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The Commoner
VOL.18, NO. 5
8
Prohibition a Great Success in Nebraska
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From tho Nebraska Stato Journal, May 1.
Ono year ago today Nebraska climbed upon
the wator wagon. Statewide constitutional pro
hibition, backed up by a strict prohibitory law
passod by tho legislature, went into effect. Tho
stato as a whole, after tho experience of ono
short year, is so firmly fixed upon the water
wagon, according to public opinion expressed
ovorywhere, that nothing short of an earthquake
can shako it from its position on tho front seat.
One year ago today the grog shops were closed
for good in Nebraska. Tho unsightly sights
and tho obscene scenes that accompanied that
closing In some portions of tho stato will long
bo romembered by men and some women who
participated, and by sightseers who looked on.
Tho bar as a barrier that separates a fool and
his monoy, segregates him from his brains, his
honor and his health, was gono from tho state.
Tho few saloon keepers who were not tho abject
slaves of tho brewors and other holdup men,
drovo away from tho so-called bright spots in
their automobiles to their now houses or to tho
farms which they had bought with tho earnings
of tho foolish ones, and retired from active busi
ness. Tho other kind of saloon keepers becamo
tramps wandorlng in tho few remaining wot
states looking for a good location, there to begin
anow their slavory for tho manufacturers of li
quor, providing the latter would stake them to
a pormlt to sell the stuff. Some who had robbed
both tho brcwor and tho consumer, retired too,
uwlth tho Intontion of living happily ever after
in Bpito of the thoughts they may think in their
sobor moments.
Tho poor bcfuddlod consumer, the old sot who
could drink or lot it alone, laid in a "reasonable
amount" allowo'd under tho law, if ho had the
monoy, but it was soon gone. Ho either
drank it himself or his friends got
it from him by inviting him to go hunting
rabbits or on a fishing trip. The man with a
bottlo was popular as long as the thing held a
drop. When tho bottom was reached, when all
was gone, when tho tremors began to work, when
tho sot was afraid to bo left alone in tho dark,
it occurred to moat of them that they could let
it alono, and they are now doing it. So far as
heard from fow of tho old soaks died because
boozo was doniod them. Not so many prominent
men woro laid to rest from what the death cer
tificate charitably termed "heart failure," after
prohibition wont into effect as before.
Business men in citios and villages found no
placo to put thoir feet or rest their elbows, so
thoy paid more attention to thoir business op
portunities. Workmen who wore dirty rags and
had no monoy to clothe their families or feed
thorn, found after a time that they could dress
bottor and provide for their families and were
no longer afraid to look tho world in tho faco.
Many a man found ho was ablo to support two
pairs of shoos whoro ono had been plenty.
Somo of tho highly paid mechanics who had
novor a cent of thoir wages loft on Monday
morning, aro now clothed in fino linen and drive
their own automobiles, tho blear has left thoir
faces and thoy look respectable and happy. In
fact tnero Is a paleness on the faces of Nebraska
men that sometimes gives a shock to observing
physicians who liko to diagnose from sight, but
invariably thoso diagnosticians make up their
minds that It Is tho natural color of tho human
boing who does not light up with booze. Thoy
say crimson, carmine and purple aro in fact not
flesh colors, that thoso lithographic tints nr
wholly artncial, indicative of Vob nai livera
ruinod digestion, poor circulation, diseased kiili
noys,a congestion of the brain and empty pocket
Bvory kind of business except tho dens and
professions that fed on the weakness of men
filled with booze began to thrive in Nebraska
It began to show in tho looks and aSrance
of the people gathered in pubic places! in stores
In tho schools, and in happier homes The
TltT 2, PEDE"AL GOVEHNMBNT WD
&
YEAH OF PROHIIilTlUJM v
NEBRASKA
ONE
One year ago today tho saloons were
closed in Nebraska, obeying an amend-
ment to the state constitution adopted in
November, 1916, by a majority of almost
30,000. Inquiry in widely separated
communities reveals the presence of al-
most no opposition to the new policy.
Almost invariably the report is of reason
able enforcement of the law, fewer police.
court cases, better collections, increased
bank deposits, and better social order
generally. It is conceded that improved
business and financial conditions may be
due largely to high prices and good
crops. Better social order can be charged
almost wholly to the closing of the sa-
loons. Thus the special public prosecutor
at Omaha gives these as the results of -
the first year of prohibition in that city:
A reduction, of 50 per cent in total po-
lice court arrests.
Heavy reduction of number of charges
of wife beating and non-support.
Decrease in appeals for relief from
poor debtors.
Vagrancy reduced to a minimum.
Omaha workhouse abandoned because ,
not needed.
County jail prisoners reduced in num-
ber 50 per cent.
The figures from Grand Island are
equally impressive. Police court records
show less disorder and drunkenness,
fewer petty crimes, and a decrease in
immorality. The number of arrests on
such charges has been cut more than 70
per cent. During the period from May
1, 1917, to April 25, 1918, the total ar-
rests for intoxication and connected
charges was 14. In the same period for
the preceding year the number was 492.
