TWO
THE ALLIANCE HERALD. FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 1921
El? Mtaurc Hmxlh
BURR TRINTING CO., Owners
Entered lit the postoffice at Alliance, Neb., for
transmission through the mail as second class
natter. Published Tuesdays and Friday.
GKORGK I- BURR, JR. Editor
EDWIN M. BURR Business Manager
Official newspaper of the City of Alliance;
fficial newspaper of Box Butte County.
Owned and published by The Burr Printing
Company, George I.. Burr, Jr., President; Kdwin
li. Burr, Vice President.
THE EFFICACY OF JAIL SENTENCES
A pain County Judge Ta.-h has been vindicated, if there
as ever any doubt that his position was wrong. Some
weeks ago, in a talk at a church, he announced his belief
that the fear of Good and of punishment was a potent
factor in doing away with sin and crime. There were
jsome who were inclined to doubt the wisdom of this state
ment, but it has again !een demonstrated.
Judge Tash, some time ago, declared that he intended
to do his best to put a stop to the issuing of "no fund"
checks. There had been a regular epidemic of this sort
of thing, with the result that the county court docket was
cluttered up with cases where the man who made the
complaint had no intention of prosecuting and desired
dimply to have the county collect the money. The court
lecideij that It would serve no more as a collection agency
and that thereafter any man or woman charged with
drawing a check when he or she had no funds in the bank
to cover it would be held to district court. Notices to this
effect were issued. Since that time there have been but
two rases. Other counties are still worrying about the
'no fund'' check, evil, but H bi,f ceased to exist in Box
JJuttc county.
'Juilge Tasli has now turned bis attention to the bo8t-
leggers and the men who buy and consume their products.
Since the first of the year he has had but one standard
for fines the maximum. In only one case has the fine
been less than the maximum, and in only one case has
ny portion of the punishment been suspended.
During the past week or two, the judge has changed his
tactics again. The fine of $f0 for intoxication has not
proved heavy enough to put a stop to the crime. However,
it Is within the discretion of the court to impose a jail
sentence. Thirty days 'or sixty days in the county jail, it
is believed, will have a better elTect than a fine. And so
the judge is handing out sentences of this sort where he
thinks the effect will bo saultary. Those interested ir
prohibition enforcement are watching the experiment with
interest. There is every reason to believe that it will be
fully as successful as the handing out of heavy punish
ment for the men who drew checks without funds to pay
them.
The law provides, in cases of intoxication, that the
defendant may, if he sees fit, disclose to the proper offi
cials the name of the person from whom the lftUov was
procured, upon which the judge may remit the punish
Went. With only a $f0 fine staring the culprit in the face,
this provision has seldom been used. The average drunk
feels that his honor will not permit him to divulge the
source of supply, and he would rather pay the money and
take chances of collecting from the bootlegger than violate
the connnence reposed in him hy tne man wno makes and
sells it. With the understanding that he may get a jail
sentence, however, unless he comes through with informa
tion, the culprit will think pretty hard before be goes
to jail.
What a delicious bit of humor there is in this "honor"
talk, as applied to bootleggers and their product A mar
vill sell a homemade compound that isn't fit to be drunk;
lie will ask twenty times what ft is worth, and take the
money without a blush; he may know that it is as deadly
as hydrocyanic acid, and yet he can stand back and count
liis profits secure in the thought that his victim is ar
honorable man and will not "stjueal." One business mar
told the police officers that he would give $.r00 to have
the bootlegger convicted who had sold hooch to his son
v and yet, two days afterward, when approached by one of
that tribe on the street ,held that it was a point of honoi
not to inform the police. It might have been the same mar
who debauched his son but honor Cod save the mark
too.l jn the way of justice. , ... ...
