The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1916-03-24
GREAT
BENEFIT to Seattle, Morally and
Economically,
Says Editor Of Times, Who Fought
Drys 60 End Admits Error
and Glad He Was Licked.

, [From the Kansas City Star, Feb. 9
1861
The world Is watching Seattle t.
see how prohibition works out in q
large city Seattle is the largest city
that has ever had prohibition, Il
and the whole state OF Washington
became dry January of this year.
The strongest single force thai
worked against prohibition in the
state OF Washington was the Times
the leading newspaper OF Seattle. In
its campaign against the passage OF
the prohibtory law it used all the IA
miliar old arguments such as "Prohi-
bition doesn't prohibit" that II
would force down rents, that so much
property used for saloons all at once
made empty and nonproductive in one
day would have a bad economic eff
feet, and so on.
Why lie Fought Prohibition
The editor OF the Seattle Times,
Mai. c. b. Blethen, the man who
made the fight against prohibition,
was at the Coates yesterday. He was
asked how prohibition was working
and il all his prophecies had come
true. He said;
My paper fought its damnedest
against prohibition. We fought it
on economic grounds alone. We be-
lieyed that in great seaport city
with a population Of upwards of 9OO,-
600 prohibition would be destructive;
it would bring on economic disaster
We believed that under our system
Of licensing saloons we had the liquor
! traffic about as well controlled as it
could be and we wanted to let 1t alone
and so we fought as hard as we could
fight. But, in spite Of all we could
do against it prohibition carried and
it went into effect in Washington on
January l. We have had a month
Of it now"
And how has Ii worked Out?"
Business Expanded Quickly
I'VE already know that it is a
great benefit, morally and from an
economic standpoint. Its moral ben
EFT has been tremendous. Seattle
had 260 saloons and we had an aver
age OF $500 arrests a month for
crimes and misdemeanors growing
out Of liquor drinking. In January
we had only four hundred arrests
and sixty Of those were made January
/ and were the results of hang overs
from the old year. That in itself is
enough to convince any man with a
conscience that prohibition is nCees-
sary. There can be no true economy
in anything that is immoral.
And on top OF that great moral
result, we have these economic facts:
In the first three weeks OF January
the savings deposits in the banks OF
Seattle increased Is per cent. There
was not a grocery store in Seattle
that did not show an increase of bus
mess in January greater than ever
known in any month before in all
the history Of the city, except in hol-
iday time. In all the large grocery
stores the increase was immense. In
addition to this every dry goods store
in Seattle, except one, and that one
have no figures from, had wonder
full increase in business. Each store
reported the largest business ever
done in one month, except in holiday
time.
The Women and Children Profit
q wished to know in what class Of
goods the sales increased so greatly
and so l sent to all the grocery and
dry goods stores to find that out
And to me it is pitiful thing, and
it makes me sorry that we did not
have prohibition long ago-that the
increase in sales in all the dry goods
stores was in wearing apparel Of wo-
men and children, and in the grocery
stores, increase was made up chief
ly Of fruits and fancy groceries. This
proves that it is the women and child
ren who benefit greatest from prohib-
itiOn. Money that went formerly ov-
er the bar for whisky is now being
spent for clothing for the women and
children, and in better food for the
household.
1T is just like this: When you
close the saloons the money that for
merly was spent there remains in the
family Of the wage Garner, and his
wife and children buy shoes, cloth
ing and better food with it. Yes sir,
we have found in Seattle that it is
better to buy shoes than booze. The
families of wage earners in Seattle
are going to have more food and
more clothes and everything else than
they had before"
1t Actually Prohibits
"And is the prohibition law enforc-
ed?"
Absolutely. Prohibition
prohibit"
and how about the empty saloons
and the landlords who own them?"
MANY of them have already been
made over and are occupied by other
businesses. l will venture the pro-
phecy that in one year from today
you won't be able to find In Seattle
where there was a saloon. They will
all be occupied by other businesses.
And prohibition has not lowered
rents. l know of one big dry goods
store that has already had its rent
raised since prohibition went into ef-
feet.
Coast States All Will be Dry
Oregon also went dry January l.
California is the only wet state left
on the Pacific coast, and it will go
dry January /, 1918. And those
three states will remain dry to the
end Of time None OF them would
ever have saloons again. Those who
were honestly opposed, as l was, to
prohibition in Washington and Ore
gon, have been converted to it, as
have been, by the actual evidence
that prohibition is a fine thing from