The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-13
Dispensary or Saloon?

"A more difficult question than the wisdom vel non of prohibition it occurs to me, is what should be the choice of the voter as between dispensaries and open saloons. The most important adjunct to this question is the moral side of it. This raises the query, which would the better enable the law officers to cope with the blind tigers?' We know, in reason, that
 blind tigers will continue their struggle for existence. The owners of such will not yield their long-enjoyed lease of profit without struggle. The courts now hold that convictions can not be had for the illegal traffic in private houses without direct proof of sales. If We have dspensares, will not convictions cease for storage in localities 50 yards or mors away in place other than private houses? Will not the implied, if not direct, permit in the Smith bill for purchases dncluding those engaged in blind tigerismo to buy from the dispensaries, and carry it 50 yards away and store it, result in the sale of It by blind tiger miscreants; and will not this, in turn, thwart the officers in getting proof to convict, if they fail 70 actually witness a sale? Will not the dispensaries prove to be the hotbeds for the blind tigers to transplant the liquors and thus grow and flourish? Would not the saloonkeeper and his aids help to root put their competitors-the blind tigers? While many able, earnest, sincere and patriotic men contend that the retail of liquors by individuals Is 'subversve of and destruc tive to, all the principles of good government does not this admit of the qualification that, provided they are un- regulated? If not subject to this qualifica- ton, how is it that, in this advanced age of civilization, they exist in nearly all lao taI Ofof Ara wa so much worse than the scores of other cities?
 ..But grant, as I do that even well reg ulated saloons are attended with evils, is it not better to have these evils mini mixed rather than to have blind tigers even more numerous and vastly more ne- farious? Again, are the saloons wholly evil? Is there not some good to emanate from them also? Our population is com posed largely of working men and per- haps they are chiefly of foreign birth and tastes-accustomed all their lives to daily draughts of beer. Their lives are hard and hum-drum at best Why should working men be deprived after thelr days work, of their stein of cold beer al cents drink, instead of buying It at 15 cents a bottle, and drinking 1t warm? Dispensaries close exactly when the workingmen quit work.
 VT course a cleaf me ol uei'li 'io'' must be drawn between the well regu- lated saloon and the dive The latter IS little better than the blind tiger if any ] have no fear that such will ever secure foothold again. l think it Is the duty ot all men and women to seek Innocent recreation and pleasure. It rejuvenates them, and gives what God intended they should have-happiness. As a rule, 1t is the abuse, not the use, of amusements and pleasures that injure us. But of course the more liable a pleasure is to be abused the more should it be safeguard ed and restricted to prevent that abuse.
 Dry Town Is Dull Town"
 My observation and information have alwyas been that dry town is dull town. If we have saloons, our hotels would be filled with visitors a good part of the time; property owners would be able to rent their stores; hundreds of men would get employment, and in these and various other ways money would get into circulation to the benefit of the merchants and others.
 '"rhe Smith bill is held up as the most monstrous legislation ever enacted I do rot concur in this opinion. I myself think the corporation feature is objectionable,