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Show I INDUSTRIAL I QUESTION M There aro in Ogden fifty-two saloons, 1 ffcrlng employment, directly and in- M directly to over five hundred men H . and there are dependent upon those H "wage earners women and children j from the number of fifteen hundred to H two thousand. H To make those women weep and H the children cry, to send poverty into j those homes might make the world B better, but we doubt It. The drunkard H will go on getting drunk, the boozer M will go on boozing, and with it all, H what will be accomplished worthy of H accomplishment? Only this the" sa- H loons will close and the workers will 1 go home to idleness and the facing 1 of a desperate outlook at a time when j the whole country in depressed and ev- Hj cry willing man out of a Job Is rwor- M rylng himself sick in search of era- M ployment, but those with a thirst for H liquor will get It by ordering It hy.tho M caBe or barrel direct from tho manu' M facturcrs, and though the saloons be j closed to the traffic, the homes will H bo open. H Men out of work, and tho pipe lines of liquor laid into the homes; and that Is called prohibition, for which the fanatical are wildly tearing their hair? I dare say that In no other part of the United States would the "Utah law he accepted by tho prohibitionists as other than a miserable subterfuge and a snare. If vlctorv is obtained by the prohibitionists in Utah we predict that the reaction that will come will forever destroy the hopes of real prohibition pro-hibition and make for intemperance rather than temperance. In tho mean time there will be suffering and hundreds of little families will be reduced re-duced to penury and want. The prohibitionists are fond of relating re-lating the storv of the drunkard and his family There are not many drunkards in Ogden, but there are two thousand or three thousand men. women wom-en and children who, it Is proposed, shall be reduced to the condition of poverty of the drunkard and his family fam-ily so that while heretofore the sorrow sor-row has been limited to the folly of a few, by the law the heartaches are to Inflict on a multitude and rags and 1 tatters fastened on nn armv of women and children whoso worst fault is that they aro the dependents of men who welcome nn opcortunity to work and who have sufficient self-control to be worthy of hire and capable of holding positions of trust. As the socialists say the average man's wages are determined by the average man's necessities plus his extravagances. ex-travagances. In other words. If the average laborer can exist and havo his wants satisfied on the compensation I paid a Chinaman, then the Chinese wages must prevail. That Is the law , of industrial compensation under tho competitive system. So no one must run away with the idea that when the average laboring man eliminates his luxuries, his scalo of wages w.ll not drop, unless tho forces of unionism arc strong enough to iipnet that law of compensation. When men stop spending their money foolishly and "Hmlnnte liquor, tea, coffee, and other harmful drinks, and denv themselves the pleasures of diversions Buch ns are presented bv show places and they fettle down to be models-of right coa-duct. coa-duct. then every man oiit oL a lob. In a field that is not unionized, will offer ' n work for Just enough to meet his rigid economy. When the American j laboring man j-eaches that ntate, how much better offlnTlnancTaTway-wm he be and how much of sunshine will come Into his life? You have the answer In the lives of the coolies or Honkong and Singapore, who subsist on rice and slave themselves to death, often dying of starvation. But that is a dlsgresslon in answer to the prohibitionists that tells you how rich the people would become If no one-drank By the way, why aro not the prohibitionists in other states Immeasurably better oft than the people peo-ple of Utah, a state that has had individual indi-vidual liberty of action In the use of drink ever since the pioneers drove Into In-to the great Salt Lake valley? The average man in Utah Is more prosper ous, better fed and better clothed than the average man In Kansas. How do you account for that? When the saloons close in Ogden. there will be fifty-two large business blocks marked "For Rent". Will the prohibitionists rent those places, and, If they do, what will they place in them' Will they establish more competition com-petition in the business line, so as to meet the wants of tne two thousand to three thousand men, women and children Just reduced In their purchasing pur-chasing power? Where will the stream of outside money, which is poured into Ogden through the saloons, go? Two thirds of the saloon money on Twenty-fifth 9treet comes from the outside Will Ogden continue to receive that stream of wealth9 They say there are twenty twen-ty prohibitionist families 'ready to move Into Ogden. From where, no on9 knows, but In as much as the statement Is Intended to be reassuring reassur-ing to the business men, It Is made, But do vou observe that the business men of Oeden, who are not easily deceived, de-ceived, and that Is .why they are business busi-ness mpn, almost to a man, reject the false assumption, in fact treat tho statement as unworthy of anv credence cred-ence whatsoever. If all prohibitionists have homes, as one Is led to believe they have, they will remain at those homes, wherever that may Ibe; 4j they arp nothing iioro than flv-by nights, Ogden does npC want them If. they are4nolly-co4ille8 to bo shifted"? from Dillar to.posClpo'klng for a towjt, thai has gone dry. Ogden does- not want them Ogden is seeking stability Of homes and If. there are ' rw.onty families some place who are so Instable In-stable as to be7an undstached part ot society, ready to movo to Ogden or elsewhere, thoy will not be welcomed' as the chances arc they are a worthless worth-less lot and the community they are -now- In- Is trying to get rid of them. Everyone realizes of course that the prohibition promise Ib nothing but an attempt to arouse a false hope In or- ' der to answer the horrible uncertainty which attends the threat to throw hundreds of men out of employment In this city. |
