El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-01-18
ARINIJO TALKS
FOR DRY LAW
Former State Official of
New Mexico, Tells How
Natives Stopped Booze.

to FL Paso in particular, the speaker
thought that "all the wild animals of
Texas have been driven away out of
their old corners and have been
corraled in FL Paso."
Hindranee to UpBuiIdinE.
The saloon is hindrance to every
constructive agency that lends itself
to the upbuilding Of the community"
| he said. 1T is the enemy of the
home, and If the home fails all fails
The home is the Oldest and divinest
Institution in the world The saloon
/ is its enemy and the enemy of the
| basic institutions of our civilization.
It is menace to the church and to
| the school There are children in Ell
Paso by the hundreds who are de-
prived OF the advantages of an edu-
cation offered at their doors by pov-
erty that has come to their homes
| through the saloons.
May 1t be the happy privilege of
/ this beautiful border city to remove
the menace OF the saloon on January
30" the speaker concluded.
Stumbling Block For Youth.
E. NJ. Whitaker, president of the
/ city school board, said the saloon
| block in the paths of the youth of the
/ city. The question Of money did not
concern the speaker. who wanted the
saloon to remain if it was a good
! thing, but to go If it were not, re-
CARELESS Of whether il paws or not
! He then demonstrated that the sa-
I loon is the enemy of the home, where
character is built and which opposed
! the saloon. which would destroy char
acter; to the church and to the school.
In the last minds of the youth are
trained and the saloon is ready to
stunt these minds in the end. he said.
COrrupts the Ballot.
hi Mr1r- Ea-7 -nnr = -
saloon men Of the state fought at
tempts on the part of legislators to
have laws enacted that would take the
vote from foreigners in Texas In
that, the saloon was the enemy of
/ the purity Of the ballot box Mr..
| Whitaker. who has served on the le-
| gal advisory board and. he said, found
every foreigner claiming exemption
from the draft. thought that anyone
who would not be an American SOL
der should should not be an Ameri-
can voter.
dry Cities Have Less Tax.
As to the argument that prohibition
: increases the tax rate, Mr.. Whitaker
presented the following. showing how
the tax rate in dry" cities compared
with that of Ell Paso. where the rate
I is sLSS: Kansas City. Kansas. IS;
Nashville. Tenn, $50; Wichita. Kas.,
rs; wheeling, W. Va. IS: Atlanta.
Ga, S1-25; Oklahoma City. $1.19. Fur
thermore, Ell Paso ''is now only a few
cents under the maximum tax rate
and you couldn't make It much
worse" ne said
The speaker concluded by urging
everyone to pay the 1917 poll tax, for
the reason that should the vets" con-
test the first election and have
another called, the citizens should be
ready to vote the saloon out a second
time.
S-s- .r o.,
Isidore Armijo. former secretary Of
state Of New Mexico and one of the
leaders in the prohibition fight there.
said:
Americans were the men who put the
In New Mexico. the Spanish
saloons out Of business" he said. Il
hope to see the day, however. when
the hyphen will be taken away and
am called American although I
may have Indian. Mexican or Spanish
blood in my veins" The speaker
thought the war against whisky was
as important as the world war, and
he offered his services in the local
campaign to its end. believing that
whisky and mankind are incomnatible.
Mr. Armijo said he believed that the
Spanish-American would vote dry II
the issue were properly explained to
him Since arriving in Ell Paso. Mr.
Armi1O had met an old friend. IgnaciO
Gutierrez. who is making money in
the saloon business here. he said. He
asked Gutierrez to vote dry" and the
reply was this: You can tell the lead
ers that there is one saloon man who
city dry"
McNary Denies Personal Attack.
James G. McNary was the last
speaker and opened by denying a
personal reference by the 'wets" that
Mr.. McNary had $4,000 worth of wines
- h
been a teetotaler until he was % years
old, when. as student in Germany.
he took his first drink. German beer.
Since then Mr.. McNary had been an
occasional indulger. but he said he
would sell all the liquor in his home
for 800 and that whoever took him
up would make a bad bargain In
TACT friend Of the speaker had given
him bottle of wine every Christmas
for five years and all five bottles were
still unopened. he said.
Would Please Army.
The relation of the liquor traffic
here to Ell Paso's chances of getting
a cantonment were discussed by Mr. |
McNary- Wind and liquor were the
stumbling blocks in the way Now.
that the army is coming and going
from FL Paso, the city should vote /
dry" and the army would advertise ]
II over the country that FL Paso did 4
clean up, he said.
The necessity Of using every cent ]
in the city for legitimate business was |
emphasized by the speaker. There is ]
about S30.00O,000 on hand in all banks 4
here, with a tremendous demand for /
money. There is not over $4,000, 900 in |
all savings accounts and that about |
equals the annual liquor bill. which 4
is absolutely thrown away. he said.
That FL Paso has been bad morally /
was the speakers knowledge gained 1
while sitting on a grand jury. and /
now was the time for the good citi- +
zens to clean up.
Invites Volunteer Help
In closing the meeting. Mr.. Wingo /
called attention to the fact that no
breweries are financing the dry
movement and that consequently all |
the volunteer help possible is needed.
The meeting had been preceded by
band concert at prohibition head
quarters and in front OF the court
house. For an hour before the meet
ing. boys had been engaged to carry
prohibition standards about the street
The signs, in English and Spanish,
said that less liquor would mean more
education and more happiness.
INDIANA MINISTER SPEAKS