The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-11-18
The Ahrl.sALooh GRAFT.

1 IneSe opening Wolus W ~
ero in one of his oratlons
might well be addressed by
the people of Keokuk to the Iowa
Anti-Saloon League which yesterday
caused injunction petitions to be
filed against eleven saloonkeepers and
ten property owners in this city. II
! the proceedings thus begun were In
stituted in good faith, or II any good
end were to be served by such I'M
warranted interference by outsiders in
Keokuk affairs. some allowance could
and would be made for the implied
| offense against the right of local self
government. strong as is the senti-
ment of this community in favor OF
| home rule. But no such justification
exists AS far as can be learned the
proceedings are without excuse ex-
cept such as is furnished by the needs
| of the pocket books of the agents OF
| the League.
The suits were filed in the name OF
| one E. E. Meeks, local grocer. On
| his own confession Mr. Meeks Is but
cat's-paw to pull the Leagues chest
nuts out of the fire. or, to drop the
metaphor, he has consented to serve
as a tool to extract total of S2to
from the pockets of certain citizens
and property owners in Keokuk and
Des Moines attorneys representing
the League who were able to make
use of him for the purpose. In the
| information he signed he solemnly
swore that the mulct law had been
and is being violated. A few minutes
later, on being interviewed by repre-
| sentative of The Gate City he stated
that he could not assign any reasons
| for bringing the suits, but believed
| that the charges which would be
preferred against the defendants
we're wholly of a technical nature
In other words, he had sworn to
something he personally knew moth
ing about.
| The Gate City holds no brief for the
saloon keepers of Keokuk, but it be-
lieves they should be treated fairly.
| 1t is free to admit that there was a
time when the liquor laws of the state
were honored more in the breach than
in the observance, but that was years
ago. Ever since the enactment OF
the mulct law there has been a grow
ing local sentiment in favor of law
| observance, and the control of the
liquor traffic has improved pari passu
Within the past seven months in par
ticular, under the commission form OF
city government, there has been note
worthy progress in this direction un
til now saloon conditions in Keokuk
are as nearly ideal as it is possible
/ to make them anywhere. Instead Of
openly violating or secretly evadine
the law, the saloon men of keokuk
have made and are making earnes
and conscientious attempts to NEE
the requirements of the law in ever.
4 particular. AS saloons go most !
I. not all of them are models. AS Ions
n as they are so conducted the simple
t principles of fair play demand tina
they should be let alone. Keokul
people who have taken the pains t.
inform themselves in the matte
: know and admit that saloon condi
l tons in Keokuk at the present tim
: are the best they have ever beer
J. The same people are unit In re
I senting the interference of NEEDLE
g some outsiders whose sole interest i
!. the community is the money the,
can extract from 1t under cover O
e legal technicalities.
: to t1r NIL hot hn
t pose of the injunctions is not the pre-
e motion of temperance. Were that tn
motive suits would have been brough
It against those only who had disre
# garded the essential provisions of tn
law and thus shown themselves 10 b
unfit persons to engage In the liquo
l. traffic, since they would not compl
r with the safeguards and restriction
s thrown about il. In that event Their
l. would have been no suits brought i
r Keokuk at the present time. AS
is is, suits were brought against Kec
G kuk saloon-keepers promiscuously, no
o for grave infractions of the law il
imical to the interests Of tempe
ance, but on charges of who'll
. technical nature. what ines
d. wholly technical" charges specifica
st ly are is unknown as yet. but thei
N character can be guessed by the col
n struction put upon the law by agent
lie of the League in other communitie
al of late. One provision of the liquo
al law is that all the employees of
,e saloon shall be registered. In one cas-
It was held that the ice dealer VIII
supplied a saloon with that commodit
le was an employe of the saloon, an
e. failure to register him as such was
Of violation of the law. This is sampl
ID of what is meant by charges of
wholly technical nature" If this
= good law the coal dealer who supple
S fuel to a saloon is also an employ
and so is the waterworks superintel
e. dent and the manager of the electri
II light plant and the gas man !
=, their willingness to comply wit
every requirement of the law, inclu
ing this forced construction of one