The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-06-04
E. J. MiIIington of Michigan Al
Mankato Theatre

was s-fire of questions and an
swers, the second meeting OF the anti
county optionists. held last evening I'm
the same place, was n comparatively
quiet affair. though II was very large
ly attended and much enthusiasm dis
played on the part of those who agreed
with the speaker.
Perhaps, the meeting would not have
been so tame, had not August Blissen-
bach, the presiding officer, requested
at the outset that the speaker, f. J.
Millington. of Cadillac. Mich, be not
interrupted. and that any who had
questions to ask would reserve them
| to the last. There was but one in the
audience who got in any questions be-
fore the adjournment and that was
Rev. Carl A. Lindahl. pastor of the
Scandinavian Baptist church.
Mr.. Millington had made the state
ment that the country had been grow
ing more temperate of recent years.
and Mr.. Lindahl asked what was the
cause OF this. Mr.. Millington said there
was a growth of public sentiment
against violation Of the law and i'm
proper conduct of all kinds, but In the
course OF the same answer he made
the declaration that statistics proved
that temperance was increasing I'm the
wet territory and decreasing In terri
tory that was dry.
Financial Side Of Question.
In the course OF his address Mr..
Wilmington had made a great point of
the financial side of county option. He
sought to impress on his hearers the
idea that Mankato would suffer a
great business loss II Blue Earth
county should go dry. The money
| that the salo6nkeepers now received
and spent again right here would
leave this locality by ten. and hun
dreds of thousands of dollars. n
would go to St. Paul, Minneapolis and
Milwaukee, from which places liquor
would be brought in. He said the sa-
loonkeepers OF this city kept paying
$27 900 year into the city treasury.
but no such money would be obtained
from the Minneapolis wholesaler.
He stated that Cadillac, Mich, had
had its material progress stopped by
the advent Of prohibition. The county
, had been dry for three years. The
last year the place was wet there
had been more than half a million
dollars worth of building, but a man
in the building trades in that city
had recently told him that he had not
lately been asked to figure on as
much as the reshingllng OF 4 roof.
There were now nine vacant store
buildings in. the city and of the o.
230 houses there were 172 vacant
ones. lie declared that Cadillac was q
beautiful city. Its natural advantages
were equal to those OF Mankato. ID
had some fine industries and condi-
tions generally were such as TO make
for prosperity. but since the dry wave
had swept over the place, its pros
pcrity had stopped.
Mr.. Lindahl, shortly before the ad-
journment, took up this line of argu-
ment and pointed to Willmar. Mimi.
as a town that had been dry for more
than three years and had enjoyed
great prosperity under the dry regime.
Claim There is Problem.
Mr. Millington stated that at Cad
lilac there was now a great problem
CT young men drinking. There had
been no such problem before the ad-
vent of the dry regime. The saloons
had been wiped out. but in their
place there had come a lot of pool
rooms, where disorderly characters
congregated. The saloons had been
well regulated i'm their day and mi
nors had been kept out of them. but
the boys could and did go into the
pool rooms, where soft drinks were
cold Il fr..,. IN. rI.s.
was secretly passed around.
Mr. Millington stated that as
lawyer, a citizen of Cadillac and
father of boys whom he wished to save
he preferred the saloons to the pres
ent state of affairs there. He had vot-
ed dry at the time the county option
issue was up, but he had changed his
mind
The speaker said he would read
from The Fargo Daily Courier News.
prohibition paper, to prove that
there was a great liquor problem to-
day i'm North Dakota. Boys of sixteen
and men of seventy had been brought
into court by the attorney general to
tell where they got their liquor. In
stead of saloons, North Dakota had
blind piggers and boot -leggers That
was what Mankato would have IL the
county went dry, two to three hun
dred blind piggers and boot -leggers,
selling bad whiskey in holes and cor
ners. instead of twenty seven saloons.
selling ordinary liquor. and under
bond to obey the law. keep out minors
and habitual drunkards and close
when the hour designated by law for
closing came. 49,
Referred TO Michigan.
Mr. Millington said the Michigan
senate recently had before II state
wide prohibition bill. and there were
forty dry senators to ten wet ones.
But the bill was amended so as to
make II a crime to sell patent medi-
cines that contained over twenty per
cent of alcohol and the patent -medi-
cine boys sat up and took notice. you
must not take the bottle of patent
medicine from the deacon" said Mr..
Wilmington. In enumerating causes
why the proposed law was defeated.
The speaker said that I'm January
1910, prohibition Kansas had 1f9
convicts for each 100. 900 people. while
wet Minnesota had only seventy nine.
He said that In the nineteen years
from 1887 to 1906 there were 63O
cases of women seeking divorce on
account OF drunken husbands i'm pro-
hibition Kansas. 497 I'm wet Minnesota