The Falls City tribune., 1910-07-08
TINKERINC WITH THE Laws
DIR. MoRSMAN ON DRUG STORE
TRAFFIC IN LIQUORS.
Drug Stores With silk Fronts and
Calico Backs" Laws, Good or
Bad, Must Be Obeyed.

obey me laws. no matter whether
1t concerns his pocket or his per.
son No matter whether II is Il
good law or a bad one (and we have
plenty of bad onosl. il should be
obeyed. II is better to obey and
try for its repeal than 10 have it
become a dead letter, obeyed by
none, numbering the statutes, and
causing disrespoct for all law. The
enforcement of "A bad law will soon
lead 10 its repeal.
For years law makers have tinker.
ed with the liquor laws and because
fanatieism, politics and cupidity have
been active w%ifespullers in the lobby
of every legislature in all the states,
little good has come of the tinkering.
Believing that the citizen should
obey the law that applies TO him as
an individual IL naturally follows
that | believe the druggist should
obey the laws that apply to his bust
ness. aud | have only contempt for
the druggist who makes of his occupa.
ton a respectable front behind which
he can hide an illegitimate traffic.
A lady once described Il house with
only the street frontage of stone as
a silk front and calico back" Some
drug stores are like that. They are
drug store fronts and saloon backs,
The sale of whiskey is the principal
industry and the drug store is a
bluff. Such a druggist is u%nspeak-
ably contemplate. He is prostitut-
ing his profession and debasing his
fellow men. He is worse than the
saloon man because he does his dirty
work under cover He Is q man to
be Stunned by all right minded people
and does not deserve patronage. Ev-
cry bit of legitimate business he gets
in the front end helps him to carry
on the illegitimate traffic i'm the
back end.
~ h'ftNt HdlldltH luutIS
because he considers them as medi-
csnes, and as such his customers re-
duire them of him when the need
arises. If he does not have them
the customer viii go Il the drug
store that does keep them and he
may become a customer of that store
for other goods; so that 1t becomes
a compulsory matter.
II is probable that he would be
very glad to quit handling these
goods if he could. because of the
legal conditions that make him
much trouble and risk and also be-
cause II is not a profitable business
for him if he handles it in a legi-
innate manne When the business
Is confined strictly to medical, sac
ramental, culinary and mechanical
purposes. his sales will be small,
and if he sells good qualities his
profits viii not be large and the
added expense of government license,
local license, bond. advertising and in
~cidentals, reduces the profit side of
the account until it is not worth con
sidering.
| believe ninety per cent of the
better class druggists would get out
of it if they could, The Sunday pro
hibition OocaD applies to the drug
gist and the eight o'clock closing
law ~(state) applies to the druggist
just the same as to the saloon.
These are excellent laws as APP
piled TO the saloon, but the need for
medicine s just as apt to occur Sun
day or after eight o'clock as at any
other time. and the druggist is plac-
ed in a hard position when he must
either refuse the request of "A custom
err in a necessary case or violate the
law.
This seems like a serious defect in
each of these laws and one that
could be easily remedied. | do not
believe that the average druggist is
dishonest CT tricky. If that is the
case it is certainly true that one hon
est enc could be found in any town
who could safely be appointed emer
gencF dispenser. But our beautiful
political system is in the way. No
appointment is ever made except for
political purposes or political pull,
and competency and honesty are
rarely considered. Indeed it would
be better in small towns if all the
liquor business was placed in the
hands of one honorable person or
concern, under surveillance and res
trlcuons, and all saloons, the drunk
ara factories, eliminated. This has
peen tried, but politics crept in and