Facts in Favor of Prohibition
The following facts in favor of the prohibitory method of dealing with the drink problem, under conditions such as those prevailing in Kansas, are given by a leading New York journal, The Independent:— “Prohibition by constitutional amendment has been in force, more or less, in Kansas for twenty-one years, which is time enough to test its value. The statistics which have been gathered are full of interest. In five of the one hundred and five counties the prohibitory law is not enforced. These five counties have seventeen per cent of the population, and furnish over thirty per cent of the crime. The population in these twenty-one years has increased from 996,616 to 1,470,495, while the number of prisoners has decreased from 917 to 788. That prohibition is generally enforced appears in the fact that the United States collects in Kansas only $7,700 for each 100,000 inhabitants, while in Nebraska, not a prohibition State, it collects $252,000. In the last ten years Kansas has gained three cities of over 10,000 inhabitants, while Nebraska has lost three. Kansas, while purely an agricultural State, is one of the most prosperous in the Union, and can afford to spend $2,000,000 annually on her schools. She saves it in beer and whisky.”