Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-05-13

81 uStiNe u pTopeTtv-TlSNlS, 10 ISNeu.
ues and to individual liberty of &C.
ton"
1t will be the part of common sense
to inquire who is primarily response.
bic for most of the violations of law il
Iowa before the snug protestation:
of the liquor dealers literature are ac-
cepted for their face value. In this
Connection a number of extremely per-
tinent questions suggest themselves
state laws governing the saloons and
the sales of liquor wherever any pos
sibility existed that blind pig could
exist or a saloon throw open the door
and throw away the key? Who has paid
the best lawyers that money could buy
to break down, destroy and find loop
holes in the laws Regulating the traf-
fic." Whose press and literature has
been virulent against the men who
made the laws, the citizens who de-
sired their enforcement and the Off
GERS who did their duty? Who has con-
| tributed immense slush funds to car
~ elections and defeat honest men
who desired 10 enforce the laws as
they had sworn TO do? Who has cul-
tivated contempt for any law that re-
stricted in any way the output of beer
and whisky The answer is the dis
tillers and the brewers. Has there ever
been a time until the wave of public
nlignation scarced them stiff that the
Quor dealers and manufacturers la
aented the lamentable fact of failure
10 enforce liquor laws and demanded
that "saloonkeepers shall obey all laws
or else be retired from this business p"
/ Has the time ever been when the
/ bootlegger and the blind pig proprie-
/ Tor could not get all the booze and beer
he could sell in defiance of law and
public sentimento Haven't an army of
good men been crushed because they
got in the way of the Illicit and law
defiant who proposed 10 circulate the
brewers output no matter what the
law provided? Hasn't whisky been
shipped into Iowa in coffins in an at
tempt 10 defy the lawo And now are
we 10 listen 70 the deathbed repent
ances and trust that upon recovery the
conversion viii remain complete?
This National Model License League.
brazenly offers a solution of the liqucr
question. 1t wants a law permitting
all licenses now outstanding TO con-
cinue in force; these licences to be
transferable from one 10 another" as
any other property is transferred; no
licences issued until the proportion be-
come one saloon to every 500 inhad-
! tants'; no license TO be excessive,
principally because ii encourages. and
in some cases almost compels the hand
ling Of inferior liquors. the sale Of al
coholic beverages 10 intoxicated men
and to minors, and the violation Of
laws in regard TO closing at certain
hours, etc" and it submits its skel-
eton of legal enactment with conf
4 dence to the people"
Competition 1t will be seen is at the
bottom of all the. evils that group about
the saloon. The license must be cheap
or he will not sell expensive liqu5rs
a low profit The lowbrowed person
in the purlieus under cheap license
would forget the possibility of larger
profits and serve his patrons with only
the good old stuff aged in the wood
One saloon to 500 Inhabitants means
one saloon TO the heads Of 100 families
How about competition there? A sa-
loon would have to get some minor
trade directly or indirectly to live
wouldn't if. And the model league tells
US in its literature: The saloon keeper
like any other man. gravitates instinc-
lively, unconsciously. and in obedience
to the irnmutable laws of trade, toward
that line of conduct which seems to
promise the most substantial rewards,
and like other men, he is ofttirnes per-
suaded. because of the force of COM
petition, or in obedience TO the law Of
/ self preservation. TO do things which
he condemns at heart, and which d.
hurt to the opinions. and perchance to
the rights of others This is a sugar
coated way of putting the assertion
that unless he can sell about as he
pleases under the law he will sell as
ne 9ieases out of the Jaw. If compe-
tition gets too strong he will simply be
will simply be obliged to run a craI
game in the back room and rent the
rooms overhead 10 d few girls
The mistake that the Model League
makes is in presuming that it can ar
que the saloon business as a proper
and legitimate business to be carried
ton of the community in which it exists
Nobody believes il, not one in ten of the
men who carry it on. Everyone knowns
it ought not to exist. 1t is not Guilt
j, waited by any except as a method OF
getting money. 1t is tolerated, borne
as burden and concession to this
worst in mankind instead of the best
1t Is not an aid to the community bui
burden and an expense. 1t doesnt
get any man a raise of wages, increase
the output Of any factory. On the