The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-12-07
Gives Majority for Drys This
Year After Having Voted a
Year Ago With Liquor
THAT'S THE VERDICT OF
THE VOTERS THERE
Jail Is Often Empty; Collec-
tions Are Better and There
\ Are Fewer Deadbeats; More
Children Are In Schools.

, Fort Smith. Ark, Dec. e.-Fort
Smith has given it's answer to the
question::
Is prohibition desirable?
That answer was the majority that
kept this city OF 10000 dry, after hav-
ing voted year after year with the
liquor interests.
Fort Smith had prohibition forced
upon 1t last year-against it's will.
The city had cast its majority against
the drys in vain and the Statewide
prohibitory law went into effect Jhn-
urary !. 1915.
Ten months later November Tin
conjunction with the rest of the State.
Fort Smith voted again on the liquor
question, upon an initiated act, tn.
purpose Of which was 10 repeal the
prohibitory law.
After ten months without saloons,
Fort Smith. with a total vote of 1850
for the first time in its history voted
against saloons.
That was the verdict Of the people
upon prohibition In Fort Smith
A canvass of ffty-six retail mer-
chants showed that all but three were
against the return of the saloon.
Forty-two reported that a large per
cent OF their customers who had been
in the ID. B." or SLOW pay" class
under the regime of the saloon, have
been paying their bills and moving
up in the mercantile credit rating
Collections Better.
Almost uniformly collectors of mer-
camille, professional and rent accounts
report radical betterment in COL
lections. Meat market. fruit stores
and food merchants of similar classes.
quite generally report that. shortly
following upon the banishing of sa =
looms. their lists of customers were
largely increased and they credited
the increase to the portion of the en-
ployed class who had In the past been
regular patrons of saloons.
Within ten months following tho
closing Of the saloons, the superin-
tendent of schools reported an in
creased enrolment of asa over the
corresponding period of the preced-
ing year. and teachers reported a no
table decrease of poorly dressed chill
dren and also of children unable to
attend school.
The associated charities recently
! publicly announced there were not
this year one-tenth as many appiica-
tons 70 rsehool pupil clothing. Both
| the pauper missioner and the as
ISOLATED charities report the demand
2
approximately forty per cent that OF
/ last year.
| In Muny Court the records for 1915
with saloons show a monthly average
of cases of SIS. sixty-eight per cent OF
which were directly chargeable to IL
| quor and twenty-five per cent OF which
indirectly so.
During the ten dry months the
monthly average of cases has been
/ ESQ. Last year the city employed TWEEN
| ty-three patrolmen. day and night
capacity of fifty prisoners. nearly
always was full. The cost of feeding
prisoners averaged t475 per year.
jail Often Empty.
This year there is only one tailer,
no guards and nine patrolmen. The
Jail frequently is empty and seldom
has more than four to seven prison
ers, and cost of feeding prisoners is
less than $3.50 per year.
| Fort Smith is called a one-street
| city It's chief business street is zoe
| feet wide and a mile long. Not count
| ing the business houses located or
cross streets. there are 325 business
fronts on that street.
| Before prohibition, there were forty
| three saloons on that street. When ga
looms left there were thirty-one other
| fronts vacant 70 rother reasons bring.
| ing a total of seventy-four vacant
buildings there. A canvass of the same
street last week showed twenty-three
vacant fronts. forty per cent Of which
| closed because OF the condition OF
! the buildings themselves OF the forty
| three buildings vacated by the saloons
| thirty-two are occupied by mercantile
| or similar business.
| When saloons went out this city
| lost $4,000 of annual license money
| For the past Ave years the annual cit.
| budget has been between $l2a.o 600 and
| $4,000 per year. Thus with prohi-
bition the city lost only between a
| fifth and a sixth of its income.
That 424, 900 loss was offset by the
| reduction in police salaries, cost OF
| maintaining tall and other items to a
certain extent. less. OF course, the ma
terial reductions in fines for drunken
ness and misdemeanors growing out
| of liquor.
Occupation and similar license.
were resorted to by the commission
and cost of maintaining government
reduced with the result IL that city
warrants and credit have been held al
par.