THE BEE; OMAHA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1916.
13
POLITICAL APTBBTT8EMEST.
rOI.mCAI, APTEKTHKMENT.
fOIlTlfAL ADVEKTIKHMIINT.
POLITICAL AIlTiraTISEMBNT.
POLITICAL ADVKBTlgKMENT. POLITICAL AUTERTtEKMFXT, POLmCAL AHVTOTIBEM1WT.
A dam Is Mo Stager
Its Weakest IM
n
Tine Proposed Prohibitory Amendment Is
No Stronger Than Its Weakest Phrase
This map is worth studying. It shows what would happen IF the
citizens of Omaha listen to the dry agitator and vote to suppress the traf
fic in alcoholic; beverages in this state. We offer it as an illustration of
how liquor can be shipped into Omaha and Nebraska.
Bear in mind that if Omaha is placed in the prohibition column no
person could be legally prevented from ordering FROM THE OUTSIDE
ALL THE LIQUOR HE WANTED FOR PERSONAL USE. Any advo
cate of prohibition will tell you. that the above statement is true; in fact,
the dry speakers have uttered this same statement from the platform.
' A, .;. : . - v
Now," to establish their futile policy, the prohibitionists propose that
the property. of all local license holders be destroyed; that more than
$353,000 of revenue from the licenses be sacrificed; that over 2,000 skilled
Have you stopped to think how many policemen it would require to hold
such a situation in check? ' '
v Can you, Mr. Taxpayer, doubt for a moment that under conditions
described as above that bribery and corruption would thrive and flourish
in our city?
''. .
You only have to bear in mind that 23,912 lot shipments of liquor
were sent into Colorado in one month. You only have to bear in mind
that in the first six months in 1916, in Denver, arrests for intoxication in-
creased over 400 over the first six months of the previous year. There
would have been many more shipments into Colorado but for the stock on
hand when prohibition took legal effect. What do you expect the ship
ments into Omaha, with its 200,000 population, would be should we adopt !
prohibition? . .-' ,i " : ' J
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workmen be thrown out of employment and wages; that approximately
400 store rooms be rendered vacant; that hundreds of various business en
terpnses, hotels, restaurants, cafes, be crippled in order to achieve what?
Why? In . order to enable OUTSIDE distillers and brewers to supply
Omaha's demand for alcoholic beverages, in order to furnish a "Great Cen
tral Market" for the producing centers shown in the accompanying map,
in order to substitute such wholesale importations for the Local Sales by
legalized,' licensed and tax-paying Omaha producers and dispensers.
And what sort of conditions, would follow the adoption of the impos
sible experiment of prohibition? Can you imagine for a moment, Mr.
Citizen Taxpayer, that temperance would be promoted? Do you suppose
that drunkenness would be lessened when people buy their liquor from
mail-order houses by the' wholesale? Can you have any diffcujty in see
ing, with your mind's eye, itinlpads of whiskey coming into this city
from St. Joseph, Kansas City, Chicago and other wet centers? Is it in the
least difficult f6r you to realize the entering of the "blind pig," the "boot
legger" the fake drug store, and the kitchen bar, also the basement dive?
Would not Omaha prove to be a great and profitable market for 'the
mail-order houses of St. Joseph, Kansas City, Chicago, Milwaukee and St'.
Paul? This is a condition, not a theory, that confronts you. Need one be
a prophet to foresee or foretell the results? These questions are, worthy
of your consideration, Mr. Citizen Taxpayer. People who have nothing
invested, and therefore nothing to lose, and who have no care for the pros
perity of our city, pretend to be indifferent to the economic, financial and
moral consequences of their proposed policy, but men of affairs and of
property, taxpayers and investors, and people who have the best interests
of our city at heart, cannot afford to overlook the considerations to this
question. The taxpayers would have to pay the bills and make up the
heavy losses, direct and indirect, of prohibition. .;
We respectfully ask the taxpayers and voters to follow our articles
which will appear in the daily press. We believe that our arguments
should receive the consideration of the people who have the interest of
our city at heart. We profoundly believe that the case against prohibition :
rests on a solid foundation of reason, fact and common sense. In our ar
guments we shall deal with facts, not fancies. We ask that you consider
them.
Taxpayers'
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