The American issue. [volume], March 01, 1912, Image 3

About The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??

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VOLUME VII
MARCH 1, 1912
NUMBER 9
Saloons Trying to Win by False Promises
The liquor interests are fighting hard to get back
into Galesburg. We are informed that the liquor in
terests have opened up an office with twelve stenog
raphers, and that their agitators are on the streets in
numbers. They are conducting an insidious and de
ceptive campaign. They are deliberately trying to
fool the people with false promises. They say they
will give Galesburg twelve saloons instead of twenty
eight. They solemnly vow that those twelve saloons
shall be “regulated” to the last degree and that all
of the saloons will be conducted on a law-abiding,
beneficent plane.
Deliberate and Malicious Deceit.
Now we know there is not a word of truth in all
of their statements and we purpose to expose their
deception. They made the same promises in Indiana—
and broke them; the same guarantees in Ohio—and
violated them. Their promises are absolutely, un
qualifiedly and maliciously false, and the voter “who
is deceived thereby is not wise.”
The Game Exposed.
We warn the good people of Galesburg, Mon
mouth and Champaign and other “dry” cities, that
liquor promises in this campaign are not made to be
kept; they are made to win on. The promisers want
to get back into your town and they will use deceit
and falsehood to do it. We want the self-respecting
voter to know in advance that this game has been
worked successfully by them in other states, and the
result has been always the same—when they have got
ten back in, promises have been disregarded. When
the election is over and they have won, they have but
one passion,—to sell as much liquor and make as much
profit as they can. Promises are forgotten. Campaign
pledges fade. All of the saloon evils return. It may
be at first gradually, but surely and certainly they re
turn, when it is too late for the community to save
itself.
You cannot put the saloon on probation. When it
comes back it comes to stay for two years. You have
got to stand it. You had best look before you leap.
Be as careful about this as you would be about a busi
ness matter. You would be sure of the honesty and
reliability of the concern from which you bought your
goods. Apply the same test here. Let us inquire how
they have kept their promises elsewhere.
They repealed the county option law in Indiana
and put in its place the Proctory-brewery city and
township law, which they said would give Indiana
more “dry” territory than would the county unit. It
would seem that anybody could see through that
transparent lie, but a lot of the people were fooled and
now they are having to pay the fiddler. Under that law
only eight saloons have been closed in the entire state
while forty-six counties that were “dry” a year ago
are now “wet.” That is a sample of their falsifications.
They said the model license law would work great re
forms, reduce drunkenness, crimes, etc. As a matter
of fact it merely loosened up restrictions already in
existence. It threw dust in the eyes of the people and
blinded them to its real effect. Under the guise of
“regulation” and on the smooth pretense of bettering
conditions, they have really established a system most
beneficial and satisfactory to those interested in mak
ing money out of the selling of liquor in Indiana.
Fooled the People of Ohio.
In the last county option campaign in Ohio they
went to the people in Scioto county in which the city
of Portsmouth is situated, and made their campaign for
the restoration of saloons to that county on the prom
ise to get rid of blind pigs and the illicit sale of liquor,
and give the people some real regulation of saloon
evils. Nearly everybody now knows what was the
sequel, and the majority of the people of Scioto county
now regret that they accepted the liquor promises. A
wave of crime has swept over the city of Portsmouth.
It came immediately with the opening of the saloons
and has been growing worse every day. The city be
came the dumping ground for undesirables of every
class. Toughs, bums, thugs, and thieves, who had
gone out with the saloons, came back with them. So
frequent became robberies that the Daily Times says
the regular salutation in that city is “Good morning,
have you been robbed?” The city administration has
been compelled to put more men on its police force,
and has thrown a dragnet over the city. The papers
are full of tales of drunkenness and crime. The Daily
Blade does not hesitate to place the blame where it
belongs and it frankly admits that the whole trouble
is due to the “regulated” saloons which the voters
brought back to the city, the same kind of saloon that
the liquor interests now want to bring back to the