Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1914-04-15
Why WE DON'T WANT SALOONS
I'M WARREN.

i 2
First Prize in Essay Contest, won
by Q; A. Finseth Of North Star Col
i lege.) u
The immortal Shakespeare. the
1 one poet above all true to- nature,
gives US his opinion Of Intoxicating
i hquors thru one Of his characters in
| Othello, who exclaims % God, that
men should put an enemy into their
mouths to steal away their brains,
that we should, with joy, pleasure,
revel and applause, transform our
selves into beasts. 0 Thou Invisible
spirit Of wine, if thou hast no name
p be known by, let us call thee de
vii s..
Ever since the master poet cried
out against the evil effects Of the III
| quor habit, more than two hundred
years ago, the fight against this evil
has been 4Waged Now it is generally
conceded that the liquor traffic is q
shameful business, the root Of an aw-
Isful amount of lawlessness and crime.
| Why, then, is it suffered to exist?
There are two great reasons, greed
and lust. Ssh
In the final analysis these are he
only reasons why any man supports
| the saloon. Either, he expects Us
fatten his purse, directly or Indirect
taly,s or quench his thirst. Some mer-
chants, for instance, maintain that to
lose the saloon would mean for MIN
loss OF trade. It is hardly necessary
to paint out the fallacy Of this arga-
ment. For by what laws of political
economy can it be proved that "a mer-
chant can do more business when
there exists places where men can
and actually do, spend part and some
times all their earnings, than when
no such places exist? If it were
possible to prove that money which
iingles across the bar to pay for
booze which often leaves a man.
unable to do any efficient work for
hours after he has imbibed it, is not
worse than wasted, it would have
been proved long ago. Furthermore.
we do not like to contemplate what
these men, who are willing to sacri-
flee human life and happiness for
gain, shall one day answer before the
almighty God.
Then there is the cry about taxes.
''We must have the license money to
aahSAP va ~ vi Ou1 City SOYGEIIiL6ItI, OF
our taxes would be unreasonable,
nigh and we should be able to make
no improvements 81 they say. Now
here is something peculiar about
how little the license money really
|does accomplish, The curse that
chung to Judas thirty pieces of silver
seems to follow every license dollar
collected, for we find that the high Ii
aense towns are, as a rule, the most
1espicable places on the face of the
earth For proof of this we would
refer the skeptical one to some Of the
larger towns along the western Dor
der Of our state. But suppose license
money did build UP town, which we
have every reason to expect it should,
who would then really pay for the i'm
provements? The patrons of the
| yrog shop. of course. These would
| naturally be a number of the towns
people, some from the country and a
sew transients They would in most
cases be of the poorer people who
ran ill afford to pay their own taxes,
!ft alone those of their neighbors..
Hence this method of raising tax
money is entirely inconsistent with
dur conception of justice, and while
it might have been pardonable during
The dark ages, it surely has no place
annong the American people in the
Wentieth century.
So much for the financial side of
he question, There are other reas-
ms, just as important, why we don't
want saloons Most important among
ihe@e is the fact that the saloon
ends condemned by the highest au-
hor'tfes in science, literature and
'5lstics. BENJAMIN Franklin, whose
Judgment We have no reason to cues
ion. was one Of the first scientists to
lean4Gnce the drink evil and he did SO
n no uncensai n terms We have al.
ieedy given the opinion of our mas
/ el writer, Shakespeare, on this sub
e Il and we shall only add to our
proofs a few words from men high in
,c's'.9l'fosal a fairs.
GeYernnen examiners, who exam
1e arpt;Sf2rts for citizenship. evil
n'ly have no very high opinion
bout saloon towns. 1T is sometimes
lifffcu't. for an applicant from such a
tJWn to become a citizen. The rea-
son is evident The examiner fears
hat the applicant has already broken
he laws of the land of which he
wishes to become a citizen. They al
SO seem to know that saloons and
srine go together.
From ex-president Taft we have
he following. advice : !. Leave drink
9lan e solutel Y. He who drinks it
deliberately disqualifying himself for
advancement. Personally, refuse
. take such a risk Z .lsssS
Here is what the III. S. Supreme
curt, the highest tribunal in the
| and has to say about the drinker:3
The INJURY, it is true, first falls upon
rim in his health, which the drink ha-
Dit undermines;; in his morals, which
Weakens in the self-aba senent
which it creates. But as it leads to
~ gle.ct Of business and waste Of pro-
aerty and general demon lization, it
fleets those who are imme diately
eonnected with and dependent upon
him z 3ss NJ
But why multiply quotations? Con-
]pnnnatinnS from hi OH 4 q nd II r.y-ii RI