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 ILLINOIS LIBRARY 
 
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THE CO-OPERATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 RETAIL LIQUOR TRADE 
 
 SALOON REGULATION 
 
The Co-operation of the Retail Liquor Trade 
 
 IN 
 
 Saloon Regulation 
 
 The Ma ssachu setts Liquor League is an organization of the leading 
 men in the retail liquor business. 
 
 Their 10th Annual Convention, which was held in Fall River, 
 Massachusetts, June 3rd and 4th, 1914, was of an unusually high 
 character. 
 
 Among the speakers at the banquet were Mr. Hugh F. Fox, of New 
 York, Secretary of the United States Brewers’ Association, and Mr. 
 James R. Nicholson, President of the Harvard Brewing Company, of 
 Lowell, who was formerly President of the Brewers’ Association of 
 Massachusetts, is a Trustee of the United States Brewers’ Association, 
 and was chosen to represent the New England States on the 
 Joint Harmony Committee of wholesalers, retailers, brewers and wine 
 makers. 
 
 On the cover of the official program of the Convention, the following 
 retailer’s creed was published: 
 
 V 
 
 “I see that all who enter my store shall receive fair and courteous 
 treatment and that every effort is made to provide for their comfort 
 and convenience and to meet their wants. 
 
 I do not misrepresent or permit any of my employees to mis- 
 represent any goods I have for sale. 
 
 I give careful attention to the neatness and wholesomeness of 
 my place of business. 
 
 3 
 
I sell no liquor to any man who is intoxicated or in a condition 
 approaching that state. 
 
 I allow no man to patronize my place whose family I have reason 
 to believe will suffer any privation because he spends^ too much 
 money for liquor. 
 
 I refuse to sell liquor to any man that I know is addicted to 
 over-indulgence. 
 
 I conduct my business in strict accordance with the laws, ordinances, 
 rules and regulations applying thereto.” 
 
 MR. FOX emphasized the importance to the retailer of “putting 
 his house in order.” His address, in part, was as follows: 
 
 “I am glad to have this opportunity of addressing you because I know 
 that I can count upon your sympathetic interest and co-operation in 
 any practical plan for the betterment of conditions in the retail liquor 
 trade. 
 
 “Stability of business conditions is necessary to induce men of 
 character and responsibility to engage in any particular industry, 
 and while the conditions in the retail liquor trade in Massachusetts 
 are not altogether stable, they are certainly better than the con- 
 ditions existing in many other States. You have too, the advantage 
 of living in a State whose citizens are not easily stampeded by 
 sensational agitators, and you are especially fortunate in the cautious 
 attitude of the newspapers of Massachusetts in regard to radical 
 reforms. 
 
 “The success of the no-license movement depends upon the organized 
 exploitation of the sentiment that prevails in many parts of the country 
 against the saloon. This is a time for self-examination; for a rigorous 
 self-searching which will lay bare the very root of the evils that exist. 
 In Massachusetts, and in Fall River particularly, the letter of the license 
 law is generally observed— that is to say, saloons are closed on Sundays 
 and during the prescribed closing hours; screens have been abolished so 
 that the interior can be seen from the street; minors are not served, 
 gambling is not permitted, and saloons are not a rendezvous for 
 disreputable women. The Massachusetts Liquor League is therefore 
 in a position to take an advanced stand and to send forth a ringing 
 
 4 
 
message to the retailers, to the brewers and the wholesalers in other 
 States. 
 
 The Saloon a Public Necessity. 
 
 “I am not able to agree with those who think that the saloon must go. 
 On the contrary I believe firmly that the saloon must and will stay. 
 It may change in form; it can in many respects be much improved; it 
 is possible that in many saloons the standing bar can be abolished, and 
 that family resorts will be substituted in which all kinds of beverages 
 and viands will be served, but the city saloon exists and persists because 
 of its social function. It is the one place which is truly and wholly 
 democratic; the only place where one man is as good as another, and 
 where, for a nickel, any man can have the privilege of being a patron 
 with no liabilities or responsibilities except to observe the unwritten 
 law of common decency. The freedom of the city is an empty phrase, 
 but the freedom of the saloon is an absolutely real thing. I doubt 
 whether even a family resort can take its place entirely, though, of 
 course, the more family resorts we have, the better. 
 
 The World’s Work. 
 
