The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-02-16
I0 IS CHAMPION
Of DRI MEASURES
Declare1 Prohih1tion IN STATE Of wash
inkton HAS Been Great Bennett From
Economical standpoints.


Kansas city, Mo-. Feb, 1s.--The
world Is watching Seattle to see now
prohibition works out In d large city.
Seattle Ii the largest city that mas
ever had prohibition. It and the
whole State Of Wa 9iinGton became
dry January Of this year.
The strongest single force that work.
washington was The Times, the Lead
ing Newspaper Of Seattle. In its cam
paixn against the passage OF the pro-
hibitory law It used all the familiar
old Arguments such as "prohibitiofi
doesn't prohibit. thart 1t would force
down rents. that 80 much properly
used for saloons all at once made
empty and nonproductive In one day
would have q bad economic eject
and 20 on.
The editor Of the Seattle Times.
Major G. b. Blethen. the man who
made the fight against prohibition,
was a guest ut the Coates House. Hs
was asked how prohibition was work
ing ana IL all his prophecies had come
true He said:
my paper fought its damnedsst
against prohibition. We fought u On
economic grounds alone, We believed
that in q great seaport city with =
pQQulNblQn Ol QPW6ku0 Va wv ~ -
hibition would be destructive; It would
bring on economic disaster. We be-
lieved that under our system OF ucens-
Ing the saloons we had the liquor
trafYic about AZ well controlled az II
could be and we wanted to let II
alone, and so we fought ~ hard ~ We
could nght. But. in spite OF AL we
could do against ii. prohibition car
ried and il went into snect in wash
t-... y 4 - HI xyn
month OF ii now.
And how has 1t worked out7"
Business Much better
Eve already know that 1t Is a great
benefit, morally, and from an eco
nomic standpoint. Its moral benefit
has been tremendous. Seattle had
$50 saloons and we had nm average OF
100 arrests q month for crimes and
nisdemsanors growing out of liquor
drinking. In January we had only
400 arrests and sixty OF those were
made January ! and were the results
or hang-overs from the old year. That
In itself iss enough to convince any
man with 4 conscience that prohibi-
ton In necessary. There can be no
true economy In anything that 10 i'm
moral.
And on top OF that great moral re-
suit, we have these economic facts. In
the first three weeks OF January the
savings deposits in the banks Of
Seattle increased fifte&n per cent.
There was not grocery store in Seat
tie that did not show an increase of
business In January greater than ever
known in any month befors in all the
history of the city. except In holiday
time. In all the large grocery stores
the increase was immense. In addi-
ton to this. every dry goods store In
Seattle except one, and that one 1
have no figures from. had . wonder
full increase in business. Each store
reported the largest business ever
done in one month, except i'm holiday
time.
Better for Women and Children.
II wished to know In what class OF
goods the sales Increased 50 greatly,
and 50 sent to all the grocery and
dry goods stores to find that out. And
to me II In = pitiful thing, and 1t
makes me sorry that we did not have
prohibition long axo---that the in
crease In sales In all the dry xoods
stores was in wearing apparel OF
women ana children. and In the gro
Gerry stores the increase was made up
chialiY Of fruits and fancy groceries.
This proves that it il the women and
children who suffer most from the
liquor business, and II ik the women
and children who beneft lnoaf from
prohibition. Money that went for
merly over the bar for whisky II 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