The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-11-08
DAVIS LAW WON'T Do

keepers were opposed TO 1t.
Everybody knows that the principal
item of expense in running a bust
ness is wages. The. Davis law has
obligingly cut this to a minimum for
the saloon keeper. Barkeepers to mix
and serve drinks are no longer need
ed. A clerk to hand packages and
receive money over the counter now
takes the place of two or three mix
ologists. There is hardly ever work
for more than one man in an Ocala
liquor store. The proprietor and one
clerk can handle all the business,
even during the rush hours.
For all the Davis law, there is just
as much whisky and just as much
thirst in the county as ever.
1t is true that during the first few
weeks that the law has been in opera
ton, social drinking has decreased.
But that has only been because the
arrangements for social drinking
have not been organized under the.
new law. Why they have have not. is
due to two reasons.
The first was that there was a
chance the law would be knocked out
in the supreme court, in which case
the custom of drinking at the bar
would be resumed. The second, now
that the supreme court has sustained
the law, is that there is a wet or dry
election to be held Dec. T., which of
course might knock out arrange
ments of all sorts.
If the county votes wet, we shall
see arrangements for social drinking
speedily made and put in effect. There
are number of places in Ocala
where rooms will be fitted up as
drinking places. Chairs and tables
will be provided free, glasses, ice,
sugar and lemons will be furnished at
a small cost, and those convivially in
clined can, after buying liquor at the
saloon, enter, sit down, mix their own
drinks, or have them mixed, or drink
them straight or out of the bottles, as
they feel inclined.
Such places will be a great deal
worse than the saloons have been.
Their worst enemies must admit that
Ocala saloons for the past twenty
years have been among the most or
derby in the country. The saloon
keepers have restrained disorderly
conduct and discouraged excessive
drinking. Moreover, the saloons have
been open to public view, in the most
public places of town, and always
under police supervision.
No such rules will apply to drink
ing parlors, such as are bound to
spring up under the Davis law; such
as are already in operation in Jack
sonville, Tampa and Pensacola, and
will be in operation in Ocala unless
the county goes dry. They can be
located in any part of town, and as
long as their proprietors do not sell
liquor or allow too much disorder, the
city and county officers cannot sup
press them. Men can go into them
and drink themselves blind, or make
themselves outrageous and stagger
out on the street to annoy, maybe in
jure, the passersby.
To the Stars absolute knowledge,
arrangements are being made to start
up several of these joints as soon as
the election is held, provided the
county remains wet. The regular sa-
loon men are not concerned in them.
They will be in the hands of far
less responsible element.
One of the results of the Davis law
/ is that man can get at least four
times as much whisky for Is cents as
he could before the law went in eff
feet. Before Oct. 1, man could OBJ
tain only one drink for Is cents. Now
he can obtain half-pint, with four
big drinks in it, and any one of the
four more detrimental to him than
the one of the old style. 1t is becom-
ing a common trick now for three
men to club nickles and buy half
pint, which is one big drink and one
little drink all around.
It's true that men who go to work
early or remain at work late can't
procure drink at either end of the
day. But they can obtain all they
want at noon, or send friend for it
at any time, and are always liable to
take it to their homes or places of
business, which is far worse than TAX
ing it across the bar.
Some optimistic prohibitionists are
talking about the Davis law strang-
ling the liquor business to death and
causing the saloons to shut for want
of business.
| Shucks and stuff.
They are selling as much liquor as
ever. They are working as hard as
ever to keep the county wet. Let no
one suppose because they are not
making any noise that they are not
making a fight. They count on car
rying the county, on holding Ocala
and recapturing Dunnellon. And they
will do it, too, if the prohibitionists
do not put in their best work.
Can the prohibitionists win.
We think they can, if they all
work and all vote.