Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1912-10-31
truth ABOUT KANSAS
ATTORNEY GENERAL STATES
FACTS ABOUT PRoHI5I-
TON THERE.
Enormous Prosperity Following the
Destruction of the Saloons In
the Sunflower State.

| us peOpit luiifSu uuiAne nv
tenance of this systemf Let US see.
According to federal statistics drink
ing and drunkenness has shrunk 2,OO0
per cent in Kansas as compared with
| Missouri.
In thirty years Kansas has forged
ahead from an Insignificant place In
national affairs to one Of front rank.
Cur frontier villages have grown into
splendid cities, with clean paved
streets. cement walks, modern homes,
with municipal light and water plants.
Every town has its high school. Al
most third of the entire population
is enrolled in public or private schools.
We haveS1S, 100000 worth OF school
buildings and public endowment funds
of $4,000, 900 more. know about
this because it is part OF my public
duties to keep these funds Invested.
The growth and extent Of the private
and UNCONVENTIONAL schools Is CORES
pondingly large. With over seven
hundred newspapers and magazines In
Kansas, less than a dozen carry any
whiskey advertising whatsoever. IF
lfteracy has been reduced from 49
per cent to less than Q per cent and
that trifiing amount Is almost entirely
among the foreign element in our min
ing regions of the southeast.
With one hundred and Ave counties
In the state eighty-seven of them have
no insane, fifty-four have no feeble
minded, ninety-six have no inebriates
and the few we do have come from
the cities which defied the law to the
very last. Thirty-eight county poor
farms have no inmates. Only one
pauper to every three thousand popu-
lation. In July, 1911, ifty-three coun-
ty jails were empty; sixty-fve coun'
ties had no prisoners serving SEN
tence. Some counties have not called
q jury to try a criminal case In ten
years, and a grand jury is so uneom-
mon that half of our people wouldn't
know what it is. In my home county
in western Kansas, there has never
been but one grand jury in its Its his
tory and that was twenty-five years
ago.
In 1880 the bank savings deposits
were s9o,00O,O0O. To-day they are
5000, 100000.
| In 1880 when prohibition was
adopted and prior thereto Kansas was
an exceedingly poor state. During
some of those years collections were
taken up in the east to keep some OF
the people from starving. We have
had prohibition for thirty years, and
during that thirty years. 1t has become
the richest state in the union per
capita. In this state the assessed
valuation of property for taxation Is
sufficient to give every man, woman
and child in the state s1,70o. The
| average wealth in the nation Ii only
$1,000, and in Missouri, a valuation
is less than $500 per capita. as against
thirty years of prohibition had some-
thing to do with this?
Again prior to 1880 the death rate
in Michigan and Wisconsin, Iowa and
Kansas was practically the same, viz:
seventeen to the thousand. After
thirty years Of prohibition in Kansas
our death rate was dropped to seven
and one-half while that Of the other
states has slightly increased. Is 1t not
fair to say that thirty years of prohibt
ton had something to do with this?
The statistics at Washington show
the consumption of intoxicating liquors
in Kansas to be sf4S per capita. In
Missouri $4,000.
Prohibition has taken politics out Of
the saloons, and has driven the saloon
out Of politics. 1t has made our poor
houses a liability instead OF an asset
1t has abolished illiteracy. 1t has
made us the wealthiest state per
capita. It has demonstrated that the
saloon is not a business. 1t has
demonstrated that while the saloon
| at night time with it's bright lights,
| It's nude and lewd pictures. with its
men going in and out, may look like
business when the inventory il taken
at the end Of the year, 1t Is not a
| business. It Is gold brick. Prohibi
ton has demonstrated that revenue
ness proposition.
| Such are some of the results of thir-
ty years of prohibition. That progress
and our unequalled prosperity have
been wrought largely by prohibition
no man can deny. It is apparent and
self-evident 1t cannot be duplicated
elsewhere where liquor selling is per.
| mitted. Prohibition has developed
side by side with our farms, our
shops, our banks, our factories, our
packing houses, our mines and mills
and warehouses and railroads. 1t Is
| rooted down to bedrock with our
homes, our schools and colleges and
churches and institutions of charity
| and correction.
These are in deficient and partial
degree some Of tia results of what
prohibition has done for Kansas. And
| to those who think prohibition is a
bad thing, you must admit that pro-
hibition had not prevented the mar
velous development, this universal and
uniform prosperity, this prevalent,
widespread and largest measure Of
happiness enjoyed by any like number
of people the wide world round. Pro-
hibition has not prevented or hindered
anything under the sun which can IN
any way contribute to the sum total
| Of human happiness
Saved By His Wife.