The important question that now confronts the people of this village is, would it be for the best interests of the village to issue licenses to the saloons now in existence in the lower end of the village. This is a question that should be considered very carefully and both sides given their just due. If the saloons are licensed it means $1,500 more in the treasury of the new village then it would get without granting a license to these places. With this amount of money quite a number of improvements could be made in our village which otherwise would have to be paid out of the taxes paid by the property holders. Then the salons are an accommodation to a great many of the farmers that pass through the village, who stop to water their teams, take dinner or some of their meal and go on their way refreshed. The only argument in favor of not granting these places license is that it gives to the village a reputation that is hurtful and that it is a means of keeping prospective residents away from our village, who otherwise would move here. This is a matter of opinion but it seems almost improbable that three small saloons is suburban village located in a part of the village which is distant from the resident part and also in a village which hasn’t one confirmed drunkard in its midst and wherein brawls and saloon fights are not known, it seems improbable that if these places were run in a quiet orderly manner in which they should be run, that they would gain for village a reputation that would harm it in any great extent, excepting with a class who can conscientiously regard all saloons as a deadly evil, and this class is in a very small minority throughout the entire country. The only way to regulate the saloon businesses is to keep a tight grip on the large end of the whip. Grant them a license and if they should fail to keep an orderly respectable place revoke their license, close up their place of business and keep it closed, if it should take all the village council and four or five constables to do so. This would seem to be the best and most advantageous way of settling this question and as there are no complaints coming from the residents living in the immediate vicinity of these places, who would necessarily be cognizant of all disturbances there in, it would probably be the wisest course to grant these licenses and use the money to improve in beautify our village.
As Published in Thomas Girling’s Picturesque Robbinsdale Newspaper
Vol. 1 No. 3, April, 1893