Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-08-12

charge ran the place, for then l
would have a respectable neighbor.
gu cannot expect a half naturalized
recent arrival, who is minus educa-
ton and ideals, to run a saloon in
----sAI.tar that it should be conducte&
He is pressed by too much rent,
too much competition, too much
chatteI mortgage, too little business
ability, and with him the evil of the
day is sufficient" and then we Won
Ter there is sufficient evil about
ihis place. The average citizen is
wise TO the average road house;
to the casual observer who drops in
vet the dust it lis a nice respec-
! able place; the neighbo~s however
soon get to know what it is, by ru-
NOR, by observation, and by incidents
that happen and are seen and heard.
1 think, therefore, that the move
ment towards restricting the liquor
business arises out Of conditions that
| t Is possible for the brewers only,
0 eliminate. Let them cut out the
-4oon that constantly change hands
! because there is no demand for sa-
con Tor SO many of them) in that
neighborll6oHS, Sell it out and swal-
.ow the loss, and pile the old fixture
in the wood pile.A&zLet the man who
80 d saloon in that neighborhooa
! be d bona fide citizen for one thing
| Let him be an independent merchant
lor another, don't father him with
loans, don't protect him from the po
ice by that silent Influence, don't
-,e anything tCdo with him but sell
I'M goods, and then don'tsell him
> s-Cds unless he is financially re-
/ spoLsible and pays his bills promp-
tly of his own will and effort, and
III that way raise the standard of
me business to that place where It
demand and receive the re-
/ spect Of every citizen, and you won't
/ near so much about local option or
prombitioI A citizen who owns his
own place is a responsible one,
much at stake, and taken as
whole such places would be res
9cUuble automatically.
he writer has nothing against the
liquor business, but he is one that
ctch abroad in the highway, who
sees ard talks TO Mlsortsand con
unions OF men, has eals ana uses
Them, hhas eyes and cam see with
chem, yea, and has a nose and can
5nelI with it, and he, like any O.
Cher man with horse sense can see
preDuty much what s the trouble with
the Iiquor business. And there is
uure. 1t win cost the brewers a
lot of money it will close up a lot
Q1 places that don 'tpay, it will send
. rot OF polished hard wood to the
cd pile, it will mark a lot of chat
uet mortgages with the cancellation
stamp, it will make a number Of
/ leases a burden, it WIFI cause a lot
Of real estate to bemarketed at a
loss, but the dividends on the in
! vestment will be that the liquor bust
less will come to its ownagain, and
all this hue and Sry viii be left to
a few fanatics whocan amuse them
selves with figures bat wont do
anybody amy harm, and by them I
mean the prohibitionists.
Individual optien will grow into 10
cad option if something is not done
to raise the standard of the average
saloon and road house, and the
sooner that is realized l think the
sooner the liquor Interests win be
on the right road. The average sta
tistics on any subject are only good
as far as they go. That is because
figures do not lie but liars do fig
uge. If there be ) wards in town
md five men takeacensUs, three of
them do their work we'll, two of then
do their workil1 then the statistics
OF that town are not correct, but
two-thiTds out of the way, and so it
is with all statistics. What counts
in life more than is apparent is the
sentiments of life. Even business,
as hard-hearted as it is, lis permeated
TO some extent by sentiment. AMI
the sentiment in the liquor business
seems to me to be that the average
man is not against the hQuor bus:-i
ness. He is down on the average
saloon. He knows how TOO many are |
run, and what they are. He knows
there are too many Of them, and that
is why they are run as they are in /
many cases. He knows it is because
the brewers have built up that de- |
testable (even TO themselves now /
system Of control; that's why there
e so many, and that's why so many
are so bad
The writer doesn't expect you to
agree with him. He doesn't give a
continental cuss if you DO not His
III writing this are for
your good interests. If you sent
aim literature he has equalright TO