The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-06-03
IN THE FIGHT AS A CHURCH.

tion is in the present fight in this State
"against the saloon.'' 1t is the first
time that the church as Il church has
taken sides on the liquor question, ex-
cept when, TWO years ago and more, IT
suppressed the prohibition activity
among some of its ecclesiasts. Now
however. il is as an organization dis
tinctly taking part in the fight, not for
prohibition, not against the liquor traf-
ic as such, but only "against the sa-
| loon. -
To this we have no objection, so long
as it is truly on moral lines. There
is so much truth in the claim that this
is moral question, that in our iudg-
ment no fault can be found with the
church for entering the fight in such
way as it may seem fit, and for church
members, as such, to band together on
| the moral side Of this or of any other
chiefly moral question. Always pro-
vided that this movement is earnest
and in good faith.
But the objection in this case lies in
the deceptive nature of the campaign.
| The pretense is, and this especially to
the Gentle prohibitionists, that the
church wants TO suppress the liquor
| traffic This is not true; 1T simply
wants to change the form Of it, and to
| get the benefit of that traffic for its
| own organizations and its own privi-
legged When this is fully understood,
| the moral aspect Of the case drops off as
mask, and the false pretense of the
campaign is clearly exposed The ex-
perience of other States has shown. and
| so far as the matter has been tested In
Utah, has emphatically shown. that pro
| bibition does not prohibit. Aside from
| this general phase of the case, 1t Is
shown that, under the law which pro-
is no way for the people of this com
munity to vote E'dry,' for, as we have
shown by a quotation from the law
| itself. the right of those establish
ments which are now making intoxlcat-
| Ing liquors TO contine making them,
and the absolute right of such con-
Germs TO sell by wholesale Give gal
Ions or more) is fully protected, in spite
of anything that the people may say OF
may vote.
1t follows then, that the claim of
moral issue IN this campaign falls to
the ground; for the moral phase of
the louor question always takes one
of two forms; it either demands abso-
lutte prohibition, or high license and
strict regulation. But neither is de-
manded under the present conditions;
neither is at issue in the coming cleo.
ton. High license is absolutely forbid
den by the tlaw, which fixes the maxi
mum amount which will be charged for
license at $4,000; whereas this city
would unquestionably be far better off
il we could have license OF $2400 a
year, or even very much more, with
reduced number of saloons, and a united
effort Of the community for such super
vision as would eliminate all the dives,
all the groggerics, and all the dlsrcpu-
table places, besides shutting of the
Eauor traffic in rooming houses To
what extent this rooming house traffic
in liquor goes it is hard to find out, but
| that there is considerable amount Of
il there is no question. With license
good deal higher than that limited
as a maximum in the law, this city
could eradicate all the lawless dives, all
the rooming house sales, and all of the
| liquor business in the disreputable
places of whatever name or style. I'm
der strict supervision and rule, and
under proper legislation, there would
not be to exceed one hundred places
in this city where liquor could be OBJ
tanned to drink. Every place selling
| liquor would come under the
law Of regulation, and would
pay the high rate Of license.
The law as it was prior to the passage
Of the present abortiye and contradic-
tory statute was in good form. The
city council had raised the license ma
| terially, and could and should have
raised it more and more, until the num-
ber of saloons was brought down to the
proper ratio with the population, say
one to the thousand. And the added
L
license fee would have been sufficient
to pay for the keen watchfulness that
would break up all Illicit sales every
where, save In the licensed and regu-
lated saloons. Indeed, these latter could
have been relied upon as an important
ally of the city government in sup
pressing sales at all places not duly il
censed and regulated, 1t would stand
to reason that saloons, if they paid
very largely more than they do now,
this for the privilege of having re-
stricted number Of saloons, would co.
operate with the city authorities in
roofing out all dens or dives of any
kind or nature where liquor was sold.
But the church being in this fight as
a church, it is bound to show that it is
in the fight for a moral purpose, and
not merely for the purpose of altering
the means of liquor sales, changing the
people who engage in it, and the places