Demon Rum in Evanston

Even in 1851, Chicago was too toddling for the stern, teetotaling Methodists who founded Northwestern University. So they located their new school to the north, and then secured its purity by forbidding the sale of liquor within a four-mile radius of the campus. Evanston, the town that grew up around the university, thus became so dry that the Woman's Christian Temperance Union felt safe enough to make Evanston its national headquarters.

But times change, and Evanston city officials have wearied of watching local folk flock to bars, restaurants and hotels just outside the city limits. A proposal ending prohibition is expected to pass the city council this month. To stimulate business in downtown Evanston, the city is letting demon rum flow into the W.C.T.U.'s preserve.

The heiresses of Carry Nation are not giving up easily, however. National W.C.T.U. President Mrs. Ruth Tooze warned: "The shadow of the saloon is lengthening over Evanston. Soon our streets will be filled with drunks. Mrs. Mary Alice Nelson, a sympathetic teetotaler, pleaded: "Preserve our city, our beautiful city, so my grandchildren will have a clean place to live." The W.C.T.U. has organized groups to pray for a dry Evanston.

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