The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-03-14

e main dry"
MAYOR SEES IMPROVEMENT.
e Mayor G. NJ Borchers, who wa
IS elected on a lay-enforcement plat
e form, sees an improvement in tn
e morals of Decatur, and asserts tina
a business has been better under tn
Il dry regime.
3, Decatur is better and more pros
# porous city since the saloon was leg
: ally abolished" said Mayor Borche
f to the correspondent of the Dali,
y News. "The council has been agains
4 the mayor. 1t has been wet by
d TWO LOCAL OUPITON etshrdlusl
e. vote of to 6. Until recently the DO
e. lice force was against us. The de
partment has twenty-five men, and
have succeeded in getting rid of II
who were not in sympathy with us
The police records show fewer ar.
rests and a better moral tone.
Decatur will stay dry 1 venture
to say the vets will not raise the
point that dry town hurts business.
Such statement cannot be proved.
The strongest supporters of the sa-
loon will not say that their elimina-
ton hurt business. The campaign
slogan of the VETS is personal lib
erty' and in my judgment that is a
myth"
Sharry futile, chairman of the
Macon county republican central COM
mittee and an officer of the Decatur
Brick Company, who is aiding the
wet" forces, is confident Decatur is
going back to the saloon.
Local option has not prohibited
the sale of intoxicating liquor said
Chairman futile. 'There are three
elements which entered the kind of a.
fight we had two years ago. You had
the no license people, who do not
want saloon licenses issued in any cir
cumstances. They are commonly
known as prohibitionists Then you
had the hard drinkers, who believed
that it would be good for them to see
the saloons wiped out. Third, there
was the fellow who had a personal
grudge against the saloonkeepers. The
last two classes will not line up with
the 'drys' this time. The hard drink
ers have been able to get what they
craved and they will favor well-regu-
lated saloons. Old scores against the
saloonkeepers have been paid.
'Wiping out of the bar room did not
affect business. Personally 1 favor
high license, and well regulated sa-
looms and it is upon this issue that
the campaign will be fought out"
Reeves Holt of the dry goods firm
of Linn & Scruggs, the largest in the
city, is an out-and-out "dry" advocate.
This store had fortieth anniversary |
last September and when asked what /
effect local option had on its business
Mr.. Holt said:
Our business has been the best
in the history of the store. Collec- /
lions have been better, and more
homes were built here last summer
than ever before. There is no argu-
ment in favor of the saloon, in my
opinion. feel convinced that Deca-
tur will remain dry.
Dennis Bradley of Bradley Bros,
the other large dry goods house, was
rot ready to say whether he would
vote wet" or dry" although he
pointed out that while business gen
orally might not have been affected
by the abolition of the saloon, money
which Decatur would have had with
saloons running had gone elsewhere.
SEES LOSS OF 100000.
The sixty saloons we had did at
least 100000 of business in a year."
said Mr.. Bradley. "Of this, let us fig
ure that 100000 was profit. We have
lost that much, haven't we? The ex-
press companies have been carrying
at least 100000 worth of liquors and
the money is going outside. So far,
as the moral side goes, / notice that
there is no let upin the divorce mills.
Mind you, 1 am not saying how I in
tend to vote"
O. B. CORN, president of the Mill
ken National bank, the large financial
institution of the city, handed the
bank statement when
he was asked what effect, if any, local
option had on business.
I'VE are not taking any hand in the
fight" explained the bank president,
after it was learned that the state
ment showed an increase of business.
c. M. Barnett, a manufacturer of
furnaces, who was secretary of the
Personal Liberty League during the
campaign two years ago, says the city
will go wet" in the spring.
Il could name 100 who voted for
local option last time, but who will
be against it this time," said Mr.. Bar
nett "'Tha soft dY,inIy ,,orIr,,z +oe1-