The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1913-09-26

Entered atthe Post Office Virginia, Minnesota ~
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A HICKEN ORDINANCE FOR VIRGINIA. 4
Alderman Conrad Mattson thinks Virginia
should have an ordinance similar to that fathered
by Commissioner Hicken at Duluth and he
openly advocated such measure at the last meet
ing of the city council, when also he grilled local
conditions with regard to the existence of I'M
licensed drinking places
MIR. Mattson is no doubt sincere in his belief,
but many people who sympathize, with him in his
attitude do not believe the time is ripe for any
such drastic action here. The Hicken code has
still to prove that it will accomplish those meas
ures of reform which it is claimed it will If it
does that successfully it will win good many adj
vocates who do not now endorse it. Many of the
people who voted for it's adoption in Duluth at the
recent referendum election did so not because
they were convinced of it's effectiveness, but be-
cause they were willing to give it a trial. year
from now they might repudiate it by a big ma
jority It's future is of it's own making.
Mr. Mattson is quite right about the blind pig
evil however, Everyone knows that not only this
but every other community on the range has un-
licensed drinking places. They are problem to
the city authorities everywhere and so far all that
has been done to wipe them out Of existence has
had little real effect.
No Indictment against the blind pig evil is too
severe. The blind pigs of the Mesaba range are
responsible for rs per cent Of the criminal oHenses
committed in this section. They are famous for
their filth, their degenerate influence and for sor-
did occurrences of all sort which are highly dis
|creditable
City authorities here and elsewhere have made
sincere efforts to combat this evil but they have
not been as successful as most of US had hoped
that they would. Given blind pig and how to
put blind pig out Of business as. problem for
solution it would seem that the first step is to
catch the blind pig There is the rub Many Of
the European peoples who constitute the laboring
elements of this section can't keep house without
beer They do not wilfully violate the law in a
spirit Of wantonness. They are unable to see
why what they consider personal liberty should
be infringed upon. They keep beer for their
boarders. They sell it to them at certain price a
bottle, not so much with the idea of making profit
as to meet one Of the demands Of hospitality made
upon them by their guests. Many of them are
able to conduct such places without getting into
trouble, but at others there is abuse and it's con-
sequent train of evil.
But the blind pigs should go each and every
one Of them. The county authorities ought tt
help. There ought to be systematic campaign
against them and it should not be of the desultory
sort. The citys have an equal degree of respon
sibility. It is unfair, as local saloon man sale
this week, to license Sc saloons in Virginia ane
permit unlicensed drinking places to operate
The saloons are under police regulation during
every moment they are open to the public. Thu
blind pigs are not The Oliver Iron Mining com
pany has been very successful in stamping out thu
blind pig evil at it's locations on the range
What it has done the city and county authorize!
can do And the brewery agents, if they are Ions
headed, will cooperate with them, for the PEG
|ple of the range will not always tolerate condi
tons as they exist today. To the credit of tn
brewery men it must be said that most Of then
|have already taken this attitude. There ar
some exceptions, however. They cannot be to-
severely dealt with if they are brought to light.