TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14702, 9 December 1909, Page 3

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

A WORLD'S FAIR WITHOUT LIQUOR, l!v Rovai, \\. Raymond. Up in tlio north-west- corner of the United States tlio Alaska-Yukoii-Pacific Exposition, "Tlie Fair that is a Success," is attracting the attention of the country. Ttvo mottoes have in succession f< served to designate this exposition. Pre- '1 vious to its opening it was advertised as " "Tho Fair that will be Ready," and wli'.n the promise was made good on 0 opening day, with every building com- " pitted,'"and llov.ers blossoming everywhere in profusion, the other slogan came into juse, ''The Fair that is Different." It j lias claims to distinction other than the j, simp!'.' fact that it was the first expositiou that ever was leady 011 time. Among K the most commendable of its unique fca- 0 lures are its children's classes, covering a .'erics of tom's over the grouds and bufldii.gs, conducted by experts and in charge of especially trained school teachers. The course covers a week, at the end of which time a diploma is granted each of the children who has completed the course. But to the student of the times the most distinctive thing about the Alaska-Yulnn-l'acific Exposition is the absence of intoxicating liquors. Those who visited the St. Louis and other great expositions mark with approval the absence of the beer-soaked cafes and restaurants that were there eterywliere in evidence. On tho other hand, we find neat and altractivcre.iti.urants, not ciily advertising, but serving at " city prices." It is Singularly fitting that the first, prohibition t'X|>osition should he held her at Seattle, for while the billboards of tho country are plastered by the An-heuser-Busch people with a picture of .1 Pilgrim lugging a keg of oeer ashore from t lie Mayflower, this exposition serves as a reminder that tliis north-west territory began its governmental existence as a prohibition government, the first to be established in the world. Away back in tho early '40's, the early settlers to this north-west country found themselves in the position of men "without a country," for with the disputed claims of the Hudson 1 Jay company still unsettled no man knew where the boundary line between tho United States and Great Britain would eventually be lixed, and the territory itself was considered of so little value that neither the British nor the American (.lovormuent felt that- it was worth lighting for or guarding. Without, therefore, the protecting arm of any civil Government it became i.ecesavy for tho residents of this north-west territory to organise a govern ment for their own protection, and in 1844, when the convention met, they determined, and made it a part of the Con stitution of the Oregon Government (embracing all tliis north-west country), that no liquor could be manufactured, imported. or sold within its confines. This fundamental principle, though Inter abrogated by the absorption of this territory into the United States, has left its enduring mark upon the civilisation of the Norfh-tvest, and wc find Seattle to-day . • a city of over 500,000 people, and one of the most progressive and enterprising cities, not -jnly of the country, but of the world, with its saloons excluded from forty-nine fiftieths of the territory of the city, and the Sunday closing law rigidly enforced, and that, too, in a city which is the port of entry for the' gold camps of Alaska. WHY" THE FAIR IS "DRY." • Papers have said that tlie exjiosition is dry because of tho State law which prohibits saloons within two miles of tho State University, on the campus of which the exposition is located. This is only ono reason, Another equally potent Teason is because the citizens of Seattle, at a special charter election, voted to confine its saloons to its business centre. Another iittle bit of history worthy of lecord is the way in which the exposition management met tiic problem of deciding whether or not the exposition should be dry. A bill was framed and ready' for introduction at the last session of the Legislature, making a special exemption from the State law, so that liquor might be sold at the exposition during (lie exposition period, on the ground that the State law was designed to protect the students, and that the studens were not in attendant upon the University during the summer months. A fierce battle was oil in the Legislature lor the passage of a local' vption bill, and it was a serious question whether tlie bill could be passed. There were sincere men who favoured the passage of the lo:a! option bill who believed that it would be better to allow liquor to be sold at tlie exposition for five months than it vculd for the State to lack a local option law for five years, and tlios-3 men were willing to trade their votes in favour of the Local Option Bill. Enough votes were pledged in this way to insure the passage of .ihe bill. The liquor interests offered the exposition _ managemeit 50Q,000dols for the coacession of relling liquor 011 the grounds, bcg sides a percentage of all the profits, but those in charge of the exposition, while none of them could be tanked probably as advocates of prohibition, turned the proposition down, and decided to make their app3nl ft I support to the rigid-thinking people of the country. Tho fair is now half gone, ind results may be tabulated. They constitute to my mind the fc, weightiest argument for the prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors that we have hud since Trickett's Kansas r .'ity crusade. Thty are as follow-.— THE BENEFITS ACHIEVED. First, the utmost good order has prevailed 011 the fair ground* from the very beginning until this hour, and during the three months that I have been 011 the grounds day and night as assistant director of exploitation, I have yet to see an intoxicated person. Second, with a record breaking crowd of approximately 100,000 people in attendance on opening day, only one arrest was made .for any and all "causes, and that of a degenerate, a lecoiU probably never equalled iu the history of crowds. Third, after two months of the fair period is over, with an average daily at tendance of over 25,000 people, approximately twice that of the Lewis and Clarke Exposition at Portland, there has been but one arrest made 011 tho grounds of sufficient importance torequiro the turning of the prisoner over to tho courts for trial and punishment, with tlie exception of two eastern criminals who were apprehended here 011 telegraphic instructions front the authorities in the East. Such arrests as have been made were for such trilling offences as fence-jumping or similar misdemeanours, that three or four hours' detention in the guard-house has been considered ample punishment for. It certainly is to smile to find the chief of police of a great exposition with so liitle to do on it carnival night as to find him in bed at 9 o'clock, as 1 did last night. Fourth, tiie fair has pi'oved to be a financial st.ccess. Mossbacks who bad failed to discern the signs of the times, said that the fair could not be run sue, ccssfully without liquor, yet the average daily attendance thus far has been more than twice that of the Lewis and Clarke Kxpo<itinn at the neighbouring, older, and better-known city of Pc-iiland. The exposition has been paying off its bonds at a rate, piactically, of 10 per cent, a ! week, something which the wildest enthusiast scarce dreamed of. WHAT HAS BEEN LOST. In conclusion, the fair lias lost a certain sort of patronage by the exclusion of liquor from iis confines. The record of arrests that has been cited above is ' ill strange contradiction to the recon! of | arrests in the city proper, which are far ! larger than over before. With 10.000 him- I f be:mm and accompanying loggers in this - city at iheir convention, it was eslimr.Ud by the president oi the exposition that ! not over 1000 visited the fair. We have j lost financial support in many lines, but ! we look to the right-thinking people oi ! tiiis country to help us demonstrate to j the world that " the Fair that is a Sin- j ce's" Ins in a measure achieved i' because it .is "the Fair that is Different." and appeals to the best element of - community and of the nation, j •3 ;f —Tho London Metropolitan police : apprehend over 108.000 people a year.