Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 November 1906 — Manufacturers To Help Fight For Temperance. [ARTICLE]

Manufacturers To Help Fight For Temperance.

Ib an interview published last Tuesday Mr. J. E. Frederick, Sucrttary of the Kokomo Steel and Iron Company, indicated that the saloon and brewery interests would have another force to fight along the lines-of temperance. Ie„ illation that has not hitherto taken an active stand. This ia the vast manufacturing . interests of the state. As is well know »• readers of current news the American Steel Company in promoting new manufacturing town of Gary, plans to prohibit saloons entirely inside the limits of its town. It does this not only on moral grounds but as a business proposition. Mr. Freder ick.‘states that''manufacturers all over the cou utry lire coin ing -to a realisation Lhat saloons in close proximity to their plants means a direct loss to them. “I can hardly calculate it in dollars and cents,’’ said Mr. Frederick, “but I am safe in saying that the saloons in dose to our plant cost us not less than s>*>,ooo a year, and every manufactu ring plant in this city suffers in proportion. The amount of money the manufacturers lose lii-cause of the nearby saloons is a large sum. “Now, that is the business side ol this question. There is a moral

side to it. Most of the men em i ployed in the various factories of this city live close to the places! where they are employed. If the ' saloons were kept down town only a small proportion Of these, men would visit them. They would stay at home with their families instead of loafing and drinking in the saloon. Look at the sorrow and degradation the saloon brings, the suffering of the wife and children! The man himself is unfitted for work. Any manufacturer will tell you that many mornings he finds his working force short because of the night or May before at the salumi Men, good workmen, will go to the nearby saloon and after a ! night of dissipation w ill perhaps be unable to work for a week, and in ! the present scarcity of labor this means much to the manufacturer.” Mr. Frederick advocates the passage of a law absolutely prohibiting saloons in manufacturing ami resi ■ deuce districts, also a license fee of *l,00<» or moie so as to keep out dives and low do-geries everywhere. He also would have the law define w hat constitutes a saloon so that no saloon can be operated • as a drug store or a “club.’’ It is pretty safe to say that if the manufacture!.-, of the_state, join forces with the anti-saloon league ' some strict temperance, legislation may be expected from the next ‘ legislature.