Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 292, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1916 — SEE DOWNFALL OF INDIANA SALOON [ARTICLE]

SEE DOWNFALL OF INDIANA SALOON

Predictions Made That State Will Be In Dry Column In Another Year Or So. That the downfall of the liquor forces in Indiana is but a very short way off is the opinion of men who are in a position to know’. Some even predict that the end of the Indiana saloon is less than a year away and that Indiana would go dry tomorrow if the people should vote on statewide prohibition. A traveling man who paid Rensselaer a visit this week and who has the whole state of Indiana is his territory, stated that Indiana would be in the dry column within a very few months. This man knows the sentiment of the state of Indiana in this matter. Nation wide prohibition is only a few years off is also the prediction of the men who should know, i ’ f " The attack on the \ Indiana liquor forces has become more apparent of late and the rumblings of the dry forces broke into a roar when Wm. Jennings Bryan decided to make this state the seat of his operations far the next four years in his drive on the liquor forces of the country. It is through this that Bryan hopes to be nominated to head the ticket for the democrats in 1920. Slightly over half of the states of the union are now in the dry column and the rapidity with which they are lining up in the dry columns has cast dispair into the hearts of the liquor men and it is predicted that the next few months will see the backers of the liquor interests in a scurry to dispose of their holdings. These men know that their end is in sight. Many people have been skeptical as to the chances of the drys ever being able to put the country dry, but at the recent election, in which Michigan voted statewide prohibition, these people became less skeptical. Detroit, ranked as one of the big cities of the United States went dry right along with the rest of the state. It is understood that a bill is to be introduced at the present legislature providing for the ballot on this question in the state. A statewide vote on the wet and dry question can mean but one thing for Indiana—a dry state.