Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-05-27
TO ATTACK INDIANAPOLIS
Plans Of the Anti-Saloon League
of Indiana.
state Capital Will He Taken In as
soon a. Local option Elections In
Outlying Counties Are Finished
Heavy Losses Of the Bre wers.

are being laid by the Ant-Saloon League
Within the next sixty days 1t is proba Bile
that its lieutenants will begin operations
here. says the indianapolis correspondent
to the New York Evening Post.
The league will begin as soon as II
completes the May roundup IN the
smaller. outlying counties for which
local option elections have been arranged.
Before indianapolis IL tackled, E. S.
Shumaker. state superintendent OF the
Anti-Saloon League, says that all but
nine or ten of the ninetytwo Hoosier
counties will have been made saloon
less.
The moral effect of the long list Of vic
tories In the rural communities is expect
ed BY the temperance forces to be bene-
fetal to the anti-saloon cause here. but
the opposite view is taken by the liberals
and the liquor interests. which predict
that business men generally will see the
advantage of maintaining indianapolis
as tho one bright oasis for the thirsty
in the middle section Of the State.
Nearly sixty counties have voted dry"
Enghteen were without saloons when the
movement was beyond. Five have voted
to retain the licensed saloons. Apparent
" realizing that they cannot stem the
al communities. the brewery combination
and the allied interests have reserved
their efforts for Indianapolis and the
larger cities. like Evansville. Terre
Haute, Fort Wayne. South Bend, and
Hammond. The last stand will be made
in these places. and the struggle Is ex-
pected to be the most spectacular of its
kind in tho middle west. Members of the
brewery combination admit that defeat
in the large centres Of population prac-
tically would amount to the complete
humiliation of property now valued at
nearly s300OO,Oo0
LOSSES OF THE BREWING INTER
EETS.
It is estimated that the local option
movement has cut down the value OF
brewer property in Indiana nearly . per
cent. in the last six months. Brewery
stock that was earning so per cent. and
selling at fabulous prices. is now compar
atiely easy to obtain around par. One
big brewery at Terre Haute Is said to
have had nearly 100000 worth Of saloon
fixtures turned back on its hands during
the last year. Nearly every brewery in
the State has warehouses bullying out
with bar fixtures which it supplied to its
agents in the bamy days Of the brewery
saloon.
Unless the Anti-Saloon League can be
defeated in Indianapolis and the other
larger cities. the liberals and the mem
bers Of the brewery combination say that
Statewide prohibition will be the next
step. In fact Statewide prohibition is
no. the DOGGY Of the brewers. and they
are preparing to open headquarters in
Indianapolis and to begin a campaign Of
education to show to the masses the
evils of Statewide prohibition from their
standpoint.
Convinced by their recent experience
with the Democratic party that they
cannot get relief through politics. it is
said that the brewers are going to devote
their energy to the preservation OF their
business by business methods. For many
years the brewery combination has been
a potent factor in shaping the affairs
of the Democratic party In the last
campaign 1t united its nurse strings and
financed the democratic organization in
the larger cities. It's reward was the
failure of the Democratic party to follow
up its victory with the repeal OF the
locadl option law. 1t is said however,
that the sudden determination OF the
hold on the democratic organization Is
due to the Expressed determination Of
GOV. Thomas r. Marshall and some Of
his associates not to countenance it,
IMPORTANCE OF THE PENDING
STRUGGLE.
Whether or not Indiana is to he added
to the temperance zone. will depend very
largely on the resU!: Of the impending
battle in this city. The brewers say that
the pendulum is about due to swing back
their way. and that within the next year
and half many counties that have voted
dry will he ready to vote in favor of
the licensed saloons
Both sides are gathering statistics
Those of the. brewers show that victories
of the Anti-Saloon League are sure to be
followed by big increase in taxation.
lowering of rents and valuation Of bust
ness property. and illegal sale Of intoxi-
Giants. The Anti-Saloon League expects
to demonstrate shat where the saloons
have been driven out. other business has
been started In the vacant rooms: that
taxes will he lowered because it will not
be necessary to maintain SO many police,
and that the number Of paupcrs and the
amount of crime will be decreased.
The temperance workers, up to this
time. have shown a complete disregard OF
the prospect Of taxes being increased.
One county voted "dry" within the last
few days that has not had enough money
this year to maintain It's schools. Its
people are taxed to the limit now. and
they are $3.50 in debt on their school
system for the present term. yet they
wiped out saloons that would have sup
piled nearly enough revenue.
The brewers have figures to show that
In many cities. property owners have
either had to reduce their rents 30 per
cent, or let their business rooms stand
idle. In some dry cities, they say
business rooms have been offered for two
or three months free of rent in order
that tenants might be obtained. They
are also insisting that trade Is being
taken from the "dry" cities by the wet
ones. which is denied strenuously, how
ever, by the anti saloon people,
USING THE BOYCOTT AND BLACK
LIST.
how to work n boycott and blacklist on
the business men who have opposed
them. The women and children are fur
nishing the spectacular as well as the
sentimental aspect of the contest and arc
demonstrating what they could accom-
plish If they had equal suffrage They are
refusing to buy goods from the mer-
chants who assert that for the good OF
their cities licensed saloons must be re-
tanned I.Ogansnort women are going to