Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1911-05-04
Charles Towa Expscts Every Man
10 D. His Duty On Election Day"

~ " ms VAIy 81 klectlOn Day.
There are several vital consid-
erations that should engage the
attention of the citizens OF
Charles Town in connection with
the issue now before us.
It is the uniform experience OF
towns in this and other States
that when the saloon has been
abolished the women and child
rem walk the streets freely and
without coming in contact with
drunken and rowdy men, both
whites and negroes, as is invari-
ably the case in saloon town.
Surely no community should be
willing to keep within its Dor
ders institutions which make it
unpleasant and unsafe on the
street for women and children.
Why should Charles Town keep
saloons and fail to secure for lIer
women and children the. blessings
enjoyed by such places as Berry
vile, Winchester, Front Royal
Staunton, etc. ?
It is also fact that money
spent in the saloon does not at
the same time buy dry goods,
groceries and the substantial
things of life. And it is also
true that those who patronize
the saloons pay their liquor bills
first and let the merchant get
his money Tess promptly. The
saloon almost always gets the
bulk of the drinking mans wag-
es and legitimate trade suffers in
proportion. The merchant and
the saloon can't get the. same
dollar.
The yer; fact that so much
terrific ~ including towns and
seities in this section of the coun-
try has gone dry" should cause
our citizens to pause and think
how the liquor drinking and
criminal elements always follow
the saloon, and that when saloons
are closed in one place they rend-
-ezvous in saloon towns and thus
add to the dangers arising from
the saloon-rnade, dangerous, OBJ
jeetionable and criminal element.
1t is. we'll known fact that
when saloons were closed in Ber-
ryvi1le and Winchester many OBJ
=jectionable people came to this
=town-not to buy of our mer-
chants, but to tank up at the
saloons and make themselves
worse than they were before. Of
course, this is no sense intended
to apply to good, substantial Wis
itors who come to our town and
whom we always gladly welcome.
Now, with Martinsburg dry"
after July 1st we may we'll ex-
peet-ar increase of the "objec-
tionab1eo tide that will come to
our town FOR LIQUOR, if we
keep the saloons here. Why should
we keep the saloons in our town
and afford an asylum to an in
creasing drinking and criminal
element that will surely come to
us, as has invariably been done
in the experience of other COM
munities !?
The question of fair play" is
also involved in this issue. Sup
pose, for example, either of our
sister towns of Winchester, or
Berryvi1le had saloons and were
in the midst of an election on the
liquor question and Charles Town
were "dry?' How would we
wish these towns to vote? Would
we wish them to retain saloons
as a eonStantmenace to our dry"
town and make it as easy as
possible for our dry" regime to
be nullified or would we wish
them to clean out the saloons
and give us better opportunity
to get the best possible results
from the decision of the majority
of our citizens ? 1t appears to
us that there can be but one ans
wer to this question and that the
Golden Rule should obtain with
us in relation TO our sister towns.
Certainly for these and other
reasons we should close the sa-
looms in Charles Town and give
the plan at least one years trial. !
The saloons have had their way for
i long long time, and it does APP
pear to us that a trial of one
year would certainly not be I'M
fair nor runious to any interests
Of this community. If Winches-
Ter and Berryyille our closest