 “Most of the work of the world is done by manual laborers. In the 
 cities and towns of the United States the professional classes and the men 
 whose duties are administrative or clerical constitute only 20 per cent, 
 of the male adults; that is to say there are only 20 per cent, of the men 
 in the centers of our population who can keep their hands and faces 
 fairly clean while they are going about the business of life. The other 
 80 per cent, literally earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, and 
 they get themselves more or less ‘mussed up’ in the process. Is there 
 any public place except the saloon where such men can feel perfectly 
 at home? The people who maintain the various uplift parlors seem to 
 assume that a pure heart goes with clean hands. Their attitude is so 
 superior, that the shirt-sleeve-brigade feels thoroughly out of place and 
 therefore uncomfortable. 
 
 “My observation is that many working men would not object to the 
 abolition of the horizontal bar, but it is a great convenience to the ‘rush’ 
 type of American citizen, who allows himself a minute’s margin for 
 refreshments on his way to the train in the evening. There are several 
 hundred thousand men of this type in New York City alone, and the 
 
 5 
 
saloon is the only place where such a man can get satisfactory and 
 instantaneous service. The lunch counters, soda fountains, dairy 
 restaurants, etc., do not seem to be able to compete with the saloon in 
 quick and competent service. In the commuter cafes the standing bar 
 can never be abolished. 
 
 “The point I have in mind is that the practical saloon reformer must 
 study such conditions, before he undertakes to make any changes. 
 For example, Bishop Potter’s saloon failed principally because it was 
 located in the wholesale dry goods district, and had no large resident 
 class to cater to in the neighborhood. 
 
 Muncipal Authorities Co-operate. 
 
 “I want to make an appeal for co-operation on the part of municipal 
 authorities with the leading people in the retail liquor trade. The 
 con. mon-sense thing to do for the men who administer a regulatory law, 
 is to work with the men who come under their jurisdiction. Dr. Alsberg, 
 the present head of the Federal Board of Food and Drug Inspection, has 
 followed this course with great success, and pure food laws are being 
 more generally observed than ever before. In the city of New York 
 the new Health Commissioner, Dr. Goldwater, has appointed an advisory 
 council of men and women who know something about the health prob- 
 lem. I happen to be on the food inspection committee of this council. 
 At a recent meeting, which was called to take up the question of pro- 
 tecting foods against exposure and contamination, the grocers, butchers, 
 bakers, fish-men, and others were brought into consultation; they were 
 appealed to from the standpoint of enlightened self-interest as well as 
 public welfare, and responded splendidly. Not only will this result 
 in a practical working code, but the labors of the Health Department 
 will be very much lightened by the co-operation of the vendors. This 
 is the modern way of doing things in England and Germany and it is 
 beginning to be followed by the best type of men in our American public 
 service. 
 
 “Why not try it on the saloon problem? Why not make the organized 
 retailers, the allies of the local government? 
 
 Prohibition Idea Unpopular. 
 
 “The American Leader of May 28th, 1914, has an editorial by Mr. 
 Charles Nagel, Ex-Secretary of Commerce and Labor, which is in effect 
 
 6 
 
an appeal to the trade to put its house in order. Mr. Nagel believes 
 that the great body of men and women in this country is unwilling to 
 support prohibition, but is at the same time out of patience with some of 
 the conditions which frequently obtain in the liquor business. Begin- 
 ning with the brewers, he points out that they have always been earnest 
 advocates of pure food laws and that ‘so far as the ingredients and 
 methods of production are concerned, breweries may well challenge 
 comparison with most concerns that provide us with the food and deli- 
 cacies of daily consumption.’ He also shows that there is hardly any 
 other line of business which has been so free from combinations in 
 restraint of trade and that in fact unrestrained competition is largely 
 responsible for the conditions which have brought about the persistent 
 campaign for prohibition. In short, Mr. Nagel believes that the cause 
 for the opposition is not inherent in the liquor business itself and that 
 ‘public protest points with unerring precision to disreputable saloons 
 as the real offenders.’ Admitting that the evil is exaggerated and that 
 wholesale denunciation is unfair, Mr. Nagel says that ‘so long as dis- 
 reputable saloons are permitted to exist, the whole trade will have to 
 carry the burden.’ 
 
 “The pertinent question is, as Mr. Nagel says: ‘what does a correction 
 involve, and who shall move to bring it about?’ It involves such a 
 change in the character of resorts that they will be accepted as aids to 
 peace and security, and never as menaces to good order. A business 
 which is dependent upon the granting of a special license, should re- 
 ciprocate by supporting the authority to. which it has to look for its 
 right to exist. 
 
 Temperate Tavern League. 
 
