210 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



majority of such lit|iior-dispensers are not prone to 

 do this. They are too greedy for the dimes and 

 nickels, and every thing goes with them. 



I have long been against the saloon; but I cannot 

 bring myself to forcing them out of business without 

 giving them a chance to save the capital they have 

 put into the busines.s. It savors of the worst kind 

 of robbery to do so. Some plan should be devised 

 to recompense them. It would be perhaps cheaper 

 for the state to do this. After a certain numl or of 

 years all saloons must cease doing business, a rea- 

 sonable sum to be paid for their fixtures or any 

 leasehold a saloonkeeper may be obligated to hold to. 

 By the giving of ample time, all stocks could be 

 suitably disposed of, and the barkeepers have suffi- 

 cient opportunity to seek other employment. In this 

 way many of the saloons would virtually close out 

 before the time set. 



Here in this state the prohibition measure was 

 lost by the stubbornness of those who initiated the 

 movement. They did the cause much harm. It was 

 not lost because the people are in favor of the 

 saloon. It was too drastic, and many of our clergy- 

 men were not in favor of the proposition as it was 

 submitted to the voters. It aimed to destroy the 

 grape-growing industry in California — something that 

 the people here take great pride in. I believe that, if 

 the proposition had excluded the wine industry, the 

 measure would have carried. I notice that hence- 

 forth the viticulturists of the state are not going to 

 affiliate with the saloon interests. They will let the 

 latter take care of themselves. So, I believe, when 

 the question comes up again it will not cut horizon- 

 tally. It will make reasonable distinctions between 

 what is temperate and what is intemperate. This is 

 well. There's reason in all things. Get at the sin 

 of the thing— -strike it — kill it. 



What the temperance folk have to be thankful for 

 (and this is where it can be proved that the voters 

 of the state saw the .iustice of the proposition), was 

 that, when they voted down a counter-proposition of 

 the saloon people, to prevest any further meddling 

 with the liquor question for eight years after any 

 election when the question is voted on. If this had 

 carried it would have been a great victory fnr Ihe 

 saloons. It was lost, as I firmly believed it should 

 have been, and I so voted. The prohibition matter is 

 now being agitated in our legislature, and it may be 

 submitted to the people in some milder form, and 

 finally be ratified in 1916. Let us tru.st it will l,e a 

 rational measure. 



Now, Mr. Root, what I was going to call your 

 attention to is the last paragraph of the first column 

 on page 44. Any one who would maliciously give 

 the impre.ssion that " it is no uncommon thing to 

 find dead bodies floating in San Francisco Bay " 

 bears false witness against his neighbor, and commits 

 as great a sin as if he were a confirmed rum-guzzler. 

 I have lived in sight of the bay mentioned all my 

 life (over fifty years), and I know it as a fact that 

 such a statement is untrue. That dead bodies are 

 found floating in the bay is sometimes true. Some 

 of them were suicides; some fall from off the ship- 

 ping in the bay ; some were fishers along the rocks 

 or cliffs who fell in accidentally, and once in a 

 great while one may have been the victim of foul 

 play. But such victims are found in waters the 

 world over, and possibly elsewhere to a greater ex- 

 tent than about the big city of San Francisco. And 

 it would be the height of uncharitableness to say 

 that a saloon man was responsible for such loss of 

 life. 



Do not believe for a moment that San Francisco is 

 a dangerous place to go about in. One is perhaps 

 as safe in moving about the docks on the water-front 

 during the day time in that city as he would be on 

 the best street in any well-ordered city in the world. 

 This T know as a fact, as I have been about the 

 wharfs alone and with friends on numerous occa- 

 sions. 



Then it must be remembered that, if the prohibi- 

 tion measure was lost, there was carried a law which 

 will make the tcndorloin portion of the city better 

 than ever before. Tt is the measure known as " the 

 red-light law." Some of the worst elements of the 

 city tried hard to defeat this measure; but it carried, 

 nevertheless. So, also, has the " blue-sky law," 

 which is a good thing too. This will prevent rogues 

 from fattening on tho unsuspecting possessor of 

 ready cash. 



It must be remembered that at the general election 

 on the 3d of last Nove.nber women exercised their 

 voting privilege as it was probably never exercised 

 in any part of the United States before, and I am 

 glad to know that our women did better than I had 

 hopes of their doing; for on several minor occasion.s 

 previously I thought they might have done better on 

 some local matters that they had a " try at." So, 

 on the whole, the out-and-out temperance people 

 should be satisfied with the result when such good 

 judges of the sTibject helped defeat the measure. 



Did you hear of one of the sad features about the 

 last prohibition fie-ht in thi< state. It may be said 

 to be only an incidpnt, but the opposition will make 

 the most of it. Mrs. Bidwell, the widow of a 

 gentleman who in his day was a strong worker in 

 the cause of temperance, and who was, I believe, at 

 one time candidate for President on the Prohibition 

 ticket, hired a minister of one of the denominations 

 (he was highly recommended, and was in a measure 

 an able man) to canvass the state as far as he was 

 capable fn the cause of the prohibition measure. 

 He was not long "on the stump" when his ways 

 were not very edifying. I believe the League want- 

 ed to call him down, but it was powerless, as he was 

 hired by private means. Any way, this savory min- 

 ister had a family somewhere back east; but, aside 

 from this, he had an " affinity " here — the wife of 

 a worthy man in one of the northern counties. Well, 

 this alleged laborer in the Lord's vineyard boldly 

 went about through the country preaching against 

 the liquor traffic while he was openly living an 

 adulterous life. Fine example! Of course I would 

 not hold the temperance people respon'^ilile for such 

 doings; neither it is any reflection on the church for 

 having such black sheep. And how often things go 

 wrong with the church, and the wicked escape! 

 When the great fire swept over San Francisco in 

 1906, every church in its wake was completely wiped 

 out, and some of them were very fine edifices; and 

 yet something like six saloons in the burnt district 

 escaped unscathed! It was very strange. I saw 

 .some of these places a few days after the fire, and 

 wondered how they were saved. The fire seemed to 

 leave them alone. One of the biggest wholesale wine 

 places was in one of the best blocks that was saved. 

 It was not that the liquor men had influence in 

 having them spared — they (the saloons) were avoid- 

 ed( ?) by the Fire King. In a few places I was 

 told wine was freely used to quench the blaze. I 

 presume whisky would not do, as it would add to the 

 fury of the fire. 



But the saloon business, as I have said before, is 

 not as bad here as it formerly was. Dozens and 

 dozens of saloons have had to close up, as there was 

 not sufficient patronage to support them I don't 

 think it is altogether on account of the hard times. 

 It seems to be more because the drink habit is not 

 as popular as formerly. Few men nowadays feel 

 free to ask a friend to come on and take a di-ink 

 with them. Tt was that social part of the matter that 

 brought so many into the barrooms. 



Tt 's a matter of only a few years that the drink 

 habit will die out. In the mean time, perhaps, with 

 Ohristianlike prohibitive laws, the nefarious saloon 

 will pass away. But drastic prohibitive measures 

 which confiscate a man's life-long earnings I believe 

 to be against God's laws. Lead the bar-keeper away 

 from his bar. Let him see the evil he too often does. 



I trust you will not do as your fair correspondent 



