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

(Firslt Prize in Essay Contest, won
lege.)
The immortal Shakespeare, the
one poet above all true to nature,
gives us his opinion of Intoxicating
| liquors thru one of his characters in
| Otllello, who exclaims: 20 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. Thou invisible
spirit Of wine, if thou hast no name
. be known by, let us call thee de-
| vil.',
Ever since. the master poet cried
out against the evil effects Of the Ii
quor habit more than two hundred
years ago, the fight against this evil
| has been waged. Now it is generally
conceded that the liquor traffic is a
shameful business, the root of an aw-
full amount of lawlessness and crime.
| Why, then, is it suffered to exist?
There are two great reasons, greed
and lust
In the final analysis these are he
only reasons why any man supports
| the saloon. Either, he expects TO
fatten his purse, directly or Indirect
| ly, or quench his thirst Some mer-
chants, for instance, maintain that to
lose the saloon would mean for him
loss of trade 1t is hardly necessary
to paint out the fallacy Of this argu-
| 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 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-
fee 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
| help carry on our city government, Or
| our taxes would be unreasonable
| high and we should be able to make
no improvements, 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 IL
| cenSe 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
,arger 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
9rovements? The patrons of the
grog shop, of course. These would
naturally be a~number of the towns
| people, some from the country and a
few transients. They would in most
Eases be of the poorer people who
an i'll afford to pay their own taxes,
let alone those Of their neighbors.
Hence this method of raising tax
| money is. entirely inconsistent with
1ur conception of justice, and while
it might have been pardonable during
| he dark ages, it surely has no place
among the American people in the
| wanttieth 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
| lleae is the fact that the saloon
'ands condemned by the highest au-
| h0r't;es in science, literature and
| Nyl5tics. Benjamin. Franklin, whose
| Judgment We have no reason to cues
| ion. was enc Of the first scientists to
| lcnGGnce the drink evil and he did so
n no uncertain terms. We have al
| 'fCdy given the opinion of our mas
err writer, Shakespeare, on this sub
| 2.'r, and we shall only add to our
| proofs a few words from men high in
| 'cH.:cal affairs.
Government examiners, who exam
| 70 applicants for citizenship, evil
| '0n'ly have no very high opinion
| &bout saloon towns. 1t is someitime s
Nficu,I. for an applicant from such a
"Wn to become citizen. The rea-
! son is evident The examiner fears
that 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
rime go together.
From ex-president Taft we have
he following advice: Leave drink
! lllne- absolutely. He who drinks it
deliberately disqualifying himself for
advancement Personally, refuse
0 take such a risk"
Here is what the U. S. Supreme
! curt the highest tribunal in the
| and, has to say about the drinker:
The injury, it is true, first falls upon
lin in his health, which the drink ha
Dit undermines, in his morals, which
/ Weakens: in the self-aba senlent
which it creates. But as it leads tc
neglect Of business and waste of pro
oerty and general Decentralization, il
fleets those who are Immediately
Connected with and dependent upon
him.
l. PlIt yUly mn 1tin1v n110t a ioDc2 Con