Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-01-11
BY {. e. BUFFUM.
N is a city dry 80

When is a city dry"
Trying 20 find an answer to this
query a representative of The Argus
paid a visit to Muscatine, popularity
supposed to be about the dryes. town
on the map of its size. After view
ing the problem from a great many
different angles the seeker after in
formation came TO the conclusion mat
city is dry" when it isn't.
In other words the term dry" used
in referring to towns without saloons,
Is largely a misnomer In Muscatine's
case he city is outward.y dry as a
bone, regardless Of the fact that the
Mississippi washes its feet, so to
speak, "a hours every day, but in
wardly. or rather, internally, it is still
almost normally damp.
For FIVE years Musca Inc has been
without saloons. They were swept
out Of existence by the wave of moral
regeneration that resulted when Billy
Sunday dove head foremost into that
placid pool For the city was so wet
then that II was virtually a pond and
a stagnant one at that, covered by the
green scum Of corruption and TEEN
ing with al. he varieties Of crawling
and swimming things that commonly
dwell in such a municipal morass. o
yes. Muscatine was a bad little old
town. Like Davenport, Burlington and
other river cities OF Iowa it had lived
so long in open disregard of the mule
law that he peop.e there thought
there never could be any such thing
as decent regulation.
But when Billy Sunday came. three
fourths OF he people who didn't al
ready belong. joined church and shet
their sins like a l7-year locust sheds
its shell-all at once-and so the sa
loon had 10 go. II was fired ont bod
fly and never has been able TO ge
back Whether It ever will is a ques
ton, for o her local issues have arts
en- and 70 Is now crowded into a rela
lively minor position in the public
mind.
In common with other cities tina
have had the same experience. Mus
catine suffered a violent reaction 1
year or two after saloons had beer
banished and a majority of the PEG
pie regretted that they had been don'
away with. But a determined minori
~ taking advantage of the exactinl
requirements OF the mulct law, whicl
ccmpels the saloon to fight perpetual
~ for the right TO exist, thwarted al
efforts % reinstall the business o
selling liquor. While this fight wa
still on labor troubles between buttoi
factory owners and employees aros
and IN this fight. from which the tow
still bears many scars. the salool
was almost forgotten and class hat
red engendered which is likely L
make the place an improbable feel
for local enterprise on the part OF i
Quor men for some years. Such is tn
hostility between those who have an
who employ, on the one hand. an
those who have not and who are en-
p.oyed, on the other. that the latter
ordinarily favorable to the saloons, r.
fuse 20 sign for their return in the b'
lief that the other class will in som
way benefit thereby. In some qua
tiers the enforcement OF the saloon
looked upon as the real foundation c
the City's labor troubles. but there
a decided difference Of opinion on thi
score. as there is on nearly all othe
matters OF public policy that arts
there.
So Muscatine. having passe
through IS backslldmg period withor
returning To what is commonly Gale
the wet" column, and being one {
the very few cities to have had tha
experience, finds itself in unique p,
sitlon Opposition 20 the saloon is no
based scarcely more upon NOR;
grounds than upon others. It's d
parture has not been followed by III
decrease in the consumption OF ale
hOlic beverages that many had expec
ed and so objectors 10 its return hay
come to place less stress upon its 4
fiuence in the promotion of intempe
ance than upon other features that a
tend the saloon business, especial