The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-06-26
City Fought Long Battle to
Clean Up Saloon, but
GrudgeS Dry Law.
EDITOR TELLS HISTORY
Main Street Once Was
Lined With Gambling
DenS and Bars.
BY M. Z. FOSTER,
Editor Houston Press,

1OO01 Yin, lex, JUNE HO.-ln CIllS
good city of Houston, where the
delegates to a great national Demo-
cratic convention are assembled to-
day, we have a most illuminating
exhibition of the prohibition that
doesn't prohibit
Whisky, rum, gin and beer are
available for any man or woman
who thirStS for strong liquor.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, de-
pending upon the viewpoint, nature
has made many fruits and grains
that contain the alcoholic content.
Nature Takes Hand
You may extract the stuff from
corn,> rye. hops, sugar cane, april
cots, peaches, cherries, juniper ber-
ries, figs, Strawberries, and even
from the ugly cabbage and lowly
potato
Maybe nature was wrong in put
ting alcohol in things that are pro-
duced from the sell and maybe man
is right in trying to prevent the dis
tillation from fruits, vegetables, and
grain which the earth gives us so
freely.
In this same good city of Houston
many battles have been fought for
prohibition in the past quarter of a
century and there has been great
progress and much reformation.
The first opposition to the evil Of
intemperance was some thirty years
ago.
Saloon on Every Corner
At that time there was a saloon
on every corner ard some times
two or three more in each block.
Nearly all the churches also were
in the downtown district. The
salons we're open day and night and
some Of them all day Sunday.
This last hurt the feelings of the
church folks. They begged the
saloon keepers to close their doors
from 10 o'clock Sunday morning
until after church services wer9
ended. The plea was that they
didn't want our boys and girls OH
their way to Sunday School to- hear
the revelry and ribaldry in the
saloons they had to pass, or be
jostled by DRINKS.
We made, it so warm for the
saloon keepers and threatened so
much in the way of drastic action
that they finally grudgingly agreed
to close their doors for two hours
on Sunday morning.
Fight Seems Farce
Some of us who lived IN Eous-
ton in those early days are unable
to enthuse very much over the pres
ent-day prohibition fight. In some
respects it seems rather far-fetched
and farcical
We went through fights that real
ly meant something. When some
good citizens of this town started
a movement to stop the political
activities of the saloons and brew
cries we had little or no aid from
many who now are prohibitionists
for profit or for political preferment.
1t took courage in those days to
fight the evils that existed-seem-
ingly an all-powerful combination
OF brewerieS and distilleries.
Years and years of hard work
were necessary to eliminate the
wide-open gambling places in Hous-
tons main business section.
Men who fought the saloon-keep-
ers and gamblers in those days
r1sked their lives.
Appeal to Fanatics
| Nowadays the fight is only to en-
force a law that is in effect or tc
give some politicians who have nc
real thoughts or craftsmanship q
chance to appeal to the hysterical
and the fanatical.
In those days we fought lawless-
ness and for the privilege of making
laws that would make the world 9
little more decent. We fought sue
cessfully and finally we secured
even more than the most optimistic
had hoped.
Instead Of the right to regulate
our own police affairs in each coun-
ty and State we now have Uncle
Sam in the role of a policeman, anc
he has become a pitiful spectacle
OF a most unsuccessful shopping en-
forcement officer.
We have the law and the boot
logger has the whisky.
You easily can evade the law anc
anybody can get the whisky.
It's all right, except it's all wrong