Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1909-09-17
SOME SUGGESTIVE FIGURES.
They Are Official. Compiled by the Gen
eral Government, and Cannot Lie

YELM. Wash. Sept. 6, '09.
Ed. STANDARD:
| understand that an effort is be-
ing made by some good meaning
people to authorize an election to
vote on the question of local option
in this county. AS citizen of said
county for the past thirty seven
years, | think | have right to ex-
press my opinion of the proposition.
If prohibition is for the best inter-
eSts of the State, we cant have it
too soon; if it is not, we can't nip it
in the bud too quickly. / contend
that it has proved u failure wherever
tried. Now let us use a little com
mon sense. Does prohibition pre-
vent the sale and use of intoxicants
If it has accomplished what its
friends claim for it, there should be
comparatively little drunkenness in
prohibition territory. Now the fact
is, as n general rule, the ratio of ar
rests for drunkenness in prohibition
territory is larger than in territory
where the traffic is carried on under
authority of law, as shown by the
following figures reported in the
United States census reports in the
States that were under prOhibitOry
laws at the time that the report was
made, giving the population, in the
year 1905:
Milwaukee. wet. population 312,-
94S; arrests, 2,834, l to 10. Kan
sas city. KS. dry, population 1854;
arrests, 1882, / to so. Topeka,
Kas., dry, population 81, Gal; arrests,
I'll, l 20 36. Wichita, Kas., dry,
population 81, 40; arrests, l, 1863, to
22. Portland. Maine, dry, popula.
tion 54, ,32O; arrests, 1,525, l to SO.
See table 80 pages 3l6 to 322 Stats
tics of Cities, Department of Com
merce and labor, U. S. census re-
port, 1907. Now figures won t lie.
ProhibitiOnists claim that the use
of iniOXicants causes insanity and
fills our insane hospitals. Now the
fact is, the ratio of insanity is greater
in prohibition than in wet States.
Here are the figures from the same
official source:
Maine, dry, population 706 ,427; in
sane SS5 per 100000; 1888. New
Hampshire, wet, population 424, $50
insane 1876 per 100, 900; 1869. Kan.
sas, dry, population l. .4S5, ,683; insane
2,460 per 100000; 1856. Nebraska,
wet, population 1,067 ,606; insane,
l 1,536 per 100, 900; 1439.
Fanatics howl about the number ol
widows which the liquor traffic makes
every year. They tell us that l00,
900 drunkards go to their graves
every year, and of course they al
leave widows and orphans to be
taken care of by public charities
by reference to the mortality tables
compiled by the Federal government
we find, strange as it may seem, that
the death rate is larger in the dry
States than in the wet. Eight re
ported cities in Wisconsin (weU give
ia deaths to each 1000 population
Nine reported cities in Maine (dry,
give l7.9 to each 1000 population
Two reported cities in Nebraska
(weD give IL deaths to each 1,00(
population. Four reported cities in
Kansas (dry) give 1873 to each loo
population. u. S. Census report.
Mortality statistics, 1906, table II
pages 8O-Sl.
One would think to hear some agi
tatOrs warble, that about all the
deaths were caused by drink. Lei
US again refer to statistics. They
show, beyond the shadow of a doubt
that the number of deaths from al
cOhOlism is insigniticantly small
when compared with the number o
deaths from other causes. Read thu
statistics from the United State.
census office for 1900, page 30, an(
you will find the following: Number
of deaths from alcoholism in United
States per 100, 900 population, &, 400
whooping cough, 1850; tuberculo
sis. l23. 3.040; measles, 9,940; disease.
of digestive system, 1S4 ,040; diarrhe;
and enteritis, $4,000. You see
when it comes to getting death vic