La Junta tribune., 1916-02-26
sEArrLE DRY AND LIKES =.
An The Aati.Prohibitioa Argunen1a
Pall Flst-('ity's Leading Wet
Advocate Changed Hk l1iaA.

. j. = N.TI
The world Is watching Seattle -
sse how prohibition works out Il !
large city. Seattle Is the largest
city that has ever had prohibitioa. u
and the whole state OF Washinstsn
became dry Jsnuar, ist. Of this ysaS.
The strongest single forcs thas
worked against prohibition II ~
state Of Washington was the Times,
the leading newspaper Of Seattle. In
its campaign against the passage of
the prohibitory law II used all ~
familiar old arguments such - Pre-
hibition doesn't prohibit" that Il
would force rents down. that 70 much
property used for saloons all at once
made empty and productive In
one day would have bad economic
effect. and so on.
The editor OF the Seattle Times.
Major c. b. Biethen. the man Who
made the fight against prohibition,
was In Kansas City one day this week
and was asked by reporter for the
Kansas City Times how prohibition
was working and n all his prophecf-
es had come true. He said:
"My paper fought its damnedest
against prohibition. We fought Il
on economic grounds alone. We be-
Iieved that In a great seaport city
with u population of upwards OF 300.-
900 prohibition would be destruc-
tive; II would bring on economic dis
sster. We believed that under our
system OF licensing saloons we had
the liquor traffic shout as well con-
troIled as II could be and We wanted
TO let II alone. and so We fought a.
hard ~ we could fight. But. In sipite
Of all we could do against Il. prohi-
bition carried and Il went into effect
In Washington January lst. We
have had = month OF II now"
And how has IL worked outi"
I'VE already know that Il IL q
great benefit. morally and from an
standpoint Its moral bene-
III has been tremendous. Seattle had
260 saloons and we had an average
Of $500 arrests n month for crimes
and misdcmcanors growing out Of the
liquor drinking. In January we had
only 900 arrests and sixty Of those
were made January 1st.and were the
results OF hang-overs from the old
year. That In itself Ia enough 10
any man with = conscience
that prohibition Ia necessary. Thsre
can be no true economy In anything
that II immoral. -.
And on top Of that great moral
result. we have these economic facts:
In the first three weeks Of January
The savings deposits In the banks OF
Seattle increased Is per cent. There
WAS not . grocery store In Seattle
that did not show an Increase OF bus
mess In January greater than ever
known Ia any month before ia all the
history Of the city. except In holiday
time. In all the large grocery stores
the increase was immense. In addi.
tion TO this. every dry eoods store in
Seattle except one. and that one I
have no figures from. had u WONDER
fui increase In business. Each store
reported the largest business ever
done In one month. except In ho,i.
day time.
And is the prohibition Law en-.
forccd."
Absolutely. Prohibition doe.
prohibit"
And how about the empty sa.
looms and the landlords Who own
them"
Many Of them have already been
made over and are occupied by other
Businesses. ! Will venture IN. pro.
phecy that In one year from today
you won't be able 10 find a plac. IN
Seattle where there vas q saloon
They will all be occupied BY other
businesses. And proclamation ha. no,
yet lowered rents. I knox Of on. big
dry goods store that has already had
'ts rent raised since prohibition ven,
into effect.
Oregon aiso went dry January
Let. csiifornis IL the only ~., stat.
left On the Pacific Coast, and ,, viii
80 dry January !. 1919. Ana those
shres ssasss viii rsmasa dry TO IN.
ead Of time. None Of them vii, .,.
- have saloons again. rho.- who
we're honestly opposed. o. va. ia
psohissttea In wasAinssoa aud Ore.
sea. have beea converted 10 IL. a. I
have bsss. b. the actual evsd.ne.
that prehlelssoa 10 . fine shiss from
. essassss stasdpoiat. No city ana