Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-09-26
Head of State Liquor Dealers PrOtec-
tive Association Says Trend is
Away From IL.
CITES RESULTS OF ELECTIONS
Anti.SaHoOn Forces Sharply Arraigned
-. fors Methods They Are Using
in Their Campaigns.

prohibition and county option and
back to Ito anse and local control of
the saloon issue. This statement was
made as pa t OF the presidents an
nual report which. together with the
reports OF. other officers. was submit
ted at theS opening session at Turner
hall.
In looking over the wet and dry
horizon for the past year" said Pres
ident Kunde, I'VE hare much to be
thankful for, as the dark clouds Of
prohibition are gradually drifting
aside and the people are again assert
ing their rights and refuse to be hood
,,winked by VI derhauded political
TnAethods Of the allti-saloonists." Con-
timing, Mr.. Kunole said:
although sevell states presumably
went drv. on Jan. L last, some by pop
ular vote, others by legislative en-
actment. vet even low some are grow
ing restless under the burdensOme
woke OF prohibition and Arkansas Will
again vote on the question in NOvem-
Der next, with CIV cry prospect OF re-
turning to a safe sane license sys-
TEN Ohio last NlOEembe repudiated
prohibition by an overwhelming ma
ioritv of $4,000 AT d adopted a home
rule bill. which released the dry cities
and towns under the old county Op-
ton and secured for them the right
to again decide the right to license
the sale of liquor within their Dor
ders without the dictation of the farm
ing community throughout the coun-
". The state of Vermont is another
that. after sampling prohibition for
50 wears returned O1T years ago to
a license system, ag9ln repudlating
the false heresy and expressed itself
well satisfied with a legitimate license
~ experiment
- 1.-The great state Of Texas has also
followed in the footsteps of its little
. sister Vermont and refused to have
= anything to do with a prohibition ref
erendum. In Missouri and Iowa the
dry candidates for governor have been
repudiated and more iberal-minded
men have been nominated for that
high Office.
Much to BE Thankful For.
I'm our own prairie state of Illinois
we have much 10 be thankful for
Last fall we had a few wet and dry
elections in those counties that are
not under township organization.
Two Illinois towns which had been
dry for two years swung back into the
wet column in last falls elections,
and we won a further victory by re
tanning two wet towns which held
elections.
percy and Wellsville were the dry
towns which we won. the former by
majority of 81 and the latter by 1853
In Percy 1O5 Of the 295 women voting
cast their ballots in favor Of the sa-
looms In Mounds, a wet town, which
voted TO remain wet by 1870, 1874 Of
the 395 women voters voted wet
BeardstOwn. the largest town voting.
stayed wet by ASP. In Willisville 119
women voted wet to 80 dry. Nine Of
the IL towns voting had been dry since
1913. Grand Chain remained dry by
145 and Thebes by 81. Metropolis
gave the drys q majority of "a, as
against one of 50 two years ago, a
moral victory for the vets. Coulter
vile went dry by a majority Of 215.
The dry majority in 1913 was 224-
Sixteen women voted wet, 21S dry.
Ullin remained dry by 68 and Baldwin
by 8 majority.
"Pinckneyville, county seat of Per-
ry county, remained dry by a major
ity Of 167: two years ago II was 234,
another moral victory for the vets
the largest number cast in the history
Of the precinct. The women voted dry
by 300 majority.
"By this you viii note that we not
only won two dry cities, but retained
the wet cities in which contests were
held and in those dry cities that yot-
ed to remain so, the dry majority was
very materially cut down. which clear
" indicates that the people are slowly
but surely awakening TO the errors OF
local option.
Broke More Than Even.
AT the spring local option elections
we again broke more than even, win
ming back some lost territory and los
ing in others. The results were no
surprise to the officers of your assO-
citation Os course, we regret that FL
gin and Freeport and other cities did
not come back into line, and that Mo
line should have gone dry but there
was a smile OF satisfaction when it
was reported that Waukegan had
fallen. There are a few regular fell
lows there, but a majority are lot Of
individuals who could not and
would not come together for their own
protection They depended on out
siders 10 do their fighting for them,
and as a result they have no synpa-
thizers. In all Lake county there are
less than half a dozen that belong TO
our association.
THE drys won victories in Moline.
with 46 saloons; Mount Pulaski, with
where therewere 81 saloons: Waukegan
90: Dixon with -, and in more than
a dozen other townships heretofore
wet In about rs townships where
there had never been a saloon, the
'drys' won of course. These elections
in ayowe eddy dry sections were called
simply for effect and to make a good
showing for the Anti-Saloon league
in order that they may continue to
fleece the unsopbisticated out of their
hard-earned coin.
THE chief wet victory was in
Bloomington, where we won by a ma
4oritv Of 1916 Two years ago Is sa-
looms were driven out by dry major
itv of rs. the women being response
ne We won in Is other dry towns,
among them being Carlinyille and
r,ockport Thirty towns heretofore
wet voted TO remain wet.