The Washington herald., 1913-09-21
OF PROBLEMS OF CITIES is HIS SPECIALITY

| Spencer thought he was. Cars as fine "a
those used by American trolley mag
mates are to be seen on more than one
| German street railroad. Where the roads
are still run by companies and corpo-
rations the cars.are no better than ours.
The greed for big dividends keeps the
| quality of the service down.
american cities could make barrels
Of money by lighting their streets, build
ings and houses; by operating their tele-
phone lines and power plants and by
| taking over their means Of transporta-
Ltion. In the democracy, ! see, / should
make the arteries of communication and
| transportation free so that they would
functionize with all kinds OF business.
Natural monopolies should be publicly
owned. And water cities should control
their docks.
"Furthermore, every city should govern
itself We have been trying in State Leg
! islatures to uproot vice in New York and
other large centers by law. Efforts also,
have been made to regulate the sale OF
liquor. II the inhabitants of a city ap-
prove a law, it is enforced. II they don't
like a law. II is not enforced.
1--WE have had a standard Of morals
set up for us in the first place by New
England. We parade the standard on
our statute books and that is often as
far as II goes. I am afraid that we are
hypocrites in some respects. Nows the
feelings and the opinions of a little viii
lage in Connecticut or on the Western
reserve out in Ohio. or in Kansas, may
not be the feelings or opinions Of city
like Chicago.
Bartendcrs Vow Push whisky.
Country lawmakers. ingrained with
the belief that law will cnange the dis
position of mankind. establish regulatory
processes for large bodies of people whom
they utterly fail to understand. They
measure an ideal American and then cut
their garments to fit that particular man.
Perhaps they know better but at any
rate they are following what is supposed
to be the conscience of the country.
THE liquor tax in New York City
has been fixed at LOO a year. That is
a large sum of money. Rent. heat. light
and other items Of expense must be
added. Now the object which the law
makers had in mind is clear to every
body. But how has, it worked out in
practice!
German. Italian. and French restaurants
where families gathered in the evenings
to eat and to drink beer and wine have
had to close or go to selling whisky. Suca
places cannot pay a license fee of A,OO
a year, 800 a month. S25 a week or about
81 a day. So they have been shut up, or
the chairs and tables have been removed
and gin and whisky have been subsd-
tuted for the less intoxicating drinks.
Families no longer are wanted. They
don't spend enough money and they take
up too much room. a bartender, to meet
the tax, must sell about $50 drinks a day.
He wants his customers. therefore. to
hurry in, swallow their beer or whisky
and then fail back for the reserve drink
ers who are waiting in the rear He
must take in a certain sum Of money
daily
Beer is cents a glass. whisky Is 10
cents a drink Consequently. as a sales
man. he pushes the sale OF whisky.
Moreover, he will sell, in his eagerness TO
make both ends meet, to minors, habituai
drunkards and women. Also he buys
cheap adulterated liquors and not infre-
quently adds a gambling annex to his
establishment. Drunkenness, l claim. Is
thus increased.
Children Go to Dance Halls.
Families, as l have said, no longer
pass a part OF the evening at restaurants.
The men go alone to saloons. Wives hunt
up moving picture shows. Children are
drawn away to dance halls Now the