V Tere is needed, to control the white mule traffic, i
bunch of vigilantes substantial business men who wij"
Unite with wholehearted enthusiasm to stamp out the
whole race of hounds who will sell poison. It won't be
pleasant work; it may mean that they'll have to go on
the stand and perhaps lose some trade from friends of tht
bootleggers. Men with exalted and perverted notions of
tionor won't approve of their activities, but they'll have
the respect of decent people, and that of the others isn't
worth having. Add to this recipe a bucket of tar, a sack
of feathers and a rough pole for the fellows who will sell
white mule to boys, anil there's a pretty good start toward
law observance. The courts, in giving adequate sentences,
end the newspapers, by pitiless publicity, can complete the
job. It's wort hdoing, and it's worth doing well.
rule out productions like "Twenty-three and a Half Hours' WB
Leave," where an army sergeant falls quite shamelessly
in love with a general's daughter or was it a niece and
manages to win her. By marathon kisses, we suppose
everything over the eight-foot limit will be barred. Those
long movie kisses only mnke the audience bored, nervous
or envious, and therefore they can be dispensed with with
out adverse comment.
Under the proposed plans, there will be no crime in the
movies. Gone forever will be the story of the pretty girl
pickpocket or the winsome second-story worker who falls I
in love with one of her victims and is reformed before
our very eyes. If ridicule of church or state is barred,
we'll have no more tales of political bosses of the Tarn- j
many sort, for this would be lose majesty. No more will
the comics poke fun at the police and the Gus Ifyers type
of booze hound. No more will we see the comic wit ;
the Toonorville cops chasing law violators mile" and miles
over the roofs of buildings. If there a: no gambling!
scenes, all marriage ceremonies will of necessity be for
bidden. With nakedness ruled out, bid farewell to all the '
bathing beach beauties.
It is possible only to conjecture the tei r'ble change
that will come over the silver screen when all of these j
reforms have been carried out. About the only thing left i
will be dramatizations of biblical scenes, some of which
will have to be expurgated before they wil' stand the test.
Of course, the producers can use the Elsie books, too.
There will also be a reel or two of current events, and
maybe a travelogue or a ford educational weekly. How
ever, it will be safe to let the children go to the picture
show without fear that their moral resistance will be
weakened, and this should compensate the adults for
staying at home, for that sort of a program wouldn't draw
the iTragc grown person two blocks on any kind of a
night.
Somethimes the thought comes to us that it would be
well to let the reformers and childless child welfare ex
perts have their own way in regard to the movies, without
let, hindrance or interference .from the general public. If
this were done, it is likely that after one year of censored
films, the great American public would rise in its wrath
and kill all the censors and massacre the welfare experts
ind other reformers, after which life would be one sweet
, jream for at least a generation.
THE WETNESS OF PROHIBITION
BE
One'of the strange things about this present-day civil
ization is the ease with which men some of them fairly
4eady in the upper story attempt to kid themselves
ilong with the idea that simply because it is possible to
jet around the prohibition laws; prohibiten is a failure
vnd that conditions are worse than they were before the
-ountry went dry. There is hardly a ton or city in the
nation where the police and prison records will not show
hat there has been a diminution of all kinds of crime
luring the dry and dusty years of prohibition, and that
lespite the alarming amount of bootlegging, conditions,
n the whole, are much better than in the old days when
he stuff could be bought over the mahogany bars. Un
'ortunately, the fact that bootleggers are willing to take
he risk of selling hooch is used as an argument that there
sn't any such thing as prohibition.
It's so easy to talk through one's hat. The very fact
.hat the price of a low grade whisky substitute, strong
nd vile enough to kill a dog at forty rods, can comMmd
i price of $25 a gallon is an indication that only fools will
continue their drinking. Wise men wouldn't pay that sum
'or homemade goods. Those, who are chumps of that
:aliber, and who are willing to insult their stomachs by
(linking it, would play the fool in some other way if there
were no booze to be had. This stort of stuff that is being
old nowadays will finish the average rum hound in six
nonths or a year, and every one of the old time bar flies
who passes on leaves a much better lesson for his cronies
n death than his life ever furnished. The booze problem
Aon't be a problem in another five years, at this rate.
I
TAKING THE KICK FROM THE MOVIES
Just how tame do you want your movies? It appears
that every reformer has something that he wants elimin
ated, and that no two of them are agreed on the same list
of things that must be taken out before it will be safe to
allow little John or his Miser to sit cn the front row. This
week a group of movie producers and a mess of reformers
are meeting in New York City, and under the guidance of
Dr. Wilbur Crafts am. William A. Brady, have slated for
the scrap heap such things as vampires, sex appeals,
marathan kisses, crime, nakedness, ridicule of church 01
state and gambling.
