The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-01-31
PROHIBITIONS FRUITS.
Drunkenness and Crime Decrease; Jails
Being Emptied.

There il great volume 81 TACT
showing the moral and material adVan.
tagc accruing from the prohibition OF
the liauor traffic. The evidence pre-.
sented here touches war time prollibi.
ton only. Reports of decrease, not only
Of drunkenness, but Of crimes of all
sorts. reports of emptied ialis and
warehouses, or greatly reduced number
of inmates, or advancing real estate
values. of increased business activity,
| and of Improvement in the employ
ment situation are numerous. Much
was done to thwart the benign opera
ton OF the federal edict Yet police
chiefs and justices of police courts
have borne emphatic testimony 70 the
diminution OF crime. In 10 Massachu
setts cities there were 1862 arrests IN
June. 1919. In the succeeding month,
the first dry month. there were only
SOS "a decrease of more than so per
cent. Springfield. H.. enjoyed diml-
mutton OF s. per cent in its crime dock
ct in the first Is days under prohibi-
ton. Similar statistics come from Gin
cinnati.. Baltimore, Chicago and New
4 NIk, ne uffTtdNF VT Altf hhthHNA ~
accidental and self-inflicted deaths Is
noticeable The prophesied increase IN
the number OF drug addicts has not APP
peared. Before a month Of this prohl-
btion had passed public officials began
to talk Of reducing the number OF jail
attendants and policemen. After two
months of this wartime prohibition, It
was found best to close the jail in
Lowell, discharging 20 employees. 1t Is
said that the Jail win be turned into a
schoolhouse. as the Fall River jail was
converted into the city home. On Aug
o. the city prison of Columbus, O., for
the first time in its history, had no in
mates. Various houses OF correction are
being closed as no longer needed.
In hospitals and inhrmaries the re-
suit of the Punishment Of booze Is ap.
parent. The inebriate ward Of the
| Philadelphia General hospital which
had 3.4sl cases in 1917 and 1926 in
1918. closed its doors last July. The
department caring for DRINKS at our
state farm has a very great scarcity OF
inmates and therefore of farm workers.
The Connecticut state farm for drunk
ards has been abandoned. The New
York Tribune published a page showing
how prohibition had boosted property
values in that city. The same story
comes from other cities.
The hotel business was never so pros
porous. New hotel facilities are being
/ provided in many cities. Nearly all
American hotels are banishing the bars
az is of course necessary now. Great
/ increases in savings bank deposits in
1919 are noted in all parts Of the coun-
try. II is estimated that the American
people will save six billion dollars an
npally on booze.
1.-THE bread lines in New York have
practically disappeared. Applications
for free lodging on the Bowery have
been very few indeed in comparison
with other years. Wholesale drunken
ness and resulting poverty have disap-
peared 20 a remarkable degree. This Is
/ largely attributable TO the dry law
though the active labor demand Is also
cause. The New York Times said
that the Christmas season just passed
was the happiest for the greatest mum
Der ever known.
This was the result, and much more
of the same, in a few months Of the
wartime prohibition. Much more is Il
to be expected that the same benign
result viii attend nationwide and per
manent prohibition River News.