From May 1, 1916, to April 25, 1917,
the last wet year, the number of arrests
for drunkenness and disorderly conduct
was 296 as compared with 37 in the pe-
riod tho city has been without saloons.
Arrests on immoral counts dropped from
118 to 38. Only nine assault cases have
been docketed in police court in the past
year, .whereas there were 33 assault
cases during the previous year.
In Lincoln the arrests for drunkenness
in the single month of September, 1916,
were virtually the same as in the entire
first year under prohibition. The num-
ber of criminal cases in the district court
was almost cut in two.
Other cities and towns have the same
story to tell, the figure's showing so strik-
ing a uniformity that it would be tire-
some to repeat them. The first year has
been so great a success for the new pol-
icy that its effect on the state is no longer
seriously discussed. Nebraska Stato
Journal.
5)0r?)
more effective by the passage of a statute which
makes it an offense and attaches a penalty for
transporting liquor from a wet state to a dry
Btato. Since last May when the bone dry law
SiV0"6 in ih ,stAte forty-flve cases against
whiskey runners" have been filed in the Lin
coln district of the United States court Of tii
number thirty-five convictions were secured Of
the other remaining cases some have been diR
missed and others are still pending The fed
era grand jury found indictments against sev
eral persons for conspiracy to violate the Reed
amendment, as the federal statute covering ?i
quor cases is known. These persons Tha Vnf
yet been brought to trial. In all out a few in
b ances offenders against the statute have bGen"
given jail sentences instead of fines?
EFFECTS OF PROHIBITION IN LINCOLN
nmP?fhapf there has been less change in Lin
coin than in some other places with the closing
of saloons, but there is no comparison here with
the conditions of old. There is no crime and
poverty in Lincoln like that that flourished in
district.
"When I note the results I am ashamed that
I ever was lukewarm in the .matter of prohibl
tion for booze. If ever a thing was detrimental
to a community it was booze. It brought on
starvation and strife; filled the penitentiary and
the insane asylums; brought hunger to the little
children and the wives in the home; caused
murder and every crime in the list.
"The saloon was a loafing place for. men where
time and money was spent; where energy was
dissipated and the moral fibre broken down, in
the days of the open saloon pay days were busy
days for the police. Saturdays and holidays
were busy days. The police had to fight their
way through mobs of drunken men frequently
to get a man wanted. On Christmas day this
year the matron and I policed the city while the
patrolmen enjoyed a day off.
"The police roll has been reduced, and the
merchants have cash in their drawers where
they once had bad bills. Prohibition has emptied
the city jail, has brought cheer to the children
in the homes and dissipate'd the. fear of the wife.
It has made men of bums where booze made
bums of men." James Malone, Lincoln chief
of police. . ,
tt. f.
REVENUE LICENSES DECREASE
AnOmaha dispatch, dated' May 1, says: The
most striking effects of prohibition aro seen in
the office of the federal ' revenue t collector.
Where receipts for government taxes were form
erly issued by the hundreds, during the current
year but sixty have been issued. So far as a
cursory inspection of these go, they apparently
are all issued to druggists. The number of
permits issued to Omaha druggists is 12, while
four were issued to Lincoln .druggists, three to
drug men in Grand Island, and one each in
Scottsbluff, Valentine, Fremont, Beatrice, David
City, Aurora, Norfolk, Kearney, Geneva, Nellgh
and Bayard.
Hundreds of druggists in thc-state no longer
deal in any liquors coming under the federal
law. This law makes it necessary for them to
pay a license fee where the stuff handled has
over a half of 1 per cent alcohol in it.
PROHIBITION IN OMAHA
From a report made by T. J. McGuire, special
prosecutor, under date of April 30, the follow
ingfacts are taken:
"The social evil, at least that section which
set itself up in luxurious houses and in estah
lished localities, has been eliminated in Omaha.
"The total number of police court arrests for
the past year will show approximately . a de
crease of 50 per cent as compared with the year
previous.
"The records will show a heavy falling off of
the number of men arrested and charged with
wife-beating or non-support of their families.
'The records of the legal aid department of
the board of public welfare show a remarkable
decrease in the appeals for relief from poor
debtors.
"Vagrancy, which formerly kept our jails
crowded, is now reduced to the minimum.
As a result of these conditions, developed by
the enforcement of prohibition law in Omaha
and Douglas county, the city administration was
able some months ago to abolish the city work
house because of the fact that there were not
enough prisoners to keep the place clean and to
occupy the care of five employees, who were
needed to operate the workhouse before pro
hibition. "In the county ja.il, where prior to prohibition
thero were often 200 or more prisoners on an
average, the number was cut to less than 100.
EFFECT ON BUSINESS
t A report covering the effects of prohibition
on business bays:
"Business men, big and little, say that the
effect has been marked in many lines; find trade
itau