The Yale expositor., 1910-03-25
CONDITIONS IN WEXFORD.
Letter From T. o. Huckle Ex-
planning True Conditions in
That DRY" County.
Cadillac, Mich, Mar. 2l, 10

EultOI ale EApOSllOI.-
When 1 was home on my vacation
last summer st. Clair county local OPP
tion enthusiasts assembled at Port HUI
ron and decided to start a campaign
for a dry county. 1t was my pleasure
to attend these meetings and at that
time l assured those who talked with
me concerning the workings of local
option in Cadillac and Wexford county
that | would see that the actual facts
were put in print in some of the county
papers. However, as officers of the st.
Clair county local option campaign
have been using considerable of the
"dry" ammunition have been sending
down thought it was unnecessary for
me to write articles for the news
papers.
But the happenings of last week have
changed my plans. Having spent near
ly all of my life in st. Clair county |
am naturally interested in its welfare
and indeed every good citizen should
be interested in the great question to
be voted upon April 4.
When a speaker so able as +. o. Gatf-
ney, of Cadillac, is SHRED" by the "wets"
to misrepresent things as they are here
today deem it my duty to state some
of the facts as | actually find them
here. At the last session of the circuit
court here Mr. Gaffney-who by the
way is lawyer-in defending his client
gave a most excellent address in favor
of temperance. | mention this to show
what "wet" money will do, and his
present Inconsistency.
| came to Cadillac Feb. |, 1909, or
four months before Wexford county
went dry, so | know Cadillac as it was
"before and after taking" Prior to
May 1st, 1908, one could see persons
under the influence of liquor at most
any time on any day. During the past
year or more it has been a RARE thing
to see drunken person OH the street.
During the summer months, however,
one sometimes sees few fellows on
some Sunday evenings returning from
the fortnightly excursions to Traverse
City a "little under the weather" OF
course the new local option law is.
not perfect-neither is any law-but it
is indeed better than the open saloon.
A gentleman in position to know
states that fully IS per cent less liquor
is consumed in Wexford county today
than any one year for the last ten of
the open saloon.
Now for few telling figures. The
records of the county don't lie During
the last year of saloons there were 232
arrests for drunkenness in Wexford
county, while during l909-with no
saloons-there were, only 81 1t cost
the city of Cadillac alone during the
last saloon year $847.20 for prisoners,
while during 1909, with no saloons but
$500. Who paid the $847.20? The
tax payer. What saved the tax payer
$787 .50-the difference between above
figures? Local option. If one takes
out the extra taxes of the past year:
$25C0 for improvements to our canal,
$4,000 for opening new street, $4,000 for
macadamiZing streets, $500 for public
dock, $1389.50 net increase in state and
school taxes etc, which have no cor
responding items on the roll of the
previous year, the present amount of
$343 on hundred dollars would be
reduced to S2.S6. This would be 44c
below what it was the previous year,
34c below the average of the last ten
years and 24c above the lowest rate the
city ever had. Above figures were Civ
en- me by county treasurer Wheeler,
who knows what he is talking about.
Who would not go without five 5 cent
cigars-the equal of the stated 24c-tO
hCCp Jul yOullb LiCll, .Co, dilu Oiu ihCh'
too, from the evils of the saloon.
The deposits in the savings depart
ments of banks are a good criterion as
to the prosperity of community and
its workingmen. Cadillac's two banks
show total gain in deposits during
the past year of S2l1 ,019.9S, and gain
in the savings deposits alone of
118,267.56.
| Are Cadillac and Wexford county
being lied aboutp Yes. / do not know
what Mr.. Gaffney has been saying in
st. Clair county but / do know that he
has misrepresented things as others
have. A. g. Stewart, of Ludington,
deposited $500 in local bank TO de-
fray the expenses of a committee to
come to Cadillac and see if the condi-
tions were not as he had represented
them. He stated that he found Ia va
cant business places on main street,
large empty hotel, 20 empty flats, 81
empty houses, industrial activity de-
moralized, etc. w. l.. Saunders, who
is president of the Wexford County
Local Option Association, and the head
of one of our most prominent lumber
manufacturing concerns, upon being
shown clipping by the writer, from a
Ludington paper containing the offer.
at once telegraphed g. +. Olmstead, of
Ludington, stating that he would pay
the entire expense of an impartial com.
mittee ii they couldprove Mr. Stewards
statements. What's happened? The
J usual thing where "wet" bluff is at