The Republican journal., 1911-08-17
THE SALOON AS
! A SOCIAL CENTER
Alcohol, and Not Companion
shI , Is Sought
some EXPERIMENTS GIVEN

NAL Falure-But For the Anarchist,
Criminal and the Gambler the sa-
loon Is Sort of Club-Poor Man
Pays For Privilege
One OF the favorite arguments for
tne saloon and one that has the most
truth In tits the assertion that the sa-
loon is the poor mans club. Many
"ell-meaning people who are interest
Gu IN social questions are honestly of
the belief that the saloons are fire.
quented as social centers and as meet
ing places for men who can not afford
any other kind of club. Now that
there is an element of sociability in
the saloon no one can fairly deny, but
mat the first reason for the saloon is
social is to say the least a debatable
question. There are numerous COM
minutes that do not have this sort of
social center, in the first place, and
yet soclablity does not cease. In
the second place, numerous attempts
nave been made to substitute some
other social center with great success.
IN every large city the social settle
ments have supplied the need with
out the accompaniment of the flowing
ooWl. In the third place the saloon
without alcoholic beverages has always
been dismal failure.
In Chicago, some years ago Bishop
Fallows of the Reformed Episcopal
church had international notoriety as
the founder of saloon where non
alcoholic beer was sold This re-
freshment looked like beer and tast-
ed like beer but it had no alcohol in
1t. 1t was called "The Bishops Beer
For some weeks the saloon was
crowded and the free lunch patronized
literally. But before a month had
gone by all interest ceased in the ex-
pertinent. To his establishment the
good Bishop learned that the reason
men patronlzed saloon was not be-
cause of sociability Or the free lunch
out because they wanted to drink al
coholic beverages for the effect of the
alcohol is the one thing sought for
by those who patronize a saloon.
Some day social theorists will recog.
nlze this fact and much vapid talk
OF the saloon as a social center will
cease. For few classes of society. it
may be granted that the saloon fills
the place of a club. In the saloon the
anarchist matches his plots. In the
saloon the criminal element meet to
q "a
the saloon the abandoned woman is
made welcome When a crime is com.
mitted or when an anarchist plot is
suspected the saloons are the first
places visited by the police. There the
criminal element is sure to be found
and there the other Club members"
may be questioned as to the where
abouts of the wanted" criminals. 1t
is well known to the police that the
saloon is the one place of business
in the civilized world where such
characters are tolerated or received
Another valued member of the sa-
loon CLUB" is the gambler Here he
is sure of his social position and here
he may receive such favors as are
usually given to members of Clubs of
better repute. A saloon without the
accessories of lewd women, gamblers
and similar charact can hardly
maintain its place as a CLUB" No
doubt the saloon-keeper is kind to
the poor man, but the poor man pays
tremendous price for the privilege
of the saloon club. 1t would seem
that any person of average experience
the silly idea that men frequent
saloons for any other purpose prm-
arily than that of getting a drink"