What Prohibition Would Do.
By Lever
WHAT if every saloon in the United States and every other place where liquor is sold or given away for drinking purposes could be closed, and hermetically sealed for one year, can any man estimate the advantage that would result both to the laboring man and the capitalist? The closing up of these drinking holes would be a saving to the laboring men of this country of not less than $500,000,000 every year, for that is the amount which, according to the most reliable statistics, the laboring men spend annually for intoxicating drinks. The saving of this $500,000,000 to the laboring men would certainly greatly improve the condition of the men and their families. It would not only relieve them from the physical and moral effects caused by drink and drunkenness, but it would add to their homes many of the comforts and conveniences of which they are now deprived. It would give them more wholesome food, better clothes, and good homes instead of hovels to live in. The effect on capitalists and manufacturers would be equally marked. Overcrowded markets would be relieved. Stagnation in trade would give way to activity. Idle capital which has for so long a time been stored away in bank vaults would find investment. Prices both of labor and of the products of labor would be improved.—Lever.