Saloon Licenses and Public Schools
By Editor
A RELIGIOUS exchange says:— "Omaha has 160 saloons paying $1,000 per year license, and that money goes into the school fund. The result is that the public schools of Omaha are as fine as any in the country." What a blessing saloons are, to be sure! It is evident that if Omaha only had a few more saloons, it might have the very best public schools in the country; and since nothing is more desirable than good schools, it follows that a few more self-denying philanthropists ought to start saloons in that city. How good the honest drunkard-makers must feel to have the assurance of the religious press that they are the principal supporters of civilization and education. The journal, however, forgot to note two points: (1) That in order to get that one hundred and sixty thousand dollars for the public schools, the people of Omaha and vicinity must pay the saloon-keepers not less than one million dollars, at a low estimate; and (2) that Omaha is about the hardest town in the interior of the United States. Six hundred per cent. per annum, besides hundreds of criminals and paupers, is a pretty high rate of interest to pay for money, even for educational purposes.