Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-12-02
IOWA BUSINESS MEN AND THE SALOON.

lUWA BUSINESS MIN ANU lFte SALUUN.
The petitions for saloon consent are
meeting frosty weather. Practically
every saloon city in the state is organ
fling its corporation Of business men
and others 10 oppose the petitions,
Waterloo, the first city to report. has
without any reasonable doubt refused
the saloon further extension of bust
ness Fort Dodge viii swing into step
with Waterloo. Des Moines saloonists
and liquor interests are frightened into
epasms of desperate effort to retain
their nefarious privilege. Cedar Rapids
is producing powerful opposition In
all these cities the anrisaloon corpora :
tons count among their mem hershi p
and active promoters numbers of the
leading business men Of the corn mum
ny. The movement asdiHst saloon ex-
tension is not one of long haired men
and short haired women but OF the
business and professional and indus
trial bone and sinew OF these towns.
It is a business proposition as we'll as
a moral movement. In short business
men are convinced that the saloon is an
unhealthy parasite on business as il is
q moral atrocitv.
The saloon NAV has a right % peti-
ton None will deny him his right un-
der the law. None is attempting 20 sub
vert his rights when he offers the most
strenuous opposition to his petition.
iowa Judge Mcpherson of the fed
eral court saws it is an outlaw and not
entitled to any consideration as a
business but belongs without with
dogs But under the Iowa law the sa
loonist has the right to ask that he
may contract with the voters to pay
81 900 a year for the privilege of taking
$4,000 in wages ard fuel and clothing
away from the children and wives Of
his patrons and diverting that amount
of cash to the tills of his drinking
place and the Golfers of NIinnea polls.
st. Louis and Dubuque brewers and
away from the sales balances Of home
merchants. But the voter has RICH.
to refuse this consent. It is his re-
sponsibility and he must stand for 1t.
The voter who signs a saloon petition
signs a contract.
However. the brewers and saloonis.s
have no legal or m oral right to the dis
AV.th ~
have no legal right to buy consent
either from the voter who is willing to
make merchandise OF his privilege or
the property owner who blackr ais a
monthly PAYNE nt out of the saloon.
They have no moral right 20 become
the main support Of alleged newspa-
pers. When these things are done they
constitute Of them selves offense suffi-
cent to disgust ordinarily decent men
who are particularly opposed 20 the
sale or cor sumption of liquor into re-
fusing their consent and Allotment 10
the operation of a business which de-
ponds upon corruption for its legal ex-
lstence.
That the saloon e'business" has be-
come refuge for men with criminal
records and for men who have done
time in jails and penitentiaries, is
enough TO put the primal curse upon
1t. That a saloonist, with sense Of
responsibility and usefulness in citizen
ship is hard to find is one of the rea-
sons for this universal opposition to
the saloon by men OF all classes, modes
Of thought, and diversity Of opinion.
Here is broad sketch of the saloon
business" its attitude toward the law
and toward humanity. Business men
went out and saw for themselves the
saloons effect on morals and the bust
ness mans cash balance:
Ninety five of the 1913 saloons in Des
Moines were Swallowed" by citizens
committees appointed by the citizens
association to ascertain the number
that entered saloons on a given night
According to the report compiled and
read in every church in Des Moines
Sunday Des Moines saloon doors swung
open to 1895 between the hours of 8
and ~ O'CLOCK. closing tim e. AT 8
O'Clock there were $50 men In the sa :
looms and during the two hours follow
ing 12,245 men entered.
These business men claim that young
men, who apparently We're minors to
the number Of 1879, were seen in the sa-
looms, while they declare they counted
593 intoxicated men. OF the total num-
Der 1850 were poorly dressed.
The committees who did the shadow
ing declare the bartenders did not hest
tate to serve women who ordered their
drinks at the bar and carried liquor
sway with them in buckets.
The saloon is a leper, admittedly sc
! ~ its advocates and by the thinking
men who debase their intellect and
moral consciousness to the profits OF
he business" It is an anomaly ir
Twentieth century civilization. That is
Why the leading merchants and manu-
y Aacturers OF Waterloo belong to the
= lntt-saloon, corporation. That is why
- saloons in Cedar Rapids were no,
4 ely agreeable but anxious that the