Primary Source Documents

A Progressive Proposes an Alternative to the Saloon

Saloons were the target of many progressive reformers. Despite its role as a social center, they worried that the saloon was where workers squandered money and fell victim to vices and corrupt political bosses. This reformer described a new type of "rest room" established in Wisconsin as an alternative.

The [rest room] at Chippewa Falls consists of one room located in the business portion of the city. The room is heated with steam, has city water, and is lighted with gas; the water and gas are donated. It is furnished with tables, easy chairs, couches, pictures, etc. On the tables are found some of the best magazines, the local and daily papers. The room is kept by a matron who receives $12 a month. The rent is $15 a month. This is the total expense, as the furniture, reading matter, and other incidentals are donated by the public. These expenses are borne by the merchants who have made monthly subscriptions, and the money is collected at the end of each month. The room is under the management and control of the Woman's Club. The average number of people daily accommodated is about twenty-five.

[Rooms like this] serve all classes of people, the farmer, the trader and stranger from the neighboring town, and the businessman. They furnish a comfortable place for the farmer's wife to rest while waiting for him to finish his business. They are especially serviceable to mothers with small children who formerly were compelled to wait in the stores where they felt, and often rightly so, that they incommoded others. The wives and mothers are relieved from much care and worry by the comfort of these rooms. Through amusements, refreshments, and various kinds of reading matter, they may be made to serve the waiting or loafing farmer who now often goes to the saloon and spends money [that] the merchant should get.

It is generally believed by social reformers that the saloon is a social necessity until a satisfactory substitute is found. It is possible that, in providing dining, waiting, amusement, and toilet places, rest rooms may at least partially supplant the saloon as a social institution. Much can be done by placing toilet rooms in the Y.M.C.A. and public buildings. By keeping the rest rooms open at night when farmers do not need them, they may be made to serve the laboring men who are the best customers of saloons. They should, however, be made as attractive as the saloon. They should have smoking apartments, on the tables should be placed the best reading matter, cards, and all kinds of games, and refreshments should be served. In brief, rest rooms, to serve the laborer, should have all the attractions of the saloons without the evils of intoxicating liquors. The proper charges could be made for refreshments and games so that the laborer would not feel that this was a service of charity.

1		What is a "rest room," as this author describes it? How would rest rooms compete with saloons?
2		Why did social reformers believe "the saloon is a social necessity?" What social functions did the saloon perform for laborers?
3		The text describes a number of qualities of temperament and approaches to reform shared by many progressives. In what way does the proposal to establish rest rooms reflect the progressive temperament and approach?
4		Why does the author not advocate closing down saloons entirely? What does his solution suggest about how progressives looked at laborers and at society in general?
5		How effective do you think rest rooms would be in "partially supplanting" saloons and the evils of drink? Should government, which was expected to sponsor rest rooms, be in the business of controlling social habits?