Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1912-08-21
Kansas City and How It's Business
Men Were Convinced That Pro-
hibition Helps Business.

while i nave always pefsodhuy Do
lieyed In total abstinence and in the .
prohibitory law, never felt very strong
ly about il, nor absolutely sure that .
there was not some merit 10 the other
side Of this question, until Attorney Con
eral Coleman started to abolish the Ii
cense-dning system in Kansas City. You
viii understand that there are two cities
there-one on each side Of the state line
between Kansas and Missouri. And there
is considerable rivalry between the two
municipalities which comprise that great
metropolis.
In the Missouri town the liquor buEi'
mesa has the sanction Of law in the Kan
sas town it had, until 1906, the sanction
Of the county and city governments and
the federation Of the state government
High license was in vogue in both towns,
in the Missouri town by law, in the Kan
sas town by the system Of monthly fines.
In 1906 there were in Kansas City, Kan.
sas, two hundred and fifty open saloons
when the law enforcement campaign
began.
Kansas City Business Men Pro
tested Against Enforcement OF
Law.
Within a few days, a large dele
cation Of Kansas City politicians came
TO Topeka to persuade the attorney gen
eral to drop that project, because the
city could not live without the saloon
revenue, 1t was urged that the closing
of the saloons was driving all sorts Of
business over to Kansas City, Missourij
that store buildings, vacated by the ga
looms, were standing empty, and that
his policy was running and would inevi'
tably ruin the town. Politically it would
bring defeat and disaster to the party In
November; and you must consider that
Kansas City and Wyandotte county bear
somewhat the same relation to Kansas
politics which Chicago and COX county
| do to Illinois. And there in the attoT'
nsy generals office were the most power
fll and determined politicians in Kan
sas City-bankers, lawyers, real estate
dealers, merchants, manufacturers and
others. Their portrayal of the impend
ing ruin Of their town made 3 strong i'm
preston on me. wondered If we ought
not to have exceptions to our statewide
prohibitory law, and permit local condi
tons to control Attorney General Cole
man listened patiently To what they haC
to say, expressed his sympathy wltl
their predicament, .bpt firmly informe'
them that there couId be no retreat
the law would be enforced. An angrie
bunch of politicians 'a1d business mel
you mover saw One sr later, my 1el
low assistant in the ioffse, Mr.. jackson
succeeded Mr.. Coleman, and as the wis
is the father to the thought, the synlpa
, thizers with the liquor traffic circulate
the idea that the new attorney genera
would not continue Mr. lColenan's pig
orous policy Of law ENFORCEMENT in KRF
sas City. ~
After Twelve Months of Law Ep
forcement Kansas City Bush
Men Protest Against the Retnf
of Saloons. ~
= So industriously and perSistehtl
was this notion pushed What agai
, a delegation of Kansas City politician
came to Topeka to see Attorney Gener'
5 jacksonville same old bunchl Bptso
how different mission! They. came
say to the Attorney General, For God
. sake, don't let the old rotten order (
things return to Kansas City! We hay
got away from it and are well rid Of
and the town never was so prosperous
now" There were Ben Schnerle ar
Myron A. Waterman, the leading ban
ers, who said that the closing of the s
looms had marvelously increased the
: bank deposits; that formerly the salool
d had cashed the workingmen's pay check
and that now the worhngmen deposits
their pay checks and kept accounts Wi
", the banks. There were the real ests
dealers who said that property valu
J had increased enormously and that tho
r. sands of worlingmen were buying 10
and building bones on the installme
plan. The school teachers had repl
d sentatives there to say that the schO
enrolment had likewise jumped, al
that the children Of the poor wore 60
u shoes, warm clothes, and carried lunch
l. to school with them, and that the
- order of things when the schools h
their quota of starving, ragged, dir
children from drunkards' homes had
sOluteIy disappeared, There were t
! grocers and drygoods merchants and t
6 people who sell furniture and such ST
on the installment plan-all testify
s. that business was better and that peol
ID were paying their bills better than tn
had ever done before.
It was a revelation to me. Those W.
the very men who had gone out Of
office Just a year before with mailed
tions upon the prOhibitory law, and up
a meddlesome, puritanical attorney g
eraI. whom neither threats nor cajoli
could INDUCE to lay down on the enfor
ment of the law. 1t was a great less
m for me. Since that day have ne
:, been in doubt about the wisdom of
~ law, nor the expediency of enforcing
re nor does the temporary illwill of the I
lis iticians for enforcing the law amount
:, anything. As to the influence Of
III saioonkeeper in politics, it is very p'
Ol erful when his saloon is running W
nll open and he is the hale-fellow-well-r
: to all who come and 60 Yes, indie
n. he is then political facter to be Ne,
+ oned with; but when The prosecuting
tornsy and the sheriff and police are