SOCIAL FUNCTION OF THE SALOON.

BY FELIX ADLER.

Its Relation to Crime and Pauperism.

Some twenty years ago, one of the leading philanthropists of New York city went on record with the statement that more than seventy per cent. of pauperism and crime is chargeable to intemperance. It appears from the careful investigations of Mr. Charles A. Booth in England and from similar investigations in this country that intemperance is the direct cause of crime in not more than fifteen or sixteen per cent. of the cases, and of pauperism in about one-third of the cases. I do not mean to imply that intemperance is not a most serious and detestable evil; and I will join others in every legitimate attempt to abate that evil. But when we are considering great questions of profound and paramount social interest, we have no right to exaggerate. We have no right to represent one cause of evil as bulging out so much as to throw all other causes into the shadow.

The Demand for a Social Center.

The main point, after all, is whether this law is enforceable. So far as I can see, the only argument in support of the proposition is that we are able to enforce the law to the extent of collecting the tax. Certainly Mr. Roosevelt, Justice Jerome and Judge Goff tried earnestly, and yet failed, to enforce it absolutely. But why is it that a law which is not supported by public sentiment cannot be enforced? Or, rather, why is it that public sentiment in this community does not support that law? Is it a mere whim or caprice of the public or a small portion of the public? If it is a mere whim, we may hope by preaching, by published discussions and by appeals to the public to change public sentiment.

It is not uncommon for temperance extremists to draw a picture of the home-to contrast the amenities of home life on the Sabbath with the disgrace of the saloon. This is the mistake of many per

sons who argue from a distant point on this question. They speak from the standpoint of people who have homes; they do not realize the conditions of the hundreds of thousands of people who live in this city in tenement houses, in which these delightful amenities are hardly possible. It is a very good thing to stay at home with your family, to improve your mind, to read to them and to enjoy the quiet of the day with them; but how does that fit the case of the man who lives in a double-decker tenement house-a family of a man, woman and children crowded together in two or, at the most, three, dark and uninviting rooms? Are the amenities of home life, of recreation in the midst of one's family possible under such conditions?

I do not mean to say that there are not many equable and fine tempered men among those who live in tenement houses, who despite these conditions strive to keep up the family life. But it is very easy to understand that people who live in such quarters should seek places of recreation-places in which they can be comfortable, and, above all, places where they can meet their fellows. It is the social instinct, the desire to be at ease, which makes men go to clubs; and to-day you observe this increased social instinct among women, a desire increasingly gratified by the increasing number of women's clubs. The desire to satisfy the social instinct and to meet one's fellows without restraint is perfectly natural.

The Saloon is the Poor Man's Club.

Now how can the poor man satisfy this instinct? Where are his clubs? The saloon is at present, the only substitute for a club that he has. I do not say by any means that it is the best; I do not say that it is desirable; but we are miserable hypocrites, if we insist, without supplying a better substitute than the saloon, that the only place where the poor man can have his club shall be closed.

It is a mistake to suppose that all saloons are simply hot beds of vice and bestial intoxication. There are a great many saloons as those who have carefully investigated the conditions in this city know, which do not at all belong in that category, saloons where drunkenness is a rare occurrence, where people meet quietly, take a glass of beer without indulging to excess, and to which they go chiefly, if not wholly, for the purpose of social intercourse. There are saloons for the Italians, the Russians, the Bohemians and others, where those who desire to meet their fellows from the old country

can do so, can hear the news, can talk the language of their childhood.

Other Utilities.

Further, the saloon not infrequently becomes the headquarters of those who are out of work. The man who wants work finds in the saloon a kind of labor bureau, where he can meet with the opportunities for which he is seeking.

The saloon is also the poor man's chief restaurant. Thousands and thousands of people in this city-working people-go to a saloon at noon to get a warm meal. But by far the greater number go for the purpose of being at ease and of throwing off repression. What a load of repression is upon the poor man! Men who are heads of business houses hardly know what repression means. Professional men can hardly realize it. But the workingman is under orders all day long; in the shop, in the factory, in his work, he is under rule, bound to obey. He has an inflexible desire to escape from this repression, and practically the only place where he can do so completely is in the saloon.

Opponents of the saloon should not ignore these facts. It is no answer to a person who wants to go where he is free to say that saloons are open in violation of law. It is a powerful social instinct which supports the saloon. If there is a strong public sentiment that does not support the Sunday closing law, it is because that sentiment is constantly fed, nourished and maintained by this social force, this powerful social instinct, which works especially in a great cosmopolitan city like ours, and makes people seek the companionship of their fellows and patronize the saloon because it ministers to their wants and desires.

Substitutes Needed.

I wish with all my power that it were possible for us to close every saloon in this city, but under condition, however, that it were first possible for us to create suitable substitutes. But if I had the power to do that without these substitutes-to close every saloon in this city-I should not use the power to do so.

It has been said that God's Sunday is in the market, and it has been asked what is the price that you wish to pay for it. But is this a fair statement of the position? Do those who favor Sunday opening wish to trample upon the Sabbath and its spiritual purposes? There is no one who desires more earnestly than I do that the Sab

bath should be used not only for comfortable recreation, but for moral and spiritual advancement. But is it for the honor of God's Sabbath that two hundred and fifty thousand people should sneak in at the side doors? Is it to the honor of God's Sabbath that the outside of the platter should be made clean and within all be evil, filth and corruption? We are too apt to be Pharisaical in regard to this matter to be perfectly content if we are spared the shock to our sensibilities.

I have come to this position very reluctantly. I had the same horror of the saloon that so many have. I have the same desire to see them effaced, if we can have a better substitute; but one of the most practical and effective means of getting this substitute is to have the evil out in the open. There all are conscious of the evil. If the saloons ply their trade openly on the Sabbath, not only the churches but all the people will work far more assiduously than ever before to provide a suitable alternative for the saloon.

The practical conclusions are, therefore, that the present situation is intolerable. The present administration is between Scylla and Charybdis. It has either to violate its solemn oath of office, go to political destruction or have the law amended. What shall the remedy be? Shall it be the partial closing of the saloon?

To say that we want the opening of the saloon is false and misleading. Our campaign is for partial closing. The saloons are open all day at the present time. We want them closed between midnight of Saturday and one o'clock on Sunday.

As to home rule, representative government is appropriate for all matters concerning the state at large; but the proposition to refer this question, that touches the city of New York, to the people of the state of New York, is similar to the question of referring to a family council whether a son who has attained his majority, and who is capable of taking his destiny into his own hands, shali enter into a marriage alliance. That is a question which concerns himself; and, therefore, although it may be proper to consult with others, it is for him to decide. And so with the question of referendum in this case. It is not a question which belongs to the people of the state of New York or to their representatives in the legislature. It is a question which concerns this locality, and this locality should decide it.

It is held that the people will vote against it, but it is better that the people should vote against what we may consider to be their best interests, and be gradually instructed as to their true interests, than that the principle of home rule should be sacrificed for any immediate gain, no matter how important it may seem.

Let us have an educational campaign. Let us begin this day. Let us make the people see it. They will understand the issue.