Moral Drive

March 17, 1894, Saturday Evening Press

It used to be that the city government or police force or what have you, would engage every now and then on a moral crusade to right the wrongs of the town and to vanquish those bad influences that tempted the local populace.  To curry favor with voters before an election or whenever the mayor felt a moral urging to make the streets safe for young ladies or the youth, the purging could begin.  Be it saloons, pool halls, or gambling dens (or even worse), the expulsion would last for so long before vice would eventually drift back gradually into the sphere of public consciousness.  So here we are, in 1894 with Mayor Lawson's latest dictum to clean up Menasha.  It all smacks of the "Trouble in River City" number from The Music Man.  And I wonder how long it was before those slot machines made their way back into the saloons.