Evening journal., 1919-06-23
DRY JULY FACED
With RESIGNATION
Feeling That Something
Will Turn Up" Marks APP
proach of Prohibition
SODA FOUNTAINS
TO FIND PLACE

This question has been asked hotel-
keepers. saloonkeepers, express com
panles, and consumers Of liquor, pri'
vate and public. and bartenders. The
question has been asked seriously 80
that il got no such answer as Don't
ask me what I'm going to do; what
are YOU going to do?" Il has received
serious answers.
But serious though the answers were
they were seldom anything more than
The best guesses.' The attitude OF The
city of Wilmington as tho first hour OF
wartime prohibition draws near is
an attitude Of Micawberesque rcsigna-
ilon. scarcely knows what TO eN-
pcct 10 is more certain that some
ihr . Nill turn .p" than IL is that be
sini.ig on July every possibility Of
buying drink Of beer, whisky, wine
gin or something else intoxicating Will
be gone. perhaps forever, or that TACT
the city has only a dull, hozy realiza-
lion.
The wartime prohibition law re-
qulres the cessation Of the sale OF IT,
ouor until the army is demobilizcd ana
until the ieacc treaty is signed. II those
things occur before January 10, i12V
yyhcn the Eighteenth Amendment be
comes effective. there will be long
period Whcrin the sale OF liquor VIII DC
lawful.
Most OF the saloonkeepers expect TO
meet the dawn Of July with no sur
plus stocks Of liquor worth worrying
about. They say they have bought
sparingly recently and 10 have only
odds and ends left. Whatever they do
have left will come in handy-if some
thing turns up. The saloonkeeper VIII
Of course, have 10 go into some other
business, and ne winks an eye ana
smiles mysteriOusly when YOU ask
him what 70 is going 20 be. The hotel
man will keep on running ms hoJel
without the bar.
Most OF the hotel men say there VIII
b. no appreciable loss when the bar
receipts are cut of. They have amount
ed 10 little more than 20 per cent. OF
the hotels total receipts and gonla-
times less than that They say the
public has grossly overestimated the
hotels incomes from their bars.
They discuss the impending death OF
long-csiablished hotel institution with
remarkable unconcern. The biggest
loss they see is the loss Of a place
whore men may meet. throw or their
cloaks Of dignity and ease the ten
sion Of their nerves and talk. But they
sec bigger possibilities in the develop
mont Of other sides of hotel life.
on July 4, Of course. their bars will
hc closed. The work OF their bar
tenders will be over az midnight, June
30 or a few minutes later. They
family suspect a movement among tho
bartenders TO spend the last workin:
day taking a rest, but they point e
the fact that most bartenders are re
liable men who will want other iOb'
and will ask references from theil
former employers When the space
formerly occupied by the bars Is agar
put 10 use. soda foundtains Will b'
there or club rooms or cafes. wher'
people who have never before fre
quented hotels because of'the bars, vii
want TO sit and sip tea or coffee oi
an iced drink.
After ALL" one Of the hotel man
ayers said, the people own the hotels
and IN the long run the people manage
them. They will get what they wan
and we will have TO give 10 to them
Whatever they want in place OF th'
bars they will get, or the hotels vii
go out Of business. As long as people
want hotels without bars we will con
tinuc 10 run hotels without hars."
some fOresce the development or
wider community spirit, wherein th
people who used 90 drink Lqu0r an
The people who never did will meet OF
common footing In a hotel whcr
they can get what everybody wants
I'm brief. both The hotel men and Oh
salOOnkeepcrs are optimistic. whethe
they contemplate the possibility OF
revival Of liquor-sellng or the pos
slbilily that 10 is gone forever.
Express companies and railway an
steamboat freight services will con
tlnue TO accept shipments OF Lquo
into wet territory up TO midnight @
Iunc 30 so that even on July I bottle
goods will be circulating around tn
country. bound for their last restn
place.
And among them all the consumer
be he a lover OF good cheer, a mn
iulcp fan. a proud cocktail artist @
lust a man who likes to have
around the house for emergencies
urOOdDlN INC ltd0b tNuNti hNN' pA
finds the former moderate drinker
who is Through with il for good
They can throw all the liquor
the world into the ocean and l won
give o darn, he says.
This man .s not laying in any pr
vale stock. But there are hundred
WHO are. They do not get II frol
the hotels. The hotel men eXplai
their lack OF extraordinary sales b
saving that they do not need TO So
i'm large quantities in order TO J
cleaned out by July /; they virtual,
are cleaned out already. Nholesal
houses are making big sales, howeye
and many a cellar is stacked up WI
crates from floor TO ceiling beam
Many another cellar is not.
Wilmington. in short, is a great o
Nflcawber, and the feeling that som
hing will turn up" whether IN u
shape OF a chance TO buy five sallol
cheap. or the repeal OF wartime pr
hibitlon." is as strong a. II ever WI
when Dickens hero was In the PIN
OF his optimism.
PERSONALS.
Mr.. and Mrs. George Price, MT al
Mrs. Conahan, George TIL, Mrs. Sa