Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-02-16
POLICE RECORDSOF
OHIO TELL STORY
Drunkenness and Crime Show
Big Increase.
LICENSE PROVED A FAILURE

Arrests In Wet centers Last Year
Eclipse Ali Records and Booze
Leads All other causes-Taxpay-
ers Are Footing the Bills and Are
Concluding That 1t is Good Eusi-
ness Policy to Vote Out Saloons
and Be Relieved From the Care of
Their Product.
Columbus, o. Especially - Drunk
enness in Ohio is on the increase un-
der license. This is proved by police
records of wet cities and towns. In
some of the larger cities, an intoxi-
Gated person is not arrested unless
he is utterly helpless or becomes a
public disturber. In most of the dry
communities when a man is under
the Influence" even in a slight de-
gree, he is locked up. A comparison
of the number of arrests in wet Ohio
towns last year with the number ar
rested IN these same towns in 1915
shows the increase not only of drunk.
enness, but of crime generally.
East Liverpool had 1858 arrests in
1916 against 2O43 for 1915. More
than three-fifths of all arrests last
year were on charges of intoxication
and PAT others were arrested for dis
orderly conduct growing out of in
toxication.
The report of the chief of police
of the city of Ashtabula for 1916
shows total of 2616 arrests for all
causes. Of these, 2101 were charged
with drunkenness. This is a monthly
average of 175 drunks arrested in a
city of 10000. There were $50 more
arrests for drunkenness in 1916 thar
in 1915. In 1914, when Ashtabuls
was dry, there were only 2O5 arrests
for drunkenness.
There were 1116 arrests for drunk
and disord"rly in Springfield in 1915
against 979 in 1915. Add to these
239 arrests for disorderly conduct
and 48 for vagrancy, and the police
records point to the licensed saloons
as the prolific source of practically
all the crime and misery in the city
In one of the years Springfield was
without saloons, there were 582 ar
rests for drunk and disorderly.
Of the $3.50 arrests in Alliance las
year, 1925 were for intoxication
This is far in excess Of arrests mad,
in previous years.
While the city of Akron is grow
ing rapidly, arrests for crime anC
drunkenness are increasing mucl
faster than her population. Last yea.
the police made 1856 arrests
against 1898 in 1915. A large pro
portion of these arrests are trace
able to the city's licensed saloons.
There were 2510 arrests in we
Steubenville last year, an increase O
1900 over 1915. All crime record
were broken in the city and country
There were 13 murders in jefferson
county in 1916
In wet Youngstown last year, al
previous arrest records were eclipse
: by the police department on who's
blotters cases of 1859 culprits wer
written. The number in 1915 wa
1908. The number of murders brok
all records. Licensed saloons wer
the cause of most of the arrests
Taxpayers foot the bills.
! Kenton would have been quiet las
year had it not been for her HON
Rule saloons. The police locked u
552 persons during the year and Q
these, 504 were arrests for drunken
ness.
In striking contrast with these we
cities and towns is Findlay. Findla
has not had saloons for eight year.
With a population of $4,000, her tot;
arrests last year were 321, with onl
SO arrests for drunkenness.
Findlay and Alliance are about til
same size. Uncle Sam makes littl
difference in the population of tn
two places. Last year dry Findla
= had 321 arrests and wet Alliance ha
e $3.50. There were SO arrests fC
. drunkenness in dry Findlay and 14z
}. in wet Alliance.