The times-herald. [volume] (Burns, Harney County, Or.) 1896-1929, 1914-10-31
ALIEN SUFFERS
BUSINESS LOSSES
| FROM DRY RULE
tore Property Rentals Drop$75
a Month in City
|ANK DEPOSITS OFF $3oO,OOO
|burteen Business Houses Quit in Less
Than Year. School Attendance Less

W|uA tCCn RuotiVco uOuoCo Nutt ~ hNos
Than Year. School Attendance Less
Many Oregon papers have
Been loaded down within
he 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.
III business is fine in those cities
>he taxpayers and most Of the
business men would like to have
Me "drys" explain just what
fhey mean by Cline" II they
had said business is thin," then
fhey might have been more easily
nnderstood.
let them answer first about
Conditions in Salem. Ex-Council-
nnan John ID. Turner, of Salem,
an attorney, is sponsor for the
Following facts about that city ;
Salem went "dry" December last,
si5siug Is saloons, three restaurants
bad two wholesale houses and withdrew
aAqnor permits from eight drug stores
snd cut off an annual license revenue
Iof SIS 400. Ninety men and monthly
4psyroll OF $500 were put out Of com
+ mission. Most OF the men have left
&ehc city. All buildings vacated by
Erhcse concerns are still empty, except
which have been occupied by ten
fsnts who have vacated other buildings
<several Of the best buildings being
<boarded over and used as billboards
More than five hundred modern dwell
&sngs are "for rent" Store property
ercntals on State street have dropped
from sls5 to siio a month, but "busi
ness is fine"
Fourteen other business places have
slosed since December ! last, aside
from the saloons and restaurants. In
studded are three shoe stores-two by
sheriff and one Voluntarily; one OF the
largest drygoods stores has been sued
for the first time In twenty years.
Scores Of clerks have left the city,
causing the loss Of more payrolls TO
inc city, but "business is fine"
A leading prohibitionist promised 20
build 10 new dwellings II the city wen,
HdrY" 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
.hre frames.
RI ding permits from January 10
AsFQu I, the last nine wet months Of
1913. were t3ss,925; from November.
1913, TO September, 1914 the next
,fevea "dry" months, they were sl20,
poo less, or sos, 100.
The grammar school opening day cn
rollHlfnt in 1918 was 1910; on the same
day Io14, 1869, but "busincss is fine. {"
Bank deposits show a decrease Of
5000, ,0l2 since the town went "dry,
even after allowing for the sis6,000
Deposited this yenr from sale Of bonds
m Boston. The decrease, therefore,
scally should be $794,942, but "busi
ness is fine"
The attendance at the "Cherry
Fair this year was about one half
what il was the last "wet' year. The
Ministerial Association before the elec.
iicn which made Salem "dry," told
the Cherry Fair promoters that they
would make up for the donations usu
ally made by the saloons, brt utterly
failed to do so this year and the pro
notcrs refused TO hold that carnival,
The "Cherrians, consisting Of 100
neal boosters, but OF no prohbitionists,
silen pledged their personal member
ship for the necessary funds, requiring
the payment ON their part OF $500. To
sub II in, tho Methodists then turned
their church into restaurant, put the
kitchen in tho pulpit and competed
with the legitimate restaurants for the
little business that stheir proprietors
had hungrily looked for as a possible
annual godsend.
Business must be Cline" In any city
when building permits, payrolls, bank
faposits, bankruptcies, closed stores, do.
lopulated dwellings, depressed realty
values, school snrollments and carnival
statistics all tall so dreAry q story Of
literal fact. Maybe the prohibitionistr
moan that tho "agitating busipsss" IL
ssas.