HOW CHICAGO BREWERS HAVE
TRIED TO PREVENT A "DRY"
VOTE
In Chicago, heretofore considered by the brewers one of their
greatest strongholds, in order to enable the people to vote whether
the city shall remain "wet" or become "dry," the law requires the
filing of a petition with a certain number of signatures, but the
brewers opposed even the right of the people to vote upon this
important question and in glaring advertisements boldly advised
them to withhold their signatures.
Attempts were also made to intimidate the circulators of the
petitions by threatening them with prosecution for perjury unless
they personally knew that all the signers were registered voters.
In spite of these methods, 148,802 signatures were obtained,
42,302 more than the 106,500 names required under the law.
Attempts made by politicians to defer the election for a year on
the plea of "economy" were also unsuccessful. In many quarters
same was branded as another ruse on the part of the brewers to
prevent a "dry" vote.
"_The beer traffic does not recognize the sanctity of the home_"