The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1913-02-23
The Root of All Evil.


Golfers Weekly Feb. %: Paper by
paper, city by city, State by State,
the country is rising in its demo-
cratic wrath and attacking the
strongholds of special privilege
They have long used for private ag-
grandizement and wealth not only
the necessities of the people but the
weaknesses as we'll. With the unfOr-
tunate distribution of emphasis
characteristic of much of our ma
tional thought, the thefts of prop
erty have been traced to their
source, the man at the top, while
the thefts of human happiness have
been blamed on the hapless victim.
But the independent press, backed
up by an aroused public opinion, is
at last making an attempt to put the
blame where it belongs. From many
points echoes reach us of doughty
attacks on the brewer and the whis-
key maker and their ownership of
vice, and the vicious INTERROGATION
of their interests with municipal
politics. Take this in the Detroit
Saturday Night:
THE saloon is the strong
est political power in Detroit today.
No other man. institution or organi-
cation wields such influence with
the common council.
THE sodden weight Of booze falls
heavily on the whole spirit of mu-
nicipal government. Ignorance and
even illiteracy takes it's place at the
council table. Aldermanic action
sells betimes at Friday bargain
prices. Public improvements and So
cial progress wait upon blurred Wis
ion.
1T is the saloon that is branded as
the most conspicuous source of
graft in the report of the grand jury
which has just completed search
ing inquiry into the affairs Of
Wayne County"
Our Detroit contemporary sees not
only the main fact but the corol-
larry in that formula, the under
standing of which is the first step
in the solution Of commercialized
vice:
mo matter what phase of the So
cial evil we confront in Detroit, we
find the saloon in the background"
From the st. Louis Mirror comes
the following, showing with the
clearness of casual reference the
familiarity of politics with booze:
''Mr. Francis is now denouncing
the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Asso-
citation for it's supposed backing of
Mr.. Norvell. He had no words of de-
nunciation for that great institution
when its officers and employees sup
ported him for mayor"
Finally, from a third city, Nash
vile fTenn.) Banner says:
What the Saturday Night says
of Detroit is emphasized in Nash
vile and other Tennessee cities be-
cause the saloon in this State is an
outlaw and its influence in public
affairs is, for that reason, all the
more reprehensible.
I'VE don't mean to say that Nash
vile is worse than Detroit in espe-
cial respect to the council, but in
the general influence exercised over
municipal politics and the city gov
eminent by the liquor interest, and
its defiance of State authority.
1.-The Democratic party in Tennes-
see must dissolve all alliance with
the lawless liquor interest if it
hopes to regain the confidence of
the people"
Here in three cities, far removed
from each other, is the same situa-
ton: The entire machinery of the
city government bent to what is, of
course, the primary purpose of
those who control it, the stimulation
of the use of the two commodities
which they sell, liquor and vice. The
simmer" is enticed by the prostitute.
The prostitute is an adjunct of the
saloon. The saloon is run by the
saloon keeper. But from the door
of the saloon keeper the trail goes
higher up. These figures are taken
from the year book of one Of the
temperance organizations: