday
Aights, Ii O'Clock. Is called the booze
pecial." because IL brings into the
rity from Peoria. packages. boxes or
barrels unmarked and consigned 10
rs to so Decatur citizens. These peo-
Die meet che special and cart their
packages home for Sunday or week
consumption
There are 80 soft drink parlors
n the town, converted saloons. where
pop, ginger ale and water wagon
beer" are dispensed The latter tastes
ike the real thing. but 1t Is said 10
contain less than one half of | per
81, q, hnl h4N
evaporated at the brewery. The drys
object TO this because 1t Is malt
beverage, and they have taken their
.ase into court There have been In a
year nearly 100 arrests for illegal sell
ng. boot-legging (peddling from bot
le or soiciting). blind tiger. or sell
ing IN soft drink .parlors. The booze
sold thus, like some that Is imported.
IS said TO be OF poor quality. Jim
Sheets. a farmer, drank one two-hnger
smile" in a blind tiger, and In an
hour fell dead The local newspapers
declared that the smile" did the bus
ness
393 Drunks JaiIed.
The city is said TO have gained
population during the year; there are
no figures. The head OF the largest
transfer company says that for every
hree families that he has moved out
BIZ town during the year, he has moved
seven In.
In 1908, wet, there were l,943 ar
rests on all charges OF this total S74
were charged with intoxication. Dur
ng the dry year there have been 9S9
arrests 1893 for drunkenness. The vag-
ants locked up during the last wet
year numbered 5s; there were only
q arrested during the dry year.
The cost of policing the city, S2l 200,
has remained the same. but Decatur
has a wet mayor and council. The po-
ice obviously were not as busy dur
Ing the past year IL Is fact that
The number of arrests for intoxication
has been slightly increased in the
heighporing towns. since Decatur went
dry. There Is not great number OF
people however. who go out of town
10 get full, II railroad men may be be-
Dieved
For some reason. the number Of
divorces has increased. On the docket
now for the May term Of the circuit
court are so cases For the May term
b year ago there we're 2S cases. Half
pi the cases brought against husbands
are upon the grounds OF intemperanee
Or allied abuses. Half OF the cases
against wives are upon statutory
grounds"
When local option came into power
63 saloons, paying s3l, 500 city license
were killed one small local brewer