Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-05-30
cine Thin Crust Of Civilization. !"

II
sands yearly in schools, boast about en-
llightenment, and turn boys ana giri
loose for amusement in town INFESTED
with eighty saloons and thirty or iort!
houses of prostitution"
| In his study of the liquor trnffic ID
modern American city, entitled 1.-THE
Thin Crust Of Civilization" appearing
in The American Magazine, Ray Stan
lnard Baker thus characterizes the tolly
land the futility of our American civil
Ization In its treatment of the saloon evil
while he uses as the subject Of bis study
the town of Newark, Ohio, where wal
perpetrated last July the awful tragedy
Involving the death of Carl Etheringtor
in An effort to enforce the law, he vel
saws that in thus describing Newark
he has described also the typical AmerI
can town, indeed has described the e.
sential characteristics OF our modern
prosperous, intelligent, materialistie
American civilization. :,
"All its life long this town lNewark),'
saws Mr.. Baker, 'has been q moderate
drinker of Intoxicating liquors. In tina,
respect 1t was no worse than most
American towns, no worse than the
world at large. But the pom!
ofsattack in the recent struggle was not
the drinking habit. The point OF attack
was the saloon. The modern saloon Is
social evil which cannot be reached ex,
cent by social actiou-the conscious ef-
fort of towns or counties or states"
HOW IT GREW,
Mr., Baker goes on to trace the history
and development of the saloon from the
time when 1t was domestic enterprise,
carried on by man and his family, to a
"yast. centralized, more or less monopo-
listic business enterprise!" He contin-
ues:
"Now, the breath in the nostrils of
business is profit; and the more busi-
ness. the more profit. With new
methods of making and preserving beer,
with extraordinary improvements IN
methods of transportation, it was easy
and cheap for brewers in Milwaukee,
brewers in st. Louis, and brewers in
Pittsburg to place their wares In every
little town in the Middle West. And
these, with the local breweries, all
struggling for trade, had the effect OF
stimulating the business to degree
scarcely realizable. Before this com.
petitiye onslaught, the old-fashioned
espectable saloonkeeper who owned his
own place and his own fixtures almost
disappeared. Hundreds of irresponsible
men. men not only of no standing and
no property, but often men with evil or
criminal records, crowded into the busi-
ness. The brewers, greedy for profits,
paid their rent, furnished the saloon fix
lures and supplied them with all the
goods they sold.
"In 1908, just before the local option
election, Newark had over eighty sa-
looms! Think of it, in town OF less
than $4,000 people. In other words, it
had one saloon for every sixty or seventy
adult men.
"Think further what this meant in
Newark. With the best intentions in
the world, but with a plentiful lack of
Imagination, the people of Ohio had
sought to check the evils of the saloon
which they had begun to see 30 clearly
around them by the easy money method
by taxation. Each saloon was forced
to pay 81 900 into the public funds.
TO ENTICE THE BOYS.
"What was the result? Why, 1t made
the poor devils of ssloonkeepers scratch
harder than ever. For saloonkeeper Is
a human being, who has to eat three
meals day, wear clothes, and often sup
port family and home.
"Think, then, what bis problem was.
First, he had to sell enough beer and
whisky in year to pay the 81, 200 tax ;
after that he had to sell enough more to
paw his rent and his other taxes, ii any;
he had to paw the inevitable and often
enormous profits to the big brewers who
stood behind him-all this before he
could make penny for himself. ls it
any wonder that he had to push his bust
ness? Is it any wonder that he began to
break laws right and left in order to in
crease his sales? A man must live!
"It became necessary, then, for saloon
keepers at all hazards to stimulate trade.
They must not only keep all the old
drinkers and induce them to buy more
liquor and become more drunken, but
they must get in plenty of fresh young
clients-fresh young boys from the
schools and factories.
DRUNKEN SCHOOLGIRLS.
"'You have no idea,' wrote Superin:.
tendeut Simpkins of the Newark schools
on November 30, 1908, just before the To-
cal option election, how difficult it is to
raise boy or girl in Newark. At every
turn, day or night, he faces one of the
eighty saloons. Great signs stretch
across whole buildings or shine out In
electric lights from the roofs. Is it any
wonder he ia caught? Only few nights
since saw several schoolboys drunk be-
hind one of the school buildings
II dared tell you what know OF some
of the doings of the young men In this
city, some of them yet in school, you
would not believe me-
"What farce it all is! Spend thon-
sands yearly in schools, boast about en-
llightenment, and turn boys and girls
loose for amusement in a town infested
with eighty saloons and thirty or forty
houses of prostitution! There were half
dozen or more schools in Newark, six
teen churches, one feebly-supported
Young Mems Christian Association build
ing, no Fairgrounds, no library building
at all-and eighty saloons, occupying the
best business sites in town and working
day and night! :,
"When l saw those young boys in jail
1.-THE young fellows who participated
in the Newark tragedy l thought to my
self that they were as truly the victims
of the civic and moral indifference OF
Newark as was young Etherington last
July. What earthly chance had they2 A
little smattering of learning in the school
and this sort of immRral teaching in the
greater school of life!
"Were these boys, then, to blame? Or
was the town to blame; the business
men who supported the lawless saloons
and helped elect the lawless mayors; the
preachers who winked at it all; the
manufacturers who placed profits above
humanity-were not these to blame"
Johns Letter.