Sharp County record., 1916-10-20
ACT NO. 2

In the general electiol no~,
u,sn1h the voters of Arkansas will
hsve the opportunity Of expressing
l ,,,'r .ssmselves upon Act No. 2, brought
I, the ballot under the initiative
ma referendum.
" Th;o act seeks to repeal the state
X. ,,ide prohibition law now IN iorce
s !. tbis state and to rsestablish the
N saloon and the manufacture
4 liouor in the state by license OF
Those who have read and studied
fbis proposed law, and it is to be
Hoped all voters have done that, It,
bave observed that the caption OF
tbe act gives the law three pur-
poses: 1. To provide for local op-
I'M, 2. To correct the evils arls-
~ from the liquor traffic. 8. 10
Increase the public revenues All
three of these are misleading state
Il ments and too ridiculous to be ser
Io,,slv considered by thoughtful
Ivoter, The real purpose of the act
An be stated in far fewer words
HE real purpose Of the act is to re,
opep the saloon in Arkansas, and
hose who are making an effort to
NJ that are not trying to provide
IOcal option, except as local option
hight provide the saloon They
Ire not attempting to correct the
wills that arise from the liquor
traffic, else they would not be at
X temptine to re.establish the traffic
N throughout the state. 1t is note
Worthy that those who are promot'
\ ine this act acknowledge in the law
< Itself that evils do arise from the
X 1liquor traffic, and the conclusion is
II plain to every citizen that If the
4 champions Of this measure were
\ Dincere and really desired a correc-
y Mon of the evils arising from the
whisksy traffic they would not want
% first license the traffic by law
Ind scatter its evil influences from
bne end of the state to the other.
Il the promoters of Act No. 2 want
&O suppress the evils that arise
N rom the liquor traffic let them join
hands with those officials and 9TH
ers throughout the state who are
making an effort to destroy these
evils by destroying the traffic, which
is the only method to which there
ls sense and reason attached. Those
who are promoting Act No. 2 are
N not caring about increasing the
public revenues. What they want
Is to increase the revenues of the
saloon. They know the licensing
Of saloons does not permanently in
crease the public revenues, because
the fact has been often proved in
many places that 1t costs more
v money to handle and punish crime
reSultine from the open saloon than
the saloon pays into the treasury
for the privilege of conducting its
business So 1t is seen that the
three purposes Of the act, as given
by Its champions, will not stand u
reasonable investigation.
A The law provides that when a Pc
tition signed by not less than ten
per cent Of the qualified electors in
any county In the state Is presented
to the county court asking for a vote
on the question Of whiskey license
the county judge shall order such
election held, If a majority par.
ticipatine In said election vote for
license the court shall GRANT license.
But there can be no saloon In any
town having less than 500 inhabit-
ants, and there can be no more
than one saloon for each thousand
Of population, or fraction thereof
II there are more applicants for Il.
cenSe than there can be licenses Is.
siie1 aeenpdina Ia ia,,, A. - =.