The Alaska citizen., 1916-05-15


 that no right thinking man In tho
 world would vote against prohitI. ton from social. moral or physi
 cal standpoint The evils of liquor
 and the liquor habit are two well
 known for that And if those were
 the only points in the controversy
 to be considered 1t Is safe to say
 that vote In Alaska. A well a.
 in other places in the United State
 where prohibition now exists. would
 show q plurality of several hundred
 per cent in favor of prohibition
 But. without taking into considera
 ton conditions in any community on
 the Outside-for Alaskan towns are
 In class all by themselves-is
 prohibition the thing for Fairbanks (No. we aren't getting any of that
 fifteen hundred either)
 So le; us see.
 From the saloons of this city
 Fairbanks gets $l4 1000 annually ir license money. not S20.000. as erronc- ously stated In the News Miner There are II saloons which pay
 q 900 license each, while the N, C. company pays retail license of Il 900 and a wholesale license ot
 32.000. There WAS one more sa- loon in town until recently. when 1t closed Its doors. and there is an
 other on Garden Island. the license
 money from which latter. however
 the city.
 Therefore, should the voters of the
 territory decide to vote for prohi, bition, those living within the iilu its O. Incorporated towns shou con
 slider ways and means for provid ing funds for their city government and city schools other than the li- abolished. before they cast their
 ballots There are no doubt many
 ways in which part of the def. ciency, at least, could be met but should the towns of Alaska los" the license money they now receive from the saloons, they would find 1t hard to keep their schools and
 municipalities themselves up to their present standard
 And as to Fairbanks-what? There has been no time since
 Fairbanks was incorporated that the city has not been In debt Various Improvements have been made from time to time. costing the city all If its ligense money as well as a merchants And the schools have been costly, the budget of the new city council showing that the sum
 of $18,000 Is to be given to the school board this year Last year a considerable part of the city debt
 was wiped out by retrenchments of
 various sorts. leaving net debt at the present time of something
 like 15,o0o.
 The budget shows that the city expects to spend the sum of s59 251 during the coming year. Its reve' nues, including federal licenses, are
 expected to amount to s6S.650. There fore, if the city can 20 through with it's business during the com ing year as planned, the municipal liability will be wiped away and there
 will be between 34,00O and s4.5o0 left to the good, which will plac. Fairbanks out of the red"
 The amount named in the expect ed revenues in the budget for the coming year as federal licenses i5 $20.750. Of that amount s14,000 will come from the saloons. The re- mainder, Or $6,750, comes from the hOuoCo oi dll DdLha pay ing license fees. some of them too small. Therefore, If prohibition is decided upon. Fairbanks must find
 ways and means of raising the ap-
 pro1imate sum of $s.5O0. or the diff, ference between the amount of
 money expected from the saloon H. censes and the amount which Fair
 banks will be to the good at the
 end of the fiscal year next April, And the remedy
 People In favor of prohibition
 have suggested numerous ways and
 means by which the saloon license deficiency could be met. One prom inent mining operator says. and he has been a better booze fighter in
 his time than the editor of the News
 Miner ever dared to be. even In his palmiest days. for he drank up fortune without ever sobering up once Let the city place small tax on the gold dust brought in"
 Then there are the other licenses
 paid into the city. The law says that
 merchant shall pay license com-
 mensurate with the estimated amount
 of business he does in a year s time And 1t Is a we'll known fact
 that this has not been done in the