Liquor-by-the-jigger to go to polls
Drys, wets state cases
By TERRY KOCH
Kansan Staff Writer
"The open saloon is forever prohibited in Kansas."
This sentence in the state constitution has determined, since the 1890's, that Kansas has only beer taverns and sells hard liquor only by the bottle.
In November, 1970, Kansas will vote to decide whether their legislature has the right to strike these words from the constitution—whether in effect, Kansas establishments may sell liquor-by-the-drink.
The fight to get the issue of liquor-by-the-drink to a public referendum began in 1967, when Hank Parkinson, of Parkinson-Krebbs, a Wichita public relations firm, formed Kansans for Modern Alcoholic Beverage Control (KAMBC) to do battle with the Rev. Roy Holloman's Kansas United Dry Forces (KUDF) of Topeka.
Legislators pressed
Mike Getto, general manager of the Eldridge Hotel in Lawrence and chairman of KAMBC, said Parkinson and the organization began by talking to legislators.
"We gave them the information on liquor-by-the-drink and showed them statistics," he said.
Getto said KU Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce supported a referendum on liquor-by-the-drink.
During April 1968, Parkinson said he traveled by plane to the home towns of more than 100 legislators to discuss liquor views.
Both Getto and Parkinson said Kansas would benefit by having liquor-by-the-drink, predicting an upgrading of restaurant and hotel facilities, an increase in the number of conventions in Kansas, increased tax revenue and a decrease in the amount of alcohol consumed.
For the last point, Parkinson offered statistics from Iowa, which passed its liquor law in 1963, and Georgia, which did the same in 1964. In both states, he said the number of arrests for offenses related to drunkenness dropped after the law was pass
and climbed back to pre-1963 levels this year.
Getto said he believes a liquor-by-the-drink law will result in more moderation.
Apr. 30
1969 KANSAN 5
"A guy who lugs a fifth into a private club now feels he has to finish the whole thing before he leaves, since it's illegal to have an open bottle in a car."
Visitors to Kansas, he said,
now see it as a "hick" place.
"Railroads close their club cars when they come through. It leaves a very bad impression."
What are the chances for the liquor-by-the-drink referendum?
"It will probably pass," said Getto. "In all the polls, scientific and unscientific, it has carried.
Who will vote?
"We know one thing. All of the people against it will vote. Rev. Holloman spends three times what we spend. He'll put on quite a campaign."
Holloman, KUDF superintendent, in the March-April issue of his magazine, The Kansas Issue, accused the liquor-by-the-drink people of "dirty politics" in getting the legislature to put the liquor issue to a public referendum.
"Republicans who wanted to vote against the amendment were then 'blitzed' by telephone calls, telegrams and every other type of communication, to vote for the liquor-by-the-drink proposal," the article said.
Evil lurks in 'spirits'
The magazine then claimed that "Communistic tactics of 'brainwashing' were effective upon enough representatives,
and that the liquor-by-the-drink proposal carried by the needed votes to win."
Holloman also has fought liquor-by-the-drink with a television and radio program, "The United Dry Half Hour," which was broadcasted Sundays from January 19 to April 13 this year from Wichita and Topeka.
Holloman has shown, through figures of the "Annual Statistical Review of Distilled Spirits," that in all states which has passed liquor-by-the-drink amendments, the average total consumption has increased.
States with liquor-by-the-drink, or "open saloon" provisions, average 1.92 gallons per capita consumed a year, while states with liquor-by-the-bottle average 1.02. Kansas, he pointed out, had an annual average of .95 gallons, while Missouri, a state selling liquor-by-the-drink, averaged 1.48 gallons.
"There would be more alcoholies in Kansas if we get
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Holloman said he believes tax revenue would not pay for the damage caused by more available liquor. He showed, with figures gathered by U.S. Census Bureau, that Iowa, which went "wet" in 1963, is losing population steadily.
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open saloons," said Holloman. "There are six million alcoholics in the United States. Kansas had 1 per cent of the nation's population. We now have 50,000 alcoholics. If we had open saloons, we would have 187,000 alcoholics."
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If the Kansas public votes to give the legislature the right to strike those words, "The open saloon is forever prohibited in Kansas," then in 1971 they will decide whether liquor-by-the-drink will be statewide or determined by county.
Money spent on liquor is money diverted from another business, he said.
Neither the KAMBC or the KUDF cared to predict which way the public will go on that issue, but Holloman said he hopes it will be on a county basis.
"We feel each community should decide whether it wishes to have open saloons," he said.