East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-10-03
FEARS PROHIBITION.

IN the event state wide prohibition :
enacted HIS epis-Ie Is as follows.
an nc, a methodist nor an I per
sonzliy acquainted with Rev. J H.
Cudlipp 0f Grace Methodist Episcopal
church vas brought up in tn
Anglican church (caII=d Episcopal In
America and Samuel Seabury the
first bishop 0f that church. vas an
ancestor q nine On my fathers side.
But IN these days q raoid bigJrry and
Intolerance it is refreshing 10 meet
a man EhO i cautious and c0nserys-
tive, Ike Mr. Cuilipp; and whO b.
liev=s that when We are confronted
with tao evils Es should accept the
lesser u The twain. We are living in
an age which calls for the aid and
service of conservative men in the 70
rum and the pulpit. a. well as al the
bar and Of the bench; and The rector
u Grace Methodist Episcopal church
has shown himself an earnest advO-
cate of that most equitable OF all
measures-.-the greatest good 70 the
greatest number"
That the reverend gentleman viii
incur censure from many OF his own
denomination II not from members
of his immediate flock. is nv belief
But we ara nO- now living in an era
Ike that which sent Ridley and Lati-
mer % the stake. He looks toward a
compromise which is righ- and ius.
because i does no, involve the aband-
onmeni Of 2 principle. Now. as this
statewide prohibition question i= the
most important one 20 De submitted
unto the qualified voters Of this state
al the ensuing election. le, Us look
az L from both financial and a NOR
al Doin' Of view.
You good people who went through
the panic Of three years ago. do Won
want n have 2 repetition of Il in No
Vember2 II you do just 20 TO the
polls on election day and vote for
statewide prohibition. II will pro-
duce little or no great change in the
small towns in the interior II Oregon
but in Portland its effects win be rar
more disastrous than was the panic
of 1907. To begin with It will cut off
i21 liquor licenses. which pay the en-
tire expense Of the fire and police de-
paTtnents, thus greatly reducing the
c!ty's revenues and necessitating in
creased taxation in order % maintain
those departments. L will vacate 42O
houses now rented for saloons and
render It difficult for property owners
to find new tenants for them. Those
saloons sometimes have two owners
and often AZ high as three: and at
least half the saloonmen Of this city
are married men. who keep house and
pay rent At least 900 barkeepers are
employed a salaries ranging from $50
TO 800 per month. Then there must
be nearly 200 employees in the brewer
les Including the coopers and dray-
men; and at least a half of them are
married men. renting small dwellings.
Not one Of them in 10 owns the house
wherein he resides
Outside the owners Of these
buildings there are others who will
feel the depression caused by state
vide prohibition and feel il much as
soon az will the owners OF real es-
tate. The can at the corner grocery:
the butcher with his white apron and
blue gingham sleeves: the man from
sunny Italy. who peddles out arti-
chokes and cauliflowers, and the man
who sells wheat bread compounded
by the apOthecaries' weight, all these
small retailers will feel the strin-
gency at once such a law goes into
effect. And with the retail trades
men buying nothing from them the
big wholesale merchants will soon
share in the general dismay that per-
vades all classes Of trade in a large
and once prosperous city.
There are hundreds Of men doing
business in this city Of ours whose
sole avocation is the purchase and
sale Of real property as we'll as the
collection Of rentals on houses and
lots owned by non-residents. They
say the easiest way to reach a mans
heart Is through his pocket; and If
such be the case, 1t is to the interest
Of every real estate dealer in Portland
to cast his vote against the senseless
proposition to make prohibition a law
throughout the length and breadth Of
the state. 1t will lead up to depre-
citation Of values everywhere but more
especially in this city, and it therefore
feat measure that Is a deathblow to
popular liberty and a proposition that
has proven failure in every other
state of the union. Kill it off and do
II now
have gone over the financial side
Of the question at a greater length
than I had first intended because /
did not wish again to occupy space to
discuss 1t. But the moral side of the
question Is more easily disposed of.
The dead editor Of the Oregonian, by
long odds the biggest t-brained man
that ever saw Oregon, gave the truth
in a nutshell when he said that "the
objection to prohibition is that it does
not prohibit" The elder Pitt. in one
OF his speeches said: Nothing so
dlsgraces or belittles a nation as to
adopt laws which 1t cannot enforce"
We see this exemplified in Maine, the
pioneer prohibition state, where there
10 more wife-beating by drunken hus-