Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-07-21
THE WET QUESTION.


the other day we were led to under
stand that a question had arisen IN
the minds of some of our dry
friends as to the depth of the ed
itor's sentiment on the prohibition
question. To us the doubt is but to
laugh. The writer has been voter
for twenty-seven years. During that
time at least half the number of
times he has voted some phase of
prohibition has been at issue in the
election, and every time he has had
the opportunity he has voted on the
prohibition side. 1t is our opinion
that whiskey is bad, all bad; there
is absolutely no good in it, and If
we had the power we would blot it
off the face of the earth at one fell
swoop. Viewing only the material
side of the question, it appears to
us that the most wasteful economic
policy imaginable is to license the
sale of liquor. Statistics prove that
cost of dealing with crime inspired
directly by the use of liquor is a
hundred times greater than the total
income from licenses. Investigation
will prove that eighty per cent of
the cost to Jackson county in hand
ling criminal cases comes from the
towns with licensed saloons, and that
the expense in prosecuting criminal
cases growing out of the use OF
liquor is many times greater, in dol
lars and cents, than the money ben
eft derived by the towns where
license maintains. Therefore, laying
aside the moral question, which, by
the way, is by far the most impor-
tant, the licensing Of saloons is a
bad economic proposition.
The writer remembers we'll the
time when prohibitionnsts were re-
ferred to as "long-haired men and
short-haired women" but it is no
longer so; now every man and wom-
an who pays attention to economics
and has studied the effect of liquor
on society has come to the conclu-
sion that it is such a blighting and
dangerous drug that it should be
universally prohibited. The writer
hopes to see the day, and believes he
will live to see it, when the blighting
effect of intemperance will be ban
ished from the United States OF
America. 1t has caused as much
crime and misery as all other evils
More money has been spent in deal
ing with criminality for which the
traffic is responsible than the sun
total derived from every phase ol
the traffic from producing the grair
used in it's manufacture to its con
sumption at the bar. Whiskey is ar
appendage of barbarism, not of civ
ilization, and the evidence of ad
vaneing civilization is the estimation
in which the traffic is held as society
develops.
one of the principal consideration
in his locating here was that Ashland
was dry town. He is the father o
children and he has high hopes 70
them; he feels it his duty, as h
deems it privilege, to put them il
what he believes to be the best en-
xyirN 60 o.
intellectual development. He be
lieves that to be dry does not injur
a town commercially; on the othe
hand he thinks that for every dolla
it loses because it is dry it gains te
in material wealth, and saves te
more in the investment of the none
in necessities and comforts tina
would be squandered for liquor if
was wet. Holding these views, 9
we do, the Tidings will stand soil
for dry town as long as the preser
owner is on the job.
In doing so it is not pandering I
any element in the community. 1t
simply standing by a principle.
demands an absolute right to 1
opinions and accords the same rigl
to those holding opposite views {
any and all subjects. We are n
ready to condemn every man to etc
nal limbo who differs from us eth
on politics, religion, or prohibitio
We are ready to state our views
all times and under all circumstance
and we do what we can to mainta
those which we consider material
affect the life of the community, b
We absolutely refuse to denoun
those as vicious citizens who diff
from us.