Newell reclamation news. [volume] (Newell, Butte County, S.D.) 1910-19??, 1916-06-29
SHOWS HOW FIGURES
HAVE Been JUGGLED
FaIsity in Eastern Liquor Mems
Jibes at Seattle Under Dry Law
Shown Up by Editor.

hoods letter printed in the st. Louis
Republic in which derogatory state
ments concerning the effects OF -he
Washington state prohibition law were
made, c. b. Blethen, editor OF the
Seattle Times, has addressed a letter
to the editor of the Republic replying
to the allegations. The letter in the
st. Louis Republic appeared over the
Liquor Dealers Association. 1t sets
forth that under the dry law the
"bootlegger" has become an institu.
ton in Seattle, that the number OF
arrests is steadily increasing, that
new drug stores are springing up on
every hand, that rentals have been
reduced and business has received a
severe setback
Mr. Blethen takes up the charges
one by one in his reply, and offers sta
tistics in each case to expose and re-
flute the Misrepresentation Mr. BE
then's letter deals especially with the
comparative numbers of arrests in
1915 and 1916 under the dry law. Mr.
Blethen's letter follows:
Seattle, May 20, 1916
Editor the Republic, st. Louis Mo:
Dear Sir: | have a clipping from
your paper headed Prohibition in
Seattle and marked Printed May
Is, 1916"
While hold no brief for prohibit
ton and IN fact fought it hard
through the columns of my paper, |
resent such a mess OF misrepresents
tions and deliberate falsehoods as you
have published over the signature of
the Missouri Wholesale Liquor Deal
ers' Association"
The first two para graphs of the
communication are arguments which
1t Is not necessary for me to answer
The third paragraph is a wonderful
juggling Of figures in an attempt to
prove false conclusion.
In March, 1915. only such drunk"
were recorded on the police blotter
as caused disturbances warranting
trial and punishment Every man
discovered by the police under the In.
f1uence Of liquor in March, 1916, was
arrested and recorded on the police
blotter for punishment, the old habit
of letting more than one-half of the
total number of "drunks" taken in.
out Of Jail on SOLDERING up the next
day having been abandoned
Arrests Comnared
The total arrests for crimes, grow.
ing out of the sale of liquor as record
ed on the police blotter were for
March, 1915, 1879; for March, 1916,
1,0SS. From the 1916 arrests should
be deducted, to secure the correct
point OF view, 40 arrests of liquor PEG.
pie for violations of the dry law This
leaves March only 1,039 arrests upon
which q comparison can be based II
then we add only 300 arrests for
drunkenness in March, 1915, which
did not get to the police blotter, then
the total for March, 1915, is raised
to 1879. March of this year then was
marked by almost one thousand fewer
arrests than March, 1915 under the
wet law. In the first three months OF
1915, 5.265 persons we're taken to the
city jail as result of misuse of liq-
uor. In the same perior In 1916 I'M
der the dry law, and including the
violations of that law by the liquor
people themselves. only 1884 arrests
were made, but these figures do not
take into consideration at least one
thousand persons arrested in the
three-month period of 1915 whose |
names did not get to the police blot
ter.
The figures relative 10 the number |
Of permits in the same paragraph are
accurate. but are used by the liquor |
dealers to draw a false Inference. II |
was natural that the number of per-
mits under law permitting the I'm.
portation OF liquor should increase as
private supplies holding over from
the wet period ran out.
Concerning Drug Stores.
I as fsSSs:..sh paragraph speaks of an
increase In the number Of drug stores.
It Is perfectly true that this did DC.
cur. but the liquor dealers faiied to
state that the most of these drug
stores were started up by ex-saloon.
keepers who hoped thereby to beat
the law. Nor does the Wholesale Lilo.
nor Dealers Association tell you that
several score arrests have been made
nmoneok tlzeee new drug stores, and
fhak l6fterly, many Of them have been
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