1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1381 



befuiiiinu; l);iiikLupt. was a mistake, and a 

 slander on Lnat growing city," «tc. 



The}' did not say any thing of the kind: in 

 fact, they made no allusion whatever to the 

 former editorial, hut they did pul)lisli the 

 following, with a single headline as I give it 

 below: 



LIQUOR LAWS AND A CITY'S PROSPERtTY. 



Statements have been repeatedly circulated to the 

 effect that Kansas City. Kan., had suffered severely 

 from the closing- of the saloons and dives as the result 

 of a strict enforcement of the State prohibitory laws. 

 Indeed, it has been said that the municipality is on 

 the verge of bankruptcy because of the los.s of the 

 revenue which it formerly received from the fines 

 periodically imposed on the law-breakers. 



In refutation of these statements an interview re- 

 cently given by Attorney C. W. Trickett, one of the 

 leaders of the law-enforcement movement, is unusual- 

 ly interesting. The city has now. he says, not a sin- 

 gle saloon, gambling-house, nor disorderly resort. 

 There are practically no empty dwellings in the city, 

 and the only vacant business places are those former- 

 ly used by the "joints;" indeed, many of these have 

 already been rented. Three hundred new buildings 

 were erected in the first six months of the year, and 

 new buildings are being started as rapidly as ever. 

 New residents arei^arriving, and real-estate prices are 

 increasing, Mr. Trickett adds that he has found only 

 two men who claim their business has been hurt— one 

 an ice-man and the other a cigar-man, who sold almost 

 exclusively to the dive-keepers, and who had signed 

 bonds for a number of them which he will have to pay. 



As for the city's financial position, he says the reve- 

 nue from police-court fines, including all the " period- 

 ical" fines, was less than $50,000 last year, or only a 

 fifth of the city's ordinary receipts, while a new as- 

 sessment on an improved basis will increase the rev- 

 enue next year sufficiently to answer all the city's 

 needs. 



These facts deal only with the strictly material side 

 of the question." and do not take account of the wider 

 benefits Kansas City has received from the suppres- 

 sion of vice and from the introduction of a new spirit 

 of respect for the law. It is well that the truth has 

 been made public to conteract the effect of former 

 misstatements. 



In closing up this matter in regard to pro- 

 hil)ition in Kansas City, let me repeat what 

 has appeared for some time in dozens of pa- 

 pers, and has never been contradicted: 



As an economic statement of what prohibition has 

 done for Kansas, take this one item out of scores of 

 others: From 10.^ counties in Kansas, only 21 have any 

 pauperism in them: only 2.5nhave poorhouses: 35 have 

 their jails absolutely empty: 37 have no criminal cases 

 on their docket. 



Now, friends, if you have gone through 

 the above you can see how much dependence 

 is to be placed on some of the statements in 

 our daily papers, especially a periodical de- 

 fending "the "millionaire brewers. Jesus said, 

 "He that is not for me is against me;" and 

 in times such as we are having here in Medi- 

 na, not only should every individual stand 

 for temperance, purity, and righteousness, 

 but every periodical must take sides. The 

 one who has iv^thing to say when a conflict 

 like ours is going on may be counted where 

 I counted the Record-Herald. It was respon- 

 sible for the big headlines over that article, 

 if for nothing else: and, by the way, an ef- 

 fort to trace down the source of that slander- 

 ous report showed that it came from Kansas 

 City, Mo., and iyrot)ably from a l^rewer who 

 has been exceedingly active there in getting 

 out statements of this kind. 



A communication in regard to Xenia, O., 

 has recently appeared in one of our Medina 

 papers; and an investigation would probably 

 show that manv of the statements there are 



as false and unwarranted as those 1 have 

 given you al)out Kansas City. Of course, we 

 do all Wv' can to coi'rect such falsehoods after 

 they once get in the papers; but thousands 

 of people who read them never get a glimpse 

 of the real truth of the matter;* and even here 

 in our town of Medina I fear there are a gootl 

 many well-meaning people who are misled 

 by false statements slily put out by unscru- 

 pulous brewers and liquor-dealers who have 

 no interest in caring for the youth of the 

 country — no interest in any thing except in 

 raking' in the almighty dollars; and after 

 they get so rich they do not know what to do 

 with their money, and have become weary 

 of the pastime "of wrecking and ruining 

 homes, they commit suicide. 



Friends, the above is the story of just one 

 city in the United States xvith saloons and 

 without them. San Francisco has recently 

 also tried running a big city with open sa- 

 loons, or, if you choose, taxed saloons, and 

 then also tried it without any. You have 

 read the papers, and I hardly need take space 

 to go over the matter. With the saloons 

 closed they had decency and oi'der: with the 

 saloons open, a gi'eat addition to the police 

 force was needed, and even with this it was 

 hardly safe for w^omen to be out on the 

 streets. Atlanta, Ga., has recently had an 

 exhibition of lynching and (mtlawry. When 

 the saloons were closed they had law and 

 order at once. Now, is it possible that our 

 town of Medina, after a reconl of more than 

 twenty years — a record that has made us a 

 landmark throughout the State for law and 

 order and decencj^ — is it possible that the 

 voters in such a town as this are going - the 

 majority of them — to vote to bring Imck the 

 saloon".' God forbid. It could never happen 

 without some outside agency being brought to 

 bear. In this recent conflict in Kansas City that 

 I have told you about, the brewers fought des- 

 perately to hold their ground; in fact, I be- 

 lieve itti'anspired that a large portion of the 

 saloons are owned by brewers. Now, if Me- 

 dina goes wet it will be because the Christian 

 people and the temperance people allow the 

 brewers to use their money in such a way as 

 to defeat us. Is money and not principle 

 going to rule here in Medina'.' In behalf of 

 our children and of our children's children, 

 shall we not take up the tight, even as our 

 forefathers, in times past, fought, bled, and 

 died, to make this land of ours the "land of 

 the iree and the home of the brave," and 

 not the home of outlaws and criminals':" 



* Somebody has said a lie may travel clear around 

 the world while Truth is pulling on his boots to go 

 after the lie. in an attempt to head it off. 



WHAT OUR GREAT RAILWAY COMPANIES 

 THINK OF THE SALOON BUSINESS. 



A few weeks ago it was my pleasure to 

 make a trip through the celelsrated Wind 

 Cave of the Black Hills of Scnith Dakota. 

 One of our party was a locomotive engineer 

 on the Northwestern R. R. He informed 

 me and the rest of our crowd that every em- 

 ployee on that great road at the present time 

 is obliged to sign his name to a card su<'h as 