 “Can we not go even further and make the saloon itself an instrument 
 for true temperance? I appeal to the Massachusetts Liquoi League to 
 give this movement a start by organizing a Temperate Tavern League 
 for its members. 
 
 “How shall we go about it? Let me see if I cannot put the matter 
 concretely in the form of a declaration which can be printed and posted 
 conspicuously in every saloon and cafe whose proprietor is willing to 
 be included in this Honor Roll. 
 
 7 
 
THE TEMPERATE TAVERN LEAGUE 
 
 STANDS FOR 
 
 REGULATION— MODERATION— CLEANLINESS— ORDER 
 
 WE SELL ALL KINDS OF BEVERAGES 
 
 DRINK MODERATELY 
 
 NO LIQUOR SOLD TO MINORS 
 NO LIQUOR SOLD TO DRUNKARDS 
 NO GAMBLING ALLOWED 
 DISREPUTABLE WOMEN NOT ADMITTED 
 
 KEEP THE SIDE-WALK CLEAR AND CLEAN 
 NO LOUNGING ALLOWED 
 
 THIS PLACE IS CLOSED DURING PROHIBITED HOURS 
 
 This is a Place of Public Resort and must be run right 
 WE WANT YOUR HELP to keep it above reproach 
 
 “The first step is to create an esprit de corps within the trade itself, 
 which will be so strong that it will dominate the sentiment of the whole 
 body. But of course your declaration will not amount to very much 
 unless your organization backs it up persistently in a practical way. 
 I believe that this can best be accomplished by employing men for the 
 purpose, who will correspond to the walking delegates of a labor organi- 
 zation or to the inspectors of the Health Department. It should be the 
 duty of these men to report week by week upon the character and 
 conduct of each place in their district. They should be so instructed 
 that they can assist the saloon-keeper in matters of sanitation, showing 
 
 8 
 
him how to keep his pipes clean and his beer pumps and refrigerating 
 apparatus in good working order. 
 
 “I can recall certain places that are thoroughly offensive from the 
 outside — empty beer kegs draining their stale dregs on the sidewalk, 
 the air foul with the odor, while flies settle in the gutter and carry con- 
 tagion to the neighborhood. The saloon, like any other public purveying 
 establishment, ought to look and smel] sweet and clean, inside and 
 outside. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Way 
 
 “In Pennsylvania the brewers, wholesalers and retailers have gotten 
 together and have organized half a dozen county associations for the 
 express purpose of bettering conditions. Among other things they have 
 a complaint committee of attorneys and other prominent citizens who 
 receive and investigate complaints made either by members of the 
 association or by citizens, and the complaint committee acts as a dis- 
 ciplinary body. If a complaint is justified they give the offender a 
 short time in which to clean up the business or sell out, and put him on 
 probation, subject to good behavior. If this does not work, or if the 
 offense is repeated, the complaint committee brings the matter officially 
 before the licensing judge. The same principle can be carried out in 
 any part of the country though the details will vary necessarily according 
 to the licensing laws. 
 
 Our Case in the Peopled Hands 
 
 “In conclusion let me say that the very fact that prohibition is being 
 forced upon the people as a national issue, gives us the opportunity to 
 get a real hearing while, at the same time, it places a new responsibility 
 upon us. In-so-far as we meet the issue fairly and squarely, not merely 
 from our selfish trade standpoint, but with full recognition of the public’s 
 interest, we can count on a fair hearing. I believe that people expect 
 us to stand up and state frankly and fearlessly the reason for the faith 
 that is in us, but we must justify our faith by our works. Our leader- 
 ship in this contest must be based on sincerity," and the desire to have 
 the sale of liquor surrounded by all possible safeguards, for the welfare 
 of the community and the individual. 
 
 “Let us convince the public that we are thoroughly in earnest; that we 
 mean to play fair, and show by our actions and utterances that we our- 
 selves are temperate in thought, word and deed. Let us match our 
 
 9 
 
moderation, our courtesy, our fairness and our truthfulness against the 
 violence, the arrogance, the intolerance and the distortions of our op- 
 ponents. If we can lift this discussion to a higher plane, and can prove 
 that we have proper regard for legal authority and for the public, we can 
 rest our case in confidence upon its merits.” 
 
 MR. NICHOLSON spoke from the same viewpoint as Mr. Fox. He 
 said in part : 
 
 ‘‘I think that many of you fail to realize what you can do in the line 
 of constructive work, the opportunity for real service to your fellowmen 
 that is offered to you and the power that is yours, if you will but avail 
 yourselves of it, of improving the standards of living among the citizen- 
 ship of this Commonwealth of ours. 
 
