The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-02-08
]. F. CUNSHANAN
OPPOSES CLUBS
WITH LICENSES
Menace to Young Men, Says
Former tuberculosis
Commissioner.

New Haven, Feb. TIT is legal to
sell liquor in licensed clubs on Sun
day. said former tuberculosis Com
missioner John F. Gunshanan of
Hartford in addressing a, meeting of
the Bartenders' Union at Eagles Hall
Sunday AFTERNOON. The speaker said
the temperance forces raised little, if
any objection, to this club law in the
last Legislature and the worst feature
of it is that it does not restrict the
hours of sale, nor require the serving
of meals in clubs in order to procure
a license AS a temperance man he
said he always advocated drinking in
the open saloon and deplored the drive
made against it, the result of which
has been that liquor is taken into the
homes of thousands of families and
now into the clubs.
The saloon owner could be prose-
cuted in the court for selling drinks to
a young man after being warned not
to, but now if the young man belongs
to licensed club the parents and au-
thorities are powerleSs. 'fWe1l mean
ing people, said Mr.. Gunshanan, Ere
quently object to a saloon in the poor
sections of cities, but they fail to
consider that such places are neces-
sary to provide for the wants of hard
working laborers and surely the busi7
ness men who patronize cafes in the
center of the city don't want to brush
elbows with the coal, garbage or ash
men in their working garb.''
Mr.. Gunshanan said he favored a
saloon properly conducted and recall
I'd the time when the saloon had its
darkroom, it's dance hall. it's music,
it's gambling and its free lunch-alI
II which has been practically abolish
,d-and after all the years of hard
work on the part of temperance peO-
pie to obtain these results, they are
now confronted with a law which al
lows organized clubs of young men
and women to obtain a license for 500
to carry on, if they choose, all the
practices behind locked doors former
ly carried on in the open saloon.
The authorities of Bridgeport have
allowed moving picture houses to open
on Sunday, to provide a place for
young people to go as q, counteract
The saloon owner, in addition to
having to meet this new competition,
has had his license increased $500, his
product heavily taxed by the federal
government, and, said the speaker
when we stop to think of the moving
picture houses as an attraction, the
great increase of drink in the homes
and add to all this their overhead ex-
penses, it is surprising all the
restrictions placed on them-how
they can continue the business with
a profit, and the main object sought
by the emperance people to improve
Mr.. Gunshanan said that, years ago,
physicians prescribed whiskey or
brandy with some emulsion for their
consumptive patients and he has met
numbers of people who told him they
have been cured by this treatment and,
said Mr.. Gunshanah, from my know1-
edge Of tuberculosis, don't doubt it,
The speaker also said that, during
the campaign to abolish the free lunch
he learned of many persons engaged in
the preparation of foodstuffs in public
places, who had tuberculosis or some
other infectious disease, and the time
will shortly come, in Connecticut when
persons engaged in this work will be
REQUIRED to pass a physical examina-
ton such they do in New York,
and, in this way, do away with the
practice of making our state dump
ing ground for undesirables, such as
they did a few years ago with their
cattle.
'eWhile liquor has been a curse to
many and some deaths can be attrib-
uted to it's excessive use, which we are
sure to hear of, the fact remains that
it has cured many ills and saved more
lives than any other known medicine.
Young men have been urged to keep
away from the saloon and the battle
cry of temperance orators has been.
L didn't raise my boy to be drunk
ard but what will thy say now when
he goes to his club to spend a few
pleasant hours and finds the tempta- |
ton before him?
Mr.. Gunshanan said, in closing, that |
every effort should be made to keep |
young men out of clubs on Sundays
which hold a, license, and during the |
winter months provide some form of |
attraction for them, even to the ex-
tent of opening up moving picture |
shows as other large cities of the state |
have done, for it is far better for a !
to have commercialized |
pictures than to have eommercia1fzed /
vice.