The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1919-04-12

A lew weeks, three QumD Sons
of Central Europe appeared before
the city commissioners to secure
licenses to run jitneys between the
end of the car line at New Duluth
and the bibulous little village or
Oliver. The applications were turn
ed down on the grounds that such
jitney service would foster the well
fare of Old John Barleycorn in the
Wisconsin oasis.
Frank Crassweller, prominent cit
izen and profound lawyer, appeared
before the commissioners to oppose
the granting of the desired licenses.
IF you grant licenses to these
bus drivers" declared the able ad-
vocate, you do it for the express
purpose of carrying drunken men.
The idea of giving drunken men
such privileges in a city which four
times has voted it's opposition to
liquor is preposterous."
Rev. George Brewer, shepherd of
the First Presbyterian flock in Du-
luth, also was present, for a change,
and his voice was lifted up against
the desired licenses.
IF you force the pilgrims to that
Mecca" naively said the divine,
"the police can tell whether they are
drunk or not. You are getting
into dirty business if you grant the
permission to run these busses."
Rev. Charles Pace, pastor of the
First M. E. church, also took time
from parochial duties to jump onto
the poor foreigners who believed that
tleir mission in life was to run buss-
es between dry Duluth and wet
little Oliver.
'No one is running a bus line for
charity" sagely remarked Rev. Mr..
Brewer. "Under existing condi-
lions, the temptation to carry intox-
icated or half-intoxicated men will
be great"
The sancitified Smithies support
ed the legal and ecclesiastical pro-
tests, therefore the commissioners
turned down the humble aliens.
The great family journal has just
about much use for booze and the
booze business as Bishop MacNicholas
has for a portrait of Martin Luther in
his private chapel. It is encourag-
ing to see the members of bar and
clergy, especially the able and promi-
nent members, appear in the munic-
ipal council chamber and lift up
their voices in favor Of sobriety, de-
cency and propriety.
At the same time, this great fam
lily journal has indisputable evidence
that there are much worse things in
Duluth than buses plying between
New Duluth and Oliver.
It must be admitted that many
people have business in Oliver not at
all connected with the booze traffic.
They have a right to visit that
unique Badger burg. They now
have to walk if they do not own their
own Henry Ford, thanks to the
action of the council. To a man
with broad, logical, sensible views,
it looks like class legislation. The
general public is Inconvenience so
that guzzlers and boozers may be
protected against their own acts
men of age and supposed to know
what is best for themselves. How
ever, it is better to give than receive,
therefore sober men must continue
to trudge on foot between New Du-
luuth and Oliver, otherwise some
human weakling may drink more
than he can carry.
Then arises the question:: IF a
man drink more than he can carry
and fall by the wayside, should he
be left to lie there in this harsh
climate?"
The man who went down to Jeri-
cho and fell among thieves, really
may have been to an Oliver and the
thieves may have set upon him to
rob him of his bottle, just as he has
been done many times on that his
toric route between New Duluth and
the modern Oliver.
The Good Samaritan picked up
that wounded brother, bound up his
cuts and bruises and sat him on his
hee-haw, Henry Fords not yet hav-
ing been invented.
The head-sawyer Of the Rip-saw
has a notion that Christ would have
given a staggering brother a lift
between Oliver and New Duluth and
not have compelled him to stumble
along and then fall off high bridge
or over a steep grade.
A less prominent lawyer than
Mr.. Crassweller easily might be &C
cused of pettifogging If he appeared
before the city council and kicked
on licensing a few old buses. The
devout divines and even the sancti-
fled Smithies might have hard work
to convince the Prince of Peace that
they really were on His biggest bust.
ness when they knocked out the
hopes and aspirations Of three am
bilious aliens.
The Rip-saw knows that there is
much bigger and more dangerous
game to be hunted down in Duluth
than jitneys between New Duluth
and Oliver.
Only a few weeks ago, a nasty
rotten, impudent redlight dump
flourished right under the shadow o.
the Central high school. A mother
and daughter, with numerous help
out the socialist economic program
They tried, all right, but they failet
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