The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1921-02-25
Responsibility
of the Women


take place on the first Tuesday In
April. They now have not only the
full rights of citizenship, but all the
responsibility and obligations which
citizenship imposes. Our government
city as we'll as state and national, is
what the voting people make it, and
therefore they share in the response
bility Of its character. 1t is their
Representatives who shape and carry
out its policies. There are some
things in and about our town which
need correction or reforming, some
things that ought to interest mothers
as well as fathers which FOR the sake
Of their children they would like to
see reformed.s The only way to do this
is to elect city officials who will see
that the ordinances are enforced in
something more than a perfunctory
way.
We heard man remark the other
day that there is more drunkenness in
Pennington to-day than there was
when we had wide-open licensed sa-
looms. We think that is an exaggera-
tion, but it is fact that intoxicated
men are frequently seen on our
streets. That shows that there is a
gross violation Of the national, state
and local laws prohibiting the manu-
facture and sale of Intoxicating bev-
erages; that illicit manufacture of
'hooch" is going on--a few of the
outlaws and their stills have recently
been taken in--and that the "boot-
logger" and the "hip-pocket" pur-
veyor are on the job. We want to
clean our town as well as the county
of these stealthy defyers of the law
That men do not like a law is no ex-
cuse or warrant for them to defy and
violate it. If every one who does not
like some law is permitted to violate
it, what sort of government would we
have, what sort Of society, order or
security? @No thief e'er felt the hall
ter draw with gsod opinion Of the
law" The Marshal ought to have the
authority to arrest every one found
drunk on the streets and to make him
tell where he got the "hooch" or be
fined for misdemeanor. A city or
dinance ought to be passed to that eff
feet, for a drunken man is a public
nuisance, on the street or elsewhere.
The mothers and fathers and every
good citizen ought to feel interested
also in the way our "pool rooms" are
run. A pool room anyway is more
loafing place than one of healthy and
wholesome recreation. Then there is
species of gambling in the game of
pool. The defeated player must pay
for the use of the table, and oftener
than otherwise there is wager on
the game for the drinks or cigars. Of
course there are "soft drinks" on tap.
One doesn't always know what they
contain. 1t would take very expert
faster to tell whether they contained
one-haf of one per cent of alcohol, or
two and half per cent or more,
which would violate the law. Then
there is another feature of the pool
room that concerns the mothers es-
pecially that should be abated, and
that is the "slot machine" as it is con-
Quoted in some of the rooms. Pool
room proprietors should be prohibit
ed, as were the old licensed saloons,
from permitting school children to
frequent them. These slot machines |
for a penny dropped into the slot
promises a little gambler a stick of
chewing gum or piece Of cheap candy |
with the chance prize of brass fin |
ger ring or some other tawdry trinket.
To get the prize more than the stick
OF gum is the temptation to the kid
to drop his penny in the slot, and thus
cultivate in him the natural human
bent to gamble. Mothers, do you
want to see your children reared with
passion to gamble? If not, then
start a movement to do away with
the prize offering slot machine in the
pool rooms--or on the street for that
matter-and vote for men for Mayor
and Aldermen who win pledge them
selves to pass ordinances regulating
the slot machine traffic and prohibit
ing children from frequenting pool
rooms, for there, is no telling what
their sharp little eyes and ears may
pick up there to warp the moral sideI
OF their natures. And why not some
Of the women come out for Aldermen
or Mayor? It is their right and priv
ilege. ,Stt
Our women are concerned, too, in I,
our public schools, and in securing a
Board Of School Directors composedl
IF good, efficient and capable men and
women. There ought to be at least
swo wide-awake. intelligent women on !,
he school board, and more wouldn,t