Evening journal., 1916-01-24

lfdue ana so on 10 the QlHerent lines
Of business and industry, throughout
the year Prosperity would reign.
We have heard a great deal in per-
iOds Of depression about over-produc-
ton. Men, / say to you, that there has
never been an over-production Of any
Of the staple products in this or any
other country. When we think OF the
thousands Of underfed bodies all over
our land. of the multitudes Of chill
dren with scarcely enough clothing
to cover their nakedness, don't talk
Of over-production, the difficulty has
been under-consumptiOn. People have
wasted their money in riotOus living.
and il has been lost to honest and
| legitimate channels. II is a strange
thing that public men have not uni
yersally recognized this fundamental
truth; that every dollar that is spent
for liquor takes just that much away
from other lines of business. II a
man has ten dollars and spends six OF
il for booze, il is plain that he can
not spend the entire ten for food and
fuel and clothing.
II all the furniture in the country
were destroyed, it would certainly be
4 great calamity. If all the wool
goods. wheat or corn were destroyed,
hardship and poverty would result.
/ But if every gallon of intoxicating
beverage we're destroyed. I declare
without hesitation that the world
would not be one whit poorer.
Said John Mitchell, the labor lead
er: III brewery or distillery is closed
up, upon its ruins would rise fac
tory" The liquor dealers have en-
deavored to prolong their lease Of
power by raising the cry that the
abolishment of their traffic would be
detrimental to business. Said a prom
nent business man to me. in a thriv-
ing city in Oklahoma: "They told me
that the closing of the saloons would
kill our town. but in place Of the old
liquor shacks. upon those same sites
have risen fine brick blocks"
Kansas City. Kansas, had $50 sa-
looms when prohibition went into ef-
feet At the close of a year under
prohibition building operations in
creased 200 per cent. One bank re-
ported an increase on deposits OF
$125.000. the savings banks reported
an increase of As per cent, 72 per
cent Of which came from working
men, a majority of whom had never
deposited a dollar before. The num-
Der OF depositors in the city banks
doubled in five years. For the first
time for years the city closed its
year without a financial deficit. and
moreover paid $24O,O00 on its bonded
debt. During the last ten years Kan
sas under prohibition, the bank de-
pOsits have increased from one hun
dred millions to two hundred and
twenty million dollars. In the los
counties in Kansas. forty-eight did
not send a single prisoner to prison
last year and eighty-seven counties
did not send an insane patient TO the
asylums. in fourteen counties no jury
has been called in ten years to try {
criminal case. Fifty-three counties
have empty jails and thirty-eigh
counties empty poor houses.
The liquor element in Atlanta. Ga
claimed that prohibition would depop
, ulate the city, but the facts prove tn
, reverse is true. Under prohibition tn
/ population Of the city has nearly dou
, bled Ex-Governor HOch. Of Kansas
, says that the only three cities in tina
State that decreased in population
from 1900 to 1910 were the threl
where the prohibition law was not en-
forced. Since prohibition went int
effect in Oklahoma. the population o
Oklahoma City has increased 600 pc
cent.
The advocates of saloons constant,
hold up before the citizens the amour
, Of money the liquor business pays TO
the support of the government Tit
entire revenue from the liquor traffii
! including internal taxes. license fees
etc. in this country amounts to thre
hundred thirty-fve million dollars
Subtracting this from the one billion
] six hundred and seventy-fve millions
, the direct cost Of this business leave
net loss OF one billion three hun
/ dred forty million dollars. In othe
words. the saloons, breweries and dis
tilleries have paid to our nation a lit
, tie less than four dollars per capita
and have taken from out people NOR
y than twenty dollars per capita. B
T what process of reasoning can an
= ! sane man claim that this business /
! profitable to our country.
; Now in all Of this we have been fig
! uring only upon the direct cost O
z the liquor business. When we add I
this the amount expended for the pro
( lection from and the prosecution @
!, crime and the care of criminals dl
rectly due to the liquor business
: the amount also paid out for tn
paupers and insane caused by drinl
( add TO this the value of the labor G
one hundred twenty-five thOusan
e people who die every year from drinl
: siXty-siX thousand Of whom are work
: ing men, ten years at least of valua
u bic labor being destroyed, and add {
this the decreased labor efficiency c
e drinking men, and we find that the in
; direct cost OF the liquor traffic eve
q exceeds the direct cost. In place Z
u working financial injury to a cOmmU
y nifty, there is nothing that any cit
u can do to bring permanent prosperit
= like driving out the booze
u They say that the destruction Of th
. liquor business would destroy tn
/ farmers market for grain. Ex-SeC
e retary Of Agriculture Wilson said tha
e the liquor business gave market [
p scarcely per cent. of the grain prC
"a ducts of this country. Ten dollar
s. spent in shoes gives 1924 to the farm
d. er. Ten dollars spent in clothin
II gives S2.31 to the farmer. Ten do
lars spent in liquor gives only fort,
le nine cents to the farmer. or every S.
J. spent for liquor, the liquor dealer gel
)t S25 and the farmer gets one. "Wh;
= would the farmer dO?p shouted
whisky advocate i'm a meeting. IF n
= liquor business was abolished and I
would lose the market for his grain
N hn oh oh taNn