PROHIBITION IN IOWA

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 120, 19 September 1885, Page 3

PROHIBITION IN lOWA

'^EOHiBiTUWLhaB reduced t^ciiy of 20,000 inhftbit«nt«tCfffc6n^iti6ri6ft^alBimpiicity' Until the abolition oL the liquor traffic was during, the antecedent 6r»,i)fi, high licence, the city's annual Hc6Ttt^4e4eiiy^reguted was sufficient .to maintain the various public departments' and obviated'the necessity of a general license vsyssm v sys$mi l the, 6#ly;oiher fees imposed, being small ones which hucksters, peddlers, and others were required to pay as a police regulation. When prohibition, was ordained this city had a surplus fund. Now the treasury is empty, and ithe scrip with which i current liabilities were to be met has attained a pretorean character which seems 1 limitless, the •rate of discount' absorbing almost- the entire face value of the bills. 'Necessity haeforced the most rigid retrenchment upon the city. Public works have been? stopped and other publio enterprises in:contemplation areno longer mentioned.- The county recently Becureda sito'fora new Courthouse, to cost 500,000 dollars; a condition of the building's erection being that -the 'city should construct a short spiir of sewer," making; the general drainage; system accessible tto the proposed structure; The 'city 1 is ' unable to build the sewer,' the county cannot- dispose of its site without sacrifice,, and the 1 work has been abandoned. - < * At a recent meeting the City Council unanimously adopted a resolution providing "that all gas andgasolirie lights' be cut off ; that the police force be reduced to a chief and one captain, who shall receive fees for their services'; that the fire Department shall be reduced to one chief and a driver for each engine'; that the only street improvements shall be such as can be made by one man, whose salary shall be two dollars a day for ten hours'' work," etc' • • These resolutions were* put into effect on June 15th, and' the results are- now being developed; Insurance companies are withholding risks ' or taking them at higher rates; stores close ia time for attaches to reach home betore' dark';' the receipts of various open-at-night houses have, declined, I so that expenses are barely met; the Dis- : trict Messenger-service has added a hautboy I call ; tallow candles are faked on the streets j by men and boys who formerly sold jewellery, matches and bananas; social clubs confined to old business 'men have been diebanded; church' socials, theatrical performances, ice-oream' festivals and. similar gatherings requiring the presence of ladies in full dress are held only in ".the' light of the moon"; only midday marriages are I tolerated in the best society ; hotels have supplemented their -stock of umbrellas with [ a supply of lanterns to be let to guests, churches that have attempted to baffle fate and hold night services have established checkrooms in which the members' lights of various kinds are deposited during ser- | vices ; three skating rinks suspended last j week with heavy liabilities,- -and a dime museum man absconded to Canada to ; escape his creditors. - ' ' The resurrection of the hautboy era has been attended with some peculiar" results. Aristocracy is graded by the age of a man's lantern, and accordingly'- some strange relics have been revived.' 1 Last night the II World " correspondent was one of a party which called on a family of well-known young ladies. One of the young men — a , bank cashier— carried a lantern made of a square tin boxj perforated, with small holes arranged in various designs. One of the presents at a wedding last week was a rustic lantern with which the bride's grandfather and Abe Lincoln hunted coons in the forests of Indiana when- they were backwoods boys. The restoration 'of tallow candles has been attended with the revival of candle moulds, and young ladies of polite society are busily engaged' in decorating candlesticks. The City Council has further endeavoured to overcome the municipal distress by imposing a tax on trades, professions, etc., among the items being : Banks, 200 dollars ; brokers, 150 dollars; oil' peddlers, 20 dollars; lightning-rod dealers, 25 ' dollars; physicians and surgeons, 25 dollars; undertakers, 25 dollars; sewing machine agents, 30 dollars; attorneys-at-law, 25 dollars ; bathrooms, 10 dollars ; veterinary surgeons, 25 dollars. Meanwhile whisky is free. The saloons can be closed only by injunction. The District Court recently held that a motion to enjoin was a civil action, and that while one action was pending, another one of the same purport could not' be made. Under this decision the friends of saloon men hastened to enter motions to enjoin the sale of liquor, the object of their haste being to Btop bona fide efforts to squelch the business. The pending motions will be ; pushed at the pleasure of the saloon-keepers. The Prohibitionists insist, however, that they are going to enforce the law and stop the trafi&c— Council Bluffs Despatch in JN ew x orj£ Yt orld«