Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/901

 al fund."

In the political contest just closed (November 8, 1910) in this state, state prohibition was the paramount question with the great mass of the steady-going thinking voters. It is not the purpose of this book to discuss the policy or right- fulness of this or any other moral or political question, but simply to point out the trend and efforts of economic causes. The entire cost of operating the 419 saloons and the 40 or more cheap theaters, nickelodeons, etc., must be set down to economic waste, a waste of time, labor and capital. The sum total of cash expended and of waste of time cannot be less than three million dollars per annum.

But the waste of the money is not all of the results of this patronage of sa- loons and amusements. Those who profit and live by it are continually put on the defensive to defend it from the attacks of those that would destroy it. This compels the saloon interests to go into politics to protect a business rather than a political principle. And to the extent that any political party submits to control or influence by any special business interest, moral or immoral, it becomes the agent of personal rather than political policies. The same may be of course justly said of the financial interests represented by railroads, banks, or protected manufacturing monopolies. These influences modify the life and character of any community and of the children raised in such community.

It is easy to see, and capable of absolute proof by living examples of thou- sands of successful men, that any laboring man in this city of Portland, or else- where in Oregon, if working for only the lowest wage of two dollars per day, can save money enough in a few years, over and above the necessary cost of living in a decent, honorable way, to purchase land, or otherwise make himself independent of the daily grind of a wage servant and make himself an honorable, respected and useful member of society.

That the saloon and the cheap theater has an influence on the morals as well as the economics and politics of any community there can be no dispute. The Catholic church in America is the most liberal and broad-minded of all the re- ligious organizations on all questions of morals. And for both moral and econo- mic reasons, this great organization has taken, along with the Protestant churches, a positive and unyielding stand against the saloon. The question, then, of the advance or retreat of public opinion on the question of prohibition of the liquor traffic, becomes pertinent to any history of any community. The city has re- cently defeated by a majority of 6,500 votes, the proposed law to prohibit the saloon in Portland ; and recorded its voice and influence in favor of local regu- lation as against state prohibition.

But notwithstanding this decisive vote against total abstinence, there have not only been changes, but also progress. Forty years ago Portland had for two years a city council of nine members, six of whom were saloonkeepers ; and the mayor himself, Hamilton Boyd, was a patron of saloons; and the marshal (chief of police), James H. Lappeus, was also the proprietor of a saloon. There were at that time about thirty saloons in the town ; and it was a straight whiskey propo- sition. The marshal enforced the ordinances strictly, and the council gave the city a clean, honest government without grafting contractors of any kind. The saloon was not then used as an aid to gambling, robbery, or the debauchery of women. With the increase of population and strife for money, came the demor- alization that aroused the dormant conscience of the church, and the forethought of the parents of children, to place restrictions on the .saloon or destroy it al- together. This battle is now on throughout the nation. It will not cease. There are a hundred prohibitionists now to the one who preached to empty benche.-, forty years ago.

MORALITY, THE MUNICIPAL ASSOCIATION.

As a bond of union or connecting link between the vital interests of industry, morality and politics, the Portland Municipal Association deserves honorable mention in this chapter. Organized July 14th, 1903, the association acco