Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1914-07-17
INITIATIVE MEASURE NO. 3.
.tate-Wide PrOhibitiOn-Facts. Not
Theories.

Inc pest argument Tor or against
tate-wide prohibition is the exper-
fence of the state that has tested it
out. The stastics and statements of
facts herein shown can easily be veri-
fed by addressing Gov. George H.
Hodges, Topeka, Kan, and enclosing
postage. Kansas has had prohibition
for thirty (30) years, and under it
in spite of agriculture disaster, so fire.
quent in earlier years as to give it
the name of Bleeding Kansas" has
become the richest state per capita In
the Union. The assessed valuation is
$3.50. per capita. Assessed valua-
ton of Missouri, license state ad-
joining Kansas, is less than $500 per
capita. Kansas has bank deposits of
$3.50 per capita; Missouri, $40 per
capita. Kansas, under prohibition,
spends $1.48 per capita for liquor;
Missouri, under license, spends $24
per capita. Every man, woman and
child in Kansas has just $2252 more
to spend for food, clothing, education
and entertainment than the Mlssiour-
ian. In Kansas one farmer in five
owns an auto; in Missouri, one in a
hundred. In Missouri common labor
receives So per week, in Kansas $14
per week. Why? In Missouri there
are 1000 saloons, into which the peo-
pie pay $8O,OOO,OOO per year. In
Kansas there are no saloons. Kansas
creates wealth faster than any state
in the Union. The state tax rate is
$1.O4 on $1,000. In Washington the
state tax is $500 on $1,000. Kansas
has los counties. Eighty-seven have
no insane, ninety-six have no inc
brates. fifty-four have no feeble mind
ed, fifty-three no prisoners in jails,
sixty-five no prisoners in the peniten-
tiary. Kansas has practically no
paupers and as consequence the
poor farms in forty-nine counties
have been turned into experimental
stations under the control of the state
agricultural college and are called
prosperity farms. Kansas death rate
is seven in 1000; Missouri, seven
teen.
The Matter With Kansas.
The North American (Philadel-
pria) says: Something is the matter
with Kansas" 1t is found in the
clause in her constitution which
reads: "The manufacture and sale
of Intoxicating liquor shall be forever
prohibition in this state. 1t is this
defiance of what other states have le-
galized as a necessary evil that has
helped to make her citizens the rich
est per capita in the country and the
richest of any agricultural folk in
the world; that has given her per-
manent school fund of $10,0O0.00o
and has reduced her illiteracy to an
almost negligible quantity. 1t is this
insistence upon what slaves of custom
always have sneered at as 'impractI-
cal that has given her balance OF
more than a million and quarter Is
her state treasury and no bonded
debt, save $4,000 held by the per-
manent school fund; this alone that
makes possible the statement that 9S
per cent of her 100000 school chill
dren never have seen saloon. Yes,
something's the matter with Kansas.
OF what it is there can be no doubt In
the mind of any unprejudiced observ-
err. And in view of the effect in the
Sunflower state, there is little wonder
that an increasing number of persons
believe that this nation will be past
the most dangerous rocks in its
course when the thing that is the
matter with Kansas is the matter
with every square mile of territory
from Eastport to San Diego and from
Walla Walla to Key West
Prohibition in Washington would
mean increased wealth. low taxes and
prosperity, just as it has in Kansas.
Rev. ,Chas. A. Bowen of the First