The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1910-10-06
ELI PERKINS JOINS
A DRINKING CLUB.
Being Told There is More Drinking
Than Ever in Maine and Kansas,
He Makes an Investigation.

came here, and IL In so much to the
point in your great fight for State
wide Prohibition beg leave to in
sert the entire story. | have trav-
eled three times nearly through the
State lengthwisc and | haven't seen
IA saloon or IA drunk man in Kansas.
presume there is some drinking
! but they are very shy about II. But
here is the story;
"Sellin' whiskey in Kansas eX-
claimed the purplc-nOsed railroad
passenger, ms he bit of u chew of
plug tobacco, while the train was
pulling out Of Topeka. Drinkin'
! whiskcy! Why they're drukin'
more whiskcy than they ever did
before! "But We never see any bar
rooms | remarked. mo, they
aint no bars, an they aint no sign
/ of bars; but th"y's drukin'.'
/ Then rod" through the State
without seeing IA barroom, II drunk
/ "u man or II sign up where whi-k"y
was for sale. Valuable corners were
occupied by stores, and the money
]
was going into the stores. ! found
| that Kansas used to send ont SlJ,-
| OOO 900 a year To Peoria and Ken
lucky for whiskey, and now Sh" Is
| sending out about one million
year. found that Kansas is now
| saving through temperance Sl4, UOO,
| 900 year, and sim that rod-uusrd
! lOungcr In the smoking ear is con-
tiuually screcchlmg through tn" ear:
"Ih"y re drinkin more whiskcy in
Kansas than they ever did before.
Up in Maine heard the same
whiskry-drinkers refrain. 1t never
came from church member or from
Il prosperous moral business man.
1t always came from drinking
man, So during my last trip
through Maine decided to iuNesti-
gate and find out If the law prevent
ing drunkenness doubled the drunk
ards IL Ia" law preventing ia" sale
of whiskuy really increased the sale
of it,
We'll, a lrctur" engagement called
me up to Pennington, Maine, -
miles north Of Lewiston. As tn"
engagement was for Saturday night
and as no trains run on Sunday,
had To- drive up from Lewiston /.
was tong ride through the SNOW.
"Thi- is a temperance State, isn't
it, | said 10 the -tahlcmau ns be-
was hitchiug up his team.
"Trmp"raucr State" he rN-
claimed, why they re pouriu down
whiskey h"rc-driukin' mure'u they
ever did before
"Hadn you better take bot milk
punch before We start, " said
"Hot milk punch!" he said, his
eyes swapping with JOY, yes, it
would taste good, but you can't get
those fancy drinks up here. No
bars, YOU know, an you've got To
MAKE them fancy drinks at home. ~
But when there i 50 much drink
ing there must bc bars near by" !
said.
well they're driukin' all the
same, but we don't have bars. We
hive to manage little, and it takes
time you know
So we started oil for til" long
twenty-five mile ride through the
snow. We passed several hotels,
aud stopped aud warmed. There
AIDES were the only drinks to be had.
We found Pennington without a
bar, and thorough temperance
town. The audience that greeted
me showed temperance, intelligence
aud prosperity IN their faces. Com
ing back the next morning ! said tn
my driver:
1T seems strange that people will
so traducc this temperance State.
They don't traduce it, said the
driver. "Thcy's drinkin' goin' on
here. can get you drink"
"Gou can get me drink | said
with an accent on the "can. why
of course you can, said cnthusi-
astirally; and when We get tn Lew
iSton Wen have II nice hot whlS>"y,
won't we.
I'm afraid IN be- too busy put
ting up my horse; tut ! could get
you drink If had time
But III pay boy for unhitching
the horse said, as we drove into
the Lewiston stable. "NOw let's
have the drink. Come ON"
IAN right said the driver, ~
think can get II drink, but mcbby
tn" whiskey is out, and we'll have
to take bottled beer
Then | followed him through the
dried weeds and snow along the
river bank. When we reached the
rear end of Grady's cabin, the driver
knocked on the door.
"Bc off from there!n said an Irish
woman : voice. It's no use comm
round here. The perlicc has been
round here, and poor Moikc has
gone wild 'om."
found it," said my driver,
striking his left hand with his right
fist; 1.-THE police are always gettin
on the end OF wake. But can
get you drink yet" Then he
looked at me quizzically and said,
"Will you join club?"
"a what!n said |. "a club?"
eyes, III join anything to get n
drink, I'll join the Masons, join a
hose company, join chuTch-any-
thing"