Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-09-05
OTTAWA HAS ORGY
ON NUT SUNDAES
AND BANANA SPLITS
TAX RETURNS FROM SODA FOUh.
TAlNS SHOWED CITY ATE UP
S5,722.1o WORTH iOF CREAM
DURING THE MONTH OF JULY.

With saloons passe, booze taboo,
beers and light wines yerboten, as u
result OF the July l spell OF dry hys-
terra. Ottawa is taking its daily and
nightly orgies on chocolate nut sun
daes and banana splits, according to
carefully compiled figures gathered
from the local soda fountains and ice
cream parlors today by the Free
Trader-,Iour
The we'll known and irritating hi
cost o living may make its presence
felt on the icebox or coal bin. but as
for that part of humanity which is di'
vided by the belt line, liz OF II. G. Of
l.. is a teetotal stranger. these figures
disclose. Yessum, Ottawa during July
alone dssorged from its pocketbooks
and bill wallets s5,72210 for plain and
fancy ice cream dishes. The per cap
ita on that basis would be about 80
cents per man, woman and child in
the city. In other words, each breath
ing soul within the confines of this
fair hamlet spent on an average Of
! l2% cents per week for chilled re-
| freshnents In 1910 so cents year
! cred gross extravaganza. but this isn't
1910. It's 1919, when people look upon
the dollar with adulation and rever
ence only for what it can buy them.
! The soda contagion is not local to
| Ottawa. 1t spreads from the Atlantic
to the Pacific and from Medicine Hat
to Chihuahua. Notwithstanding the
latter two places are both unfortunate
enough to be outside the realm pre-
sided over by certain coterie down
at Washington. All cities report
heavy expenditures for the delctabe
which Uncle Sam has ruled to be n
luxury and people, therefore, must pay
war tax for being so iuxuriant in
their tastes.
The war tax paid by the merchants
from their soda fountains in the bust
ness district amounted to $572.2l, ac-
cordins to the figures given out by
xthem. AT one soda fountain alone a
tax of Sl302l was paid which brings
the total sales from this place to ap.
proXimately Sl,302 10.
Besides the sale OF ice cream at the
fountains, there were numerous ice
cream socials held by various orgaEi-
cations of the city, where several hun
dred dollars worth OF refreshments
were sold.
The war tax. which adds penny to
the price of each 10cent drink, has
! evidently not caused any material fall
ing off in the sale of toothsome deli.
cacies concocted at the soda foun-
| tains. OF course. the hundreds of
| people who visited the city July 4
helped to swell the total sale of that
week but as a whole the sale was the
| average for four weeks during the
summer months
Reports received by local druggists
/ from the national association in Wash
! house repeating the tax on ice cream
| is now in the hands OF the revenue
committee of the senate, which has ii
| in its power to kill it. One of the
| members of this committee is openly
| unfavorabe to killing the bill and adj
| vocates that the government sell the
war tax tickets to the merchants. man
! ing an additional profit on the checks
Ice cream has during the past few
years come to be looked upon as a
very essential food by many dieticians
and from the large sale ii looks as
though the residents of this city had
readily adopted this theory and were
using ice cream extensively, both as a
dessert and for refreshments.