The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-07-07

divides the two Kansas citys Is an
OBJ }ect lesson that should be seen ny /
everyone who pTeeumea TO speak eith-
81 for or against liquor. In the wet
block Just across In Missouri there
are about twenty five saloons. Except
ing less than half dozen structures,
every building in the block is dedtcat-
I'd to the cause OF catering TO thirsty
karsans-
A hone.drv law effectually prevents
the carrying OF liquor Except IN
ternafly) into Kansas. But large
part Of the Kansas side police force
Is assigned to permanent duty at the
state line where most OF It's police
court business originates, thanks to
wet Missouri.
The Kansas city star. published In
Missouri. was among the first news
papers in the country to bar liquor
advcrtislug II has for years espoused
Vigorously the cause Of prohibition
The notorious wet block has made
auch an Impress upon respectable
AIseourians that at the last vote on
statewide prohibition. in 1915 Kan
sas CITY to!ned with 90 per cent or
Missouri in rolling UP a majority OF
, GOO for statewide prohibition out
side " the st. Louis district wet
majority in st. Louis Of 100000 saved
the state temporarily for liquor
Kansas is an ideal argument for III
nor propagandists to avoid After
! thirty-seven years Of constitutional
prohibition no enc, from governor to
village Justice of the peace, VIII tole~
rate serious mention of booze.
prohibition can hardly be called an
Tlntr{ed experiment when Si,774 square
miles have been dry almos; since the
Ci4l war. for partial prohibition was
provided for in 1851
Kansas Editors Racchnnt wall.
What a miserable 5pot Kansas must
be - described by Henry J, Allen, OF
the Red cross mission to Europe, in
tGs wichita beacon. as follows:
prohibition has left very little OF
Kansas except the growing crops in
}er fields. the stock in her stock pens,
+ the drearv round Of work, work, work
,n her factories. stores and other In
#duStrtes 1t has left us little to do in
hours Of leisure except just 10 fall in
love. 30 get married, send our chill
dren to school. go abroad occasion
nl}v. Join the church when we feel
iye 1t. run into each other with ex~
n,Elsive motor cars and store our
money away in dusty bank vaults, IN
Stead OF giving Il to cheerful gentle
mon with white aprons who used TO
stand in front of cut-glass bars and
say iufrequently, This one Is on the
house.
where once you saw long lines of
men on Saturday night going joyfully
into rooms where the doors always
swung in. never out, where there was
/ satedast on the floor and merry
. crowd standing around the mahogany
bar. where they were treating all
around and a man could get his sal
airy check cashed and spend It right
there on his boon companions. and
.t....s I-.sF g.. ,,1
break up the furniture and give his
wife a black eye--instead Of all those
manifestations OF n care free people
which characterized tho saloon day,
we now have nothing hut gloom.
We see men going quietly into
/ butcher shop or grocery store or de-
partment store to get their weekly
salary checks cashed~ and then going
moodly home with shoes for the chill
! dren and heefsteak for supper and the
rxlngs for a heavy Sunday dinner the
next day. and you know instinctively
that there win be no hilhrity in that
home that night. and nothing TO cheer
the lives of these people except such
sober activities az mother may intro
duce into the family circle
"There Is nothing in that family to
look forward TO except a comfortable
sunday dinner and maybe church In
sibly decprous ride around town In
tho family motor car in the afternoon.
Then Monday they begin the same
round ali over again and spend the
Noxt week doing nothing but working
and playing and riding and eating and
sleeping and huyipg new clothes and
taking music lessons and. going to
parties and thesters and overlooking
each other AT dinners, and during the
l-vcIong week father never comes
home and breaks In the door with
|tdr-whoop and goes to smashing UP
the furniture. or caressfng mother
With his douhled-up fist and kicking
Nttl@ Tommy iust to see what Tommy
W ou'd do, and doing other things to
show the pride Of strong manhood
mat used to he In him in the days be-
fore prohibition came and killed /
yNorythtnR in kanHas."
And vet there are some who are
tshlnr other states TO ruin themselves
in this absurd dreary way
JAY HAWK. .