The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1909-03-24
TIMES BUREAU
AT THE STATE CAPITAL.

Indianapolis. Ind, March 24.-The
wild and woody tiger in Africa where
Theodore Roosevelt is going is not the
only animal that Will have a run for
its money while Roosevelt is after him
the Indiana Anti-Saloon league will be
hot on the trail of the blind tiger in
Indiana and they say they propose to
make it warm for him.
Seriously, the Anti-Saloon league has
come to the conclusion that merely
driving the saloons out Of the counties
of the state is not enough and that
this alone will not eliminate the liquor
traffic from Indiana. The league Of
ficers have discovered what everybody
else has known right along-that when
you drive the saloons out of county
the blind tiger comes in, unless the
laws are strictly enforced. And every
body knows how difficult it is to en-
force the liquor laws strictly and also
how difficult it is to have them en-
forced.
Organization to Fight Tiger.
! 1t was announced at the Indiana
Anti-Saloon league headquarters yes
/ terday that the leagues will begin at
once an active warfare against the
| blind tiger 1t is the intention of the
| league, so the officers say, to form an
organization to combat the blind tiger
that will be fully as strong as the
Anti-Saloon league in its fight against
the open saloon. This new organiza-
ton may be an adjunct to the Anti
Saloon league or it may not. That
part of the plan has not been decided
on and Will not be for some time.
Superintendent Shumaker admitted
1 T+w-
the Anti-Saloon league is experiment
ing in the effort to wipe out the sal
oons Is the blind tiger, which springs
up in counties where saloons are driv-
en- out. This, he says, calls for the
organization of a movement that viii
| be directed especially at the inegiti-
mate and illegal traffic, conducted in
an out Of the way place and in a secret
manner. The same plan of campaign
that is used against the saloon will
not do in a fight against the blind
tiger. The enemy is a different kind
and requires different methods in the
effort to get rid of it. That is why
| a separate movement will be started
Was Strong Argument Against Law.
One Of the strongest arguments Of
fered during the session of the legis
lature against the county local option
law was that when you drive saloons
out Of the county and prohibit the legal
sale of liquor it will be sold illegally.
Severa of the members of the legis-
lature came from counties that had
had this very experience. Others told
of boolegging that was carried on in
counties where there are no saloons.
So strong were these arguments, in
fact, and so earnestly were were they
offered and listened to that If the
bill which was offered TO repeal the
county option bill had been anything
! near like what it should have been
1t would have passed and become a
law There is no question about that
But the brewers drew the bill the way
they wanted it and the result was that
the temperance people and some Of the
liberals could not stand for it.
Conference to be Called.
For a long time the Anti-Saloon
league and its followers did not seem
10 realize that there was such a thing
! in the state as a blind tiger. They
8 seemed to think that the only thing
necessary to the elimination OF the
| liquor traffic was the wiping out of
saloons. and their efforts were directed
entirely toward that end. They have
/ been extremely successful in this, too
3 for they have driven out about one
thousand saloons bv rsmopSkxa1ce and