Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-04-17
EAST moline IS
SWUNCINTO
COLUMN BY 255
Local Option Forces Win Sweep
ing Victory in Last West City
of Rock Island County.
AFFECTS TWENTY SALOONS
Men Favor Thirst ParlOrs BY Isl
Majority But Women Oppose
Them By 400 Margin.


Moline swung into the dry column
I at yesterdays election, thereby
( taking from the vets their last
/ stronghold in Rock Island county,
! which is now entirely anti-saloon
territory except South Moline town
/ ship outside of the city of East Mo-
( line. Twenty saloons will have to
/ close their doors.
/ 1t was the women who saved the
j day for the local option forces. The
men voted wet by majority of 1853,
/ there being 744 ballots marked
/ yes" and 591 no" while the
/ women gave the dry cause a ma
I jority of 404, 742 voting dry and 1913
+ wet, leaving a net margin of 255
! in favor of saloonless community
/ Never had an issue aroused
keener interest in East Moline than
/ did the local option question this
year. For weeks the most unique
! kind of a campaign had been con-
/ Quoted. Public meetings were
practically abandoned by both sides
and house to house canvasses were
/ made. Through personal work prac-
. tiCally every voter in the city was
/ visited and an attempt made to line
/ him up, which resulted in a total
/ vote of 2,415 being cast which was
not far from the number register
/ ing. The showing is all the more
4 favorable when it is remembered
that when DR.. George F. Johnson
was elected mayor a year ago, the
total vote amount TO a little over
1000.
Hard Fought Contest.
Women as well as Zen worked at
the polls, each faction seemingly
putting every possible worker at
the task of getting the electorate to
/ cast their ballots. The first ward
to be heard from was the Second
which gave the vets a margin of
12S. Then came the mems vote in
the First which gave the drys a ma
jority of 45. 1t was some time be-
fore the women's ballots were
counted and all eyes were conferred
on them because it was the weather
vane which would indicate the final
result When the returns showed
the women had rolled up 307 local
option votes and only 81 had said
no" it clearly forecasted dry
victory. The ward went to the drys-
by 275.
! Still the saloon interests pinned
their faith on the old reliable third
but the best it could do was 81
wet, which was not margin enough
to Offset the sure dry margin in
the Fourth or WatertOwn ward. The
latter added a majority of 172 to
the drys, making a grand total Of
1876 yes" and 1880 no"
Stage No Celebration.
No celebration was staged by
the local option forces in honor of
their victory. DR.. J. n. Goltra,
Chicago, who so ably conducted the
campaign for the drys in Rock Is
land, was in charge of the drive for
the prohibition faction and he init
mated the result itself was all the
demonstration" he could desire. He
had confidently predicted for
week or more his side would win by
margin of 400 votes and while
that week was not reached, the final
vote showed that he was pretty
good guesser after all for the vets
had refused upo to the last minute
to admit there was even a chance
for them to lose. and continued to
bet on the result, in consequence
of which considerable money is to-
day iingling in the jeans of Moliners
that yesterday belonged in East
Moline.
Plenty of Alibis.
II was the first time that East
!, Moline as a city ever voted on local
. option. Heretofore the contests
r have been fought out in South Mo-
line township. Certain circum-
stances played strongly into the
hands of the drys, principally the
fact that practically all Of East Mo-
lines factories are engaged in
handling contracts for war NUM-
lions for the government and it was
an open secret that the heads OF
these concerns were anxious to see
the CITY become anti-saloOn terri
, tory at this time, claiming that alb
/ seuce of saloons would tend to in
crease the efficiency of their men
and would thereby assist in a max
inum amount Of material being
turned out for Uncle Sam during
fine present international crisis. 1t
also was whispered with telling eff
feet that. should the city refuse to
vote out the saloons, the govern
mont would close them during the
Deriod OF the war. Thus the same
arguments which won Rock Island
TO the local option fold accom-
pIished similar result in East
Moline.
Because of the large percentage
of foreign born residents in East
Moline it has heretofore been eX-
ceedingly difficult territory for the
drys to win but this year the Eu-
ropean situation presented q new
angle and the electorate followed
Rock Islands example evidently
not desiring TO be the only wet city
in the county, under present condi-
tons.
Buy a Liberty Bond
THREE REJECTED.