The Sentinel=record., 1911-03-08
A COMMUNICATION.

Your communication in Sundays
 Sentinel-hecord has just been read
 by me with great deal of interest
 and amusement. 1 wish to eongratu-
 late you pn being men with the cour- age of your convictions. trait of character that is highly commend
 able Before enterin into a detailed
 answer to your communication, I will
 state that you are fair in your treat
 ment of the subject, even though
 your figures and ideas are radically
 wrong. l have no prejudice in the
 matter. think man can run saloon
 in the proper way, and be an honor
 able man at the same time. I believe
 the same thing regarding gamblers.
 Keep sober yourself, and do not kill or impose on your customers, and sell honest goods. and none at all to drunken men, and you will have no reason to hang your head. Water was turned into wine by Him whose ex-
 ample we are taught to follow. It is
 the abuse not the use of alcohol that
 causes so much agitation on the suh-
 iect. 1 have never heard of your place being an objectionable one, to
 be perfectly candid, l do not know
 either one Of you when see you, per-
 haps your faces are familiar to me,
 but l have never had the pleasure of meeting you, that I can recall. The article you refer to was written five years ago. It was reproduced to show that was consistent and MT. Waters
 was not but there is nothing therein that I am willink to retract con
 tend that twenty saloons could pay a city license of $3,600 and that fifty saloons could pay license of s2.000 per year. I believe in high license as q revenue producer and dive elimi- natter. will call your attention to tle fact that in Boston, where the license i is high, that license can be sold at premium of s5,000 to $10,00O, ow- ing to location. My information comes from a Boston gentleman, who stated that the number of licenses were limited to number of population The Boston condition applies also to Chicago. Now, you may state that these places are large cities. I will call your attention to Newport, Ar kansas, small town, now dry. There were eight saloons that paid s3,000 year, or a total of $24 ,000; the county judge, it being optional with him re- garding renewal of licenses, refused to renew them, although the peo le had not voted for prohibition Now the saloon men are willing to pay $5,O00 a year to reopen I obtained this in formation from a reliable business man of Newport
 Regarding the profits of the drug business, it affords me pleasure to publicly show the condition and wrong impression of the public The gross profits of the drug business do | hOl tAStCa fV lCi CtHl. All JULIET lines of business are in excess of this, with the exception of the grocery business alone. I refer you to M. A. Eise'e, E. F. Klein, Fl Weimer or any other druggist who maKes study of his business, and knows what he is doing.
 Now, gentlemen, will call your at tention to the real bone of conten- ticn: The profits of the saloon busi- ness. A gallon of waiskey will cost you s2.5o; there are 12S ounces in a gallon; I will not figure that you sell single drink for 15c and you sell fully half of them at that, but I will give you the benefit of all doubt, and will say that all are sold at 12 1-2 each; that means at the least calcu- lation s12.50 per gallon, over 400 per cent. Very few people will take lover one ounce at "a drink, but you will see that l have made no calcu- lation on the 2S ounces in excess of | iVu tO tht St1iiols diCWlu2 lndL Ifc heavy drinkers will consume the ex- tratra 2S ounces. There is a profit of 100 per cent in bottle beer and over 100 per cent in keg beer. making an average rate of profits of over 100 per cent on beer. The profit on cigars is 40 per cent; there are sold in saloons great many cigars that bring a profit of 100 per cent. Now sum 1t up: Whiskey, 400 per cent; beer, 100 per cent, and cigars. 40 per cent, making an average gross profit of 1S0 per cent You will see from these fig ures that your high license could be paid. will also refer to the fact that as saloons cause 9S per cent. of the crimes, they should be made to | furn'sh money to prosecute the crim- | inals. I did not refer in my conmu- nication to the 52 days in the year that you claim you are closed, those