Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-03-15
DRY INVASION
DOESN0T WORRY
SOUTH AMERICA
Prohibition Movement in Ar
gentina Would Find a
Strong Sentiment to Over
come.

tsY NostING JouRnAL SPECIAL LEASED wiREl
Buenos Aires, March 14,-Buen-
os Aires, which once had the repu-
tation of a wide open" city ana
"gayer than Paris" is mot what it
used to be" in the opinion Of many
travellers who were here before the
war and have returned recently
The gayety is still here, they say,
but ii is more decorous and mean
timg the lid has been clamped upon
meGr resorts in which the worst
sort OF license was won't 10 flour
lsh openly. Public gambling places
have also been banned dissolnte
women have been driven OFF the
streets, and beginning this year the
police have begun the suppression
of houses of i'll fame. The claim is
made that Buenos Aires is today
cleaner morally than ever before
in its history, due to the reform
regulation of a recent city admins
tration and continued by the pres
ent one.
The city council also few days
ago passed an ordinance imposing
tax of 10000 pesos annually on
cabarets, which is expected to put
some of the lower class places out
of business. La Epoca, the govern
ment organ, in approving the
measure, refers to the Buenos
Aires cabarets as establishments
of corruption and demands that
minors be prohibited from entering
them. What are termed "cabarets'
in Buenos Aires are merely dance
halls with an orchestra, and, with
one or two exceptions, are poorly
furnished. Drinks are served, but
there are none of the entertainment
features which made the cabaret
successful in the United States,
Here and in the restaurants, both
of which are open all night, is
where most OF of Buenos Aires
"gayety' centers.
Theaters and moving picture
houses do not close until 2 or ~. 80
o'clock. AS late as O'Clock numer-
Gus restaurants and cafes are still
filled with men, and some women,
with orchestras or electric pianos
going full blast. Streets in the gay
! life" district are still brilliantly
lighted, taXicabs fit about and
the sidewalks have many 'strollers,
What is called 'revelllng" in the
restaurants, is, however, not in
evidence. The patrons sit and lis
| ten to the music, eat or sip their
wine or other drinks, but, as an
American observer put ii. there
are no high jinks."
1t is considered that a prohibition
movement in Argentina would find
very strong sentiment to over
come. Recent dispatches from the
United States telling of the inten-
| ton of North American prohibi-
| tionists to invade South America
| did not appear to cause much con-
cern here where Indulgence in
some sort of alcoholic liquor is al
most universal. The newspapers ig-
nored the dispatches edtorially
| One entire province, Mendoza, is
devoted to the wine industry, and
just as in the Latin American coun-
tries of Europe, the drinking OF
wine seems to be regarded almost
as natural as the drinking OF wa
ter. There are probably as many
| bars in Buenos Aires in proportion
to population as there were in New
York in prohibition days. In
these bars, thirsty Americans just
arrived from the United States
find familiar drinks. The MAN.
haitian" Bronx" and "Clovei
club" cocktails are as well knowr
by same names as in New York
The Martini" however, is here
called a San Martini which is the
name of one of the patriots of Ar.
| gentine history.