The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-03-16
THE CHANCES FOR BLIND IT,
GERS: 1909 AND NOW.


In my first communication regard
ing the local option issue, l called at
tention TO the way the situation has
changed since the election of 1909. 1t
seems that MIR. Gordon is not yet alive
to the reality and importance of those
changes. 1t is also plain that his ell
erts have walked up to the fact that
they are up against a new proposition.
All! one who goes about the city with
his ears open quickly discovers that
they are getting panicky about it.
In the daily press, March II, Mr.
Gordon quotes part of what l said
about the conditions five years ago, es-
specially about the influence then Of
the failure to convict three notorious
blind tigers And then he adds:
What has Prof. Russell said to con-
vince any one that conditions now are
not exactly s they were in 1909?
*The laws have not changed
since then"
1t is true that in my first statement
| did not go into detail on that one
matter of blind tigers" | wanted to
give more space to that question than
was available at that time; and mean
time. suspecting that Mr.. Gordon
tho. there had been no change, l
WaNi. j 20 see what he did know. He
rose to the bait beautifully He jump
ed TO the conclusion that since | men,
toned no changes in that situation,
We knew OF none, and therefore. the
old bogy Of blind tigers would be
as effective now as ever.
We promised facts. Here are the
most important Of the changes since
to
eide whether the laws have chanoed,
and whether the situation is exactly
as it was.
ID Five years ago Wayne was
Que OF the first counties to hold a To-
cal option election. We did not know
then. but what we would be surround
; cd for an indefinite time by "wet"
counties from which it would be easy
! for suitcase brigade" to bring in
! liquor. Today we know the situation
/ definitely. 1t is a forty mile trip by
; lnterurban to any convenient place
that is wet" Muncie has just gone
: dry. and some Of our nearer cities
hope to follow suit soon. This does
! not take account Of Jackson township
| OF course. But Germantown and Cam
! bridge City have been dry and then
went wet again because of the effect
ct Richmond. There is little doubt
that they will go dry" against either
ny election or remonStrance, soon aft
or richmond goes dry"
~ Five years ago we had not had
enough experience in Indiana cities to
known just what the danger of blind
tigers might be. Mr.. Gordon and the
: other liquor advocates took advantage
or the natural fear Of the unknown.
and
that a good many Of our citizens al
most got to leaving their porch lights
on all night for fear Of him. They
Old not know any better than to be-
lleVe 1t all--then. Along with that Mr.
Gordon painted such halo around the
Richmond saloon keepers head that
many believed, with another chance
ne would certainly sell denatured whis
ky. or even turn saint and start a res
cue nome for boys behind the screens
Now. after five years observation and
waiting. we know that 1t was lust an
other case of
The devil sick, the devil a monk
would be:
The Devil well, the devil a monk
was he"
In the meantime, while Richmond
was hiding in the coal cellar for fear
or the blind tiger, gas belt cities like
Marion, Muncie and Kokomo have had
the pluck to beard the beast in his
lair. They report that the fierce beast
OF Gordon's former fiction is only q
scare-crow. Underneath his closed
lids there are only glass eyes, and his
hide is stuffed with brewery literature
The real live beast that haunts dry
cities is only a sulking hyena that
preys upon the carcasses of "old
soaks" and upon the helpless wills of
chronic alcoholics. Marion, Kokomo
and Muncie have tried both the licens-
ed saloon and the blind tiger" and
they declare by their votes that if you
must have one, the blind tiger" is the
less dangerous and more manageable
Pest Of the two; they even declare