The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-03-17
Dead Line is Drawn Around the Sol
diers Home at Quincy as the
First Victory For
the Drys.
QUINCY VIEW
Prohibition Days in keokuk Are Re-
called When the Thirsty Kept the
Bridge Hot all the
Time.

Inc illinois state legislature has
passed law drawing a dead line
around the Quincy Soldiers Home
1or the saloons and the "drys" Of the
state are looking forward to another
victory soon. The liquor question in
illinois is an interesting one. but the
Quincy Wing is not with the ..drys.'
This morning it says:
We wish to state that the Wing is
not going to condemn the members
OIL the legislature who voted Yesterday
to create a dry district, within a
radius of two-thirds of a mile of any
soldiers and sailors home. The law
makers were evidently of the opinion
that by creating dry district" that
they would be but doing what ma
jority of the taxpayers of Quincy we're
asking for.
The Wing believes that the repre-
sentatives made mistake in creating
this district, and it is because we be-
lieye that the members of the lower
branch of the state law-making body
have made mistake that we sincere
| ly hope the senate will not do like.
wise
We are not in any way going to
make a defense of the saloons now
/ operating in the district that the
house has voted should be dry rest
assured of. that We cannot for the
life of us see how the people of Quin-
cy are going to be benefited by the
making of law which will deprive
this city of over ten thousand dollars
every year in revenue. This means
that the money that is needed in order
to meet the requirements of the var
ious departments in the city will have
to be raised from some other source.
There is no real argument in saying
this, but SO long as it has been said,
We are going to let it@go for what ii
lis worth. But the point we want to
make is how will the creating of this
I dry district if it Is created. prevent
the veterans who make their homes at
| the state institution from coming down
| to the business district and indulging
| greatest respect for every man who
Wore the blue, but we cannot see how
/ this law, if it becomes law, will
help matters to any appreciate ex-
tent
! We do not believe that majority
of the members of the home are given
to over-indulgence, but those who
drink are going to go where they can
get what they want, no matter how
| far it is. We cannot see how the
creating of "dry district is going to
lessen drinking, but on the contrary,
we believe it will have the effect of
making more "drunks,' as the saying
is.
rhe editor Of this paper well re-
members the time that Iowa had a
prohibitory law, and the saloons were
closed in all the river towns. AT that
time the little city of Hamilton had
six saloons, although there are no
thirst parlors there at present. 1t was
an every day and every night oc-
currence for the young men, and the
older men, of keokuk to cross the
toll bridge connecting Keokuk with
Hamilton, and while they were on the
Illinois side of the river, they would
indulge their appetites to such an ex-
tent that they We're intoxicated, and
when they returned to the Iowa side
of the river the police generally had
their hands full. In a few years the
people Of Iowa realized that sort of q
law was not what they wanted, SO the
legislature changed it.
In our opinion conditions similar to
those just described would result in
Quincy if the dry district was Great
ed Would 1t not be better for the
Illinois legislature to stop and CON
slider some of the far-reaching after
effects of this proposed law, before it
passes law that will sooner or later
have to be repealed?