It is something of. a question in this editorial mind as
to whether a movie would be worth seeing if all these
things were eliminated. Some of them could well be
spared. We have yet to discover a" single person, child
or adult, who really likes the vampire stuff, for instance,
If you'll stop to think it over, you will realize that there
hasn't been a real vampire film for five or six months
The producers found they didn't draw well, and they have
been gently but firmly dropped from the list. Even Theda
Kara, the queen of all the vamps (but a perfect lady in
private life, of course) is temporarily out of work, so a
recent article in a coast magazine declares.
If sex appeals are to be left out of plots in the future
a whole lot will have to depend on the definition of the
term. Almost all of the catchy love tales are based on
eex appeal, and if a strict bluenose censor; the films, he'd
The example of the helpful hen may well be studied by
followers of the industries these days. Although the price
jf eggs has fallen 2 cents a dozen in the last two weeks,
he goes right on producing just the same Lawrence
Kan.) Journal-World.
One of life's inconsistencies a mouse is afraid of a
nan, a man is afraid of a woman, and a woman is afraid
f a mouse. Wiggins (Colo.) Courier.
One of the country's greatest needs for 1921 is a few
list-class funerals of third-class yeggmen.
TIM,
THE CHANGING SENTIMENT
(Bridgeport News-Blade)
The so-called "wave of crime" will be checked, and a
eturn made to law and order, only through the solidifying
t public sentiment for law and order; and the sentiment
s undergoing a great change right now. All over the
ountry juries are bringing in convictions upon evidence
which would have stood for acquittal under ordinary con-
litions.
The editor saw many murder trials in Box Butte county
luring a rather long residence there, and few convictions
vere had. The man who stole a steer in those days had
poor chance to get away, for public opinion was against
attle stealing, and public sentiment always finds its way
nto jury rooms; but the protection of life had not found
io strong a place in the public mind, and murders and
ninor crimes against persons and properties went prac
tically unpunished and could be committed almost with
mpunity.
But at Alliance the other day a woman was convicted
of murder an almost unheard of thing in the state and
was given thirty years in the penitentiary as a punish
ment. At Gering John Guytonwas convicted of rape last
Friday, upon evidence that didn't seem particularly strong,
yet which probably proved his guilt. And all over the
'ountry, judging from newspaper reports, juries are dis
daining quibbling defenses and are bringing accused per
sons straight to justice without delay. This sentiment will
n time solve the problem of the "wave of crime" and will
make the enforcement of law a thousand fold easier for
our public officials.
BEER ON PRESCRIPTION
(Omaha Bee)
The determination at Washington to adhere to the
ultimate decision of A. Mitchell Palmer that whisky and
beer may be used, ami even manufactured, for medicinal
purposes promises great relief to a land that is theoretic
ally arid and parched, but really is far from such. It is
not yet definitely known just what type of disease will be
specifically served by the application of beer as a tonic or
redeye as a stimulant, but we may prepare for an epidemic
of the same when once a name is put to it. The onward
sweep of the "flu" will be snail-like in comparison. More
over, the officials at Washington, tentatively debating the
matter, say it is not rea.-onable to expect that a bottle or
two will do for one who is ordered to take beer as a tonic;
he will be permitted to have it brought to his home by the
case. This we take it, equally applies to the man who is
condemned through physical weakness and necessity to
take' his "mornin's mornin " and his night-cap as well in
form of a good full three-finger "hooker" of whisky, and
he will be allowed to have reasonable supply, say a gallon
or two at a time, at home. Looks like we are in for a
dreadful lot of sickness during the next few months.
proved
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The Nebraska Land Co0
1 J. C. McCORKLE, Manager
First National Bank Building
(Ground Floor :
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of its problems whether they be the problems of a mer
chant or a. farmer. Both are business men.
In fulfilling this moral obligation, we like to consider
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Confidential Counsel
If you wish sound advice in seeking credit, making in
vestments, or even the more personal problems of your
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to show you the many practical benefits you receive through plating it here.
FIRST- STATE BANK
ALLIANCE,
NEBRASKA
