The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-11-22
sEye Witness" In the Chicago Tribune
Comments OF Results from the
Disappearance Of
Liquor.
SMALL WI PROSPER
Uses keokuk Al an Observation Point
and Ayers That Merchant Pros
perlty Followed tho Booze
Ban
rBy Eye Witness. IN the Chicago
Tribune.1

rBy Eye Witness. in the Chicago
Tribune.1
Then came observations in, and
accounts from communities in the
great agricultural areas of the middle
west; small towns along the western
edge OF this state and towns across
the big river in Iowa.
It was about the same story as the
observations in Chicago had provided,
only more concentrated and less COM
plicated than the metropolitan data.
and hence more striking. 1t was a
story OF business r~eadJusting without
any general shock Of disaster under
the exigencies Of prohibition; of
drink cures closing for lack Of
patients; Of hotel-keepers raising
their rates and7-somewhat surlily-
reconciling themselves TO the pros.
pect Of making their profit as hotel
keepers instead Of as saioonkeepers;
of furniture stores finding their col
lections easier. and OF the popular
local bartender" from the Kozy Kor-
ner saloon of the old rays airily dis
PLAYING his graces in the %concoction
Of egg phosphates.
They Knew 6otn Xmas.
In Iowa towns along the river the
people could give you ract and re-
Election on the results OF prohibition
from two points of view because for
two years they had been under state
wide prohibition while at the other
end OF the long bridge they could see
what was doing in Illinois towns that
remained wet.
The Iowa people acknowledged that
80 long as only statewide prohibition
maintained, the towns on h west
bank Of the river suffered loss In
legitimate trade because on market
laws some Iowa farmers would go
across the mississippi to do their
trading influenced to thYs decision by
the lure of liquor. The days bust
ness could be wound up with the rus
tic rampage. SO, Iowa lost not only
the price of the drinks. which might
have gone into more substantial
goods, but also the price of the new
corn shelter, or plow.
But, when the drought became gen.
eral, trade got back to its g~eographi-
cal zone. There was a notable dimn-
ution in the tidy fees Mr.. Carnegie,
and later his estate, used to collect
from the human empties eastward
bound and from the same full, going
west at eventide.
Eievates Tone Of Stores.
The kind of prohibition which
covers all these little county seats
and these larger provincial metropo-
Uses has produced one result which
nobody gainsaid. though it may be
more or less indirect. That result is
the elevation Of the tone OF merchan-
dising and an amazing increase in
the l~uxuriousness of the stocks car
ried.
Keokuk, which is a town of the
thrifty and the well-fxed rather than
of many large fortunes, is a fair
example. It's population is about
10000. 1t contains three establish
ments, the best of their kind l even
saw in a town of that size: The best
hotel, the best bookstore, and the
best jewelry store.
Some days the display IN the win
dows Of the jewelers. would have
made you look twice had you passed
1t on State street or Michigan ave-
u All three enterprises were
doing well SO far as l could learn.
money Is not picked OH busnes
IN keoRuk, and as the pace has no
especial advantages to make 1t a get
.rich-quick town, 1t was impossible
not to agree with the hotel lobby
economists who allowed that "a hell
of a lot of money goes over the coun-
of the Golden Rule milliner's I
and Lowitz's department store now
mat Used to go over to Illinois for
might also add-though 1t may or
may not have any connection with
growing out or the good
ordering OF a communicated this
town OF Keokuk also has the best
Fmall town newspaper, more especial
as to its editorial page, that | ever
read, and followed It for many
The Wettest Spot Dried Up. .
l Bellville, Ill.,, the contrast be-
tween wet opl Iyry ,,s 49, AoraoioJ- ~