East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1914-10-28
SALEM SUFFERS
BUSINESS LOSSES
FROM DRY RULE
tOrrPrOperB Rentals DrOpS75
a Month in City
BANK DEPOSITS OFF 100000
Fourteen Business Houses Quit in Less
TEzn Year. School Attendance Less

lAe-u ACoAs DNLOOi hANSAAonNS -Ne~S
Many Oregon papers have
been loaded down within
the past three weeks with
repeated assurances that
Business is Fine in Dry
Towns"
The three most important
Oregon cities to become
"dry" nine months ago were
Salem, Oregon City and
Springfield.
Ii business is fine in those cities
the taxpayers and most Of the
business men would like to have
the "drys" explain just what
they mean by fine" If they
had said business is thin" then
they might have been more easily
understood.
Let them answer first about
conditions in Salem. Ex-COuncil-
man John d. Turner. Of Salem,
an attorney, is sponsor for the
following facts about that city
Salem went "dry" December last,
closing Is saloons, three restaurants
and two wholesale houses and withdrew
liquor permits from eight drug stores
and cut off an annual license revenue
Of $500. Ninety men and a monthly
payroll Of $500 were put out Of com
mission. Most Of the men have left
the city. An buildings vacated by
these concerns are still empty, except
six. which have been occupied by ten
ants who have vacated other buildings,
several Of the best buildings being
bearded over and used as billbOards.
More than five hundred modern dwell
inCs are "fOr rent StC-e property
rentals on State street have dropped
frcm slS5 to SllO a month, but "busi-
ness is fine"
Fourteen other business places have
closed since December ! last, aside
from the saloons an6 restaurants. In
eluded are three shoe stores-twO by
sheriff and one Voluntarily; one Of the
largest drygcods stores has been sued
for TIE first tize in twenty years.
Scores Of clerks have left the city.
ofusing the loss Of more payrolls to
tie city. but business is fine"
A leading prOhibitiOnist promised to
build l6 new dwellings if the city went
"dry." Nine houses were begun, two
have the windows and doors in. but
have never been finished; no work has
been done on the others, besides their
bare frames.
Building permits from January to
August, the last nine wet months Of
1918. were S3SS925; from November,
1918, TO September. 1914, the next
eleven "dry" months, they were $780,
ooO less. or S26S,ls0.
The grammar school opening day en-.
rOllment in 1913 was 1870; on .he same
day 1914, 1869. but Cuisines is fne."
Bank deposits show a decrease Of
SSO9,9i9 since the town went dry"
even after allowing for the s4S5,OC0
deposited this wear from sale Of bonds
in Boston. The decrease, therefore,
really should be S794.942, but "busi-
ness is fine"
The attendance at the "Cherry
Fair" this year was about oue.half
what it was the last "wet" year. The
Ministerial Association before the elec.
tiCn which made Salem "drv," told
the Cherry Fair promoters that they
would make up for the donations usu-
ally made by the saloons. but utterly
failed to do so this year and the pro
moterS refused to hold that carnival.
The "Cherrians.n consisting Of 100
real boosters, but Of no prohititicnistS.
then pledged their personal member.
ship for the necessary funds, requiring
the payment on their part Of $500. To
rub il in. the MothodiSts then turned
their church into restaurant, put the
kitchen in the pulpit and competed
with the legitimate restaurants for the
little business that their proprietors
had hungrily looked for as a possible
annual godseud.
Business must be "fine" in any city
when building PRINTS, payrolls, bank
deposits. bankruptcies, closed stores, de-
poTpla;ed dwellings, depressed realty
values, school enrollments and carnival
statistics sll tell so Greary story Of
literal fact, Maybe the prohibitionists
mean that the "agitatins business" is
fine.