 “The liquor business is distinguished from all others by a social char- 
 acteristic that brings the customer and the dealer into closer personal 
 relationship than is found between any other retailer and his trade. 
 
 “Men linger with you somewhat in their purchasing and discuss with 
 you and your associates and employees the problems of the day and 
 their individual cares and troubles. 
 
 “In this relationship lies an opportunity for service that many of you 
 are grasping and all of you should grasp. One who failed to recognize 
 his opportunities might take the position that his responsibility ended 
 when he had supplied his customer with what he demanded or what 
 seemed to please him in merchandise and service and surroundings, 
 but one who was in touch with the spirit of the times would feel that he 
 had a responsibility above and beyond this that embraces an attempt 
 on his part to direct the tastes and the habits of his patrons along the 
 best possible lines. 
 
 “The problem that confronts you in this respect is similar to the prob- 
 lem that confronts the clergy and the press, a problem that each clergy- 
 man and each editor must solve for himself; whether he will give to the 
 people with whom he is in contact the things that they seem to want or 
 whether he will give them what his best judgment tells him they ought 
 to have. 
 
 “Chester S. Lord, long editor of the New York Sun , recently asked, 
 ‘Is the magazine editor or the newspaper editor to print the things the 
 people should read for their instruction and general betterment, or is 
 he to give them what they seek to read for their amusement only ? Every 
 editor knows that the more details of sin, vice and crime you cram into 
 
 10 
 
a newspaper the more copies of that newspaper will be sold, and every 
 editor knows that the most subtle temptation that ever beset him is 
 the temptation to print the things that should not be printed, and that 
 temptation is more acute because he knows the people want to read them.’ 
 
 “I am sure that we all have more respect for and recognize as a finer 
 force in the community those editors who offer their readers the best 
 thoughts and those pulpit orators who attempt to carry their listeners 
 along the right lines without resort to sensationalism or exaggeration, 
 and so for you, my friends, let me suggest the better way rather than 
 the easier way. 
 
 “Let me urge you not to be content to be merely a dispenser of liquor 
 refreshments but to be that power for good in the community that your 
 business gives you an exceptional opportunity to be. 
 
 “Your customers come to you not alone for refreshments but also for 
 that social intercourse that some one has said is to mankind what' showers 
 and dews are to a countryside, adding that without it the hearts of men 
 grow arid, dry and desolate. 
 
 “My friends, make certain that the social intercourse that may be 
 enjoyed in your place is of the right, the helpful sort. 
 
 “If the discussion be of sports let it be of honest, manly sports and not 
 of tricky or of brutal sports, that your patrons may develop a love of the 
 former and a dislike for the latter. 
 
 “If the conversation be of art, let it be confined to what is best in art 
 and let the pictures on your walls impress those who visit you that there 
 is no place in a Massachusetts saloon for the vulgar or the suggestive 
 in art. 
 
 “If stories are being told, see to it that they are clean and proper 
 that you may help your customers to realize that it is weak wit that de- 
 pends on obscenity or vulgarity and that profanity is the refuge of a 
 weakling and is both unnecessary and distasteful to the manly man. 
 
 “And then, in the matter of the use of those things you have for sale, 
 do not underestimate your responsibility or your opportunity. Your 
 example and suggestion have great power and should be shaped so as 
 to be of the greatest benefit to those who come under their influence. 
 
 “Do not fail always to remember that there would be no liquor problem 
 were it not for the excessive drinker and determine to do your part in 
 an effort to see that there are no drinkers but moderate drinkers. 
 
 “You have a proper pride in your business and in your products, and 
 it should be your aim to see that the former is conducted in such a manner 
 
 11 
 
that it is a helpful force in your community and that the latter are placed 
 in the hands of the proper persons and that they are properly used after 
 they have come into their possession. 
 
 “An old-time English inn-keeper had the right idea when he placed 
 prominently in his hostelry a sign which read: 
 
 GOOD ADVICE 
 
 COME FREQUENTLY DRINK MODERATELY 
 
 PAY HONORABLY BE GOOD COMPANY 
 
 PART FRIENDLY GO HOME QUIETLY 
 
 “Let me urge you to emulate his example and to use the influence 
 you have that the Massachusetts saloons and liquor stores and hotels 
 may be recognized as a power for good and that the products you have 
 to dispense may offer no problems through abuse but may be only what 
 Nature 'designed them to be, an inspiration and a solace and a blessin; 
 to mankind.” 
 
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