Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1910-04-26

me with something more than soft
drink?" Eyes, guess / can" he
said. What would you like?"
was then "up against IL" good and
hard. l did not want to make the
confession that never drink liquor
after calling for it, and excused my
self by saying: "It is now my sup
pertime, and ] am not in the habit
of drinking anything just before
eating" If all kinds of liquor can
be procured in one place, they can be
procured in the one hundred and
more other places in the city run
ming wide open.
Upon arriving in the city, the
first business place saw was a
gorgeous saloon. had not gone
one block before met a man who
required the entire width of the
side walk for him to get along.
stopped in one of the pool rooms to
see the men play, and fine look
ing man asked me If would not
keep count for him while he play
ed. His tongue was SO thick he
could scarcely talk. and he was
very unsteady on his feet The
poolroom was in connection with a
saloon, where he had evidently pro-
cured soft drink" Everybody
knows that these places are saloons,
pure and simple, where any person
can get any kind of liquor he may
order And this is in a prohibition
city.
Some people will endeavor to
answer this fact by Saying that the
fault is not in the law, but in the
officers whose duty it is to enforce
the law. This is true. If we were
living under ideal political condl-
tions, with every officer a man who
would do his duty, prohibition would
be made a success But unfortu-
nately, we do not have such ideal
conditions in our municipal govern
ments. We are forced to work un-
der conditions as they are, and not
under what we might imagine ideal
conditions TO be. Conditions pre-
vailing in our cities are such as TO
make the successful enforcement of
a prohibitory law practically Inn
possible and 1t is unwise to at
tempt to secure such result at the
present time.
Reaction has already set in
against the law. and the general be-
lief is that It will be repealed, and
a local option law enacted in its
stead, The claim is that this
change would permit each local
community TO deal with the traffic,
according to the will of the ma
jority. II is estimated that two out
of three persons in Montgomery are
opposed to prohibition. and are like
wise opposed to having law forced
upon them by other. sections of the
state that they do not want, and
will not enforce. This is why a
prohibItory law is destined TO fail
in our cities, where II is opposed by
majority OF the people.
The conditions In Birmingham are
somewhat different from those In
Montgomery The Law has made
some Improvement by closing the
saloons and reducing the number Of
arrests for drunkenness, SO far as
can be seen from the street, Birm-
ingham Is strictly prohibition city.
Il would be the most natural thing
IN the world for person 10 visit
this city. " he made no Investigation
as TO conditions, and report that pro
hibltlon is surely a success.
I had conversation with Post
office clerk. who Is teetotaler and
prohibitlonlst, hence he would
naturally be biased in favor OF the
law He made the following state
ments which found, upon further
Investigation. to be expressive of
me general sentiment OF the people.
he said; Tho present conditions
are some improvement on the SUR
face over the open saloon traffic,
but the actual conditions are not
much improved Any body can get