On Mar. 11, 1912, Gov. Chase Osborn asked an “extraordinary session” of the Michigan Legislature to pass legislation to outlaw breweries from owning a saloon, of which there were 4,366 in Michigan at the time. He estimated that two-thirds of the saloons in Detroit and more than half of those in the state were brewery-owned.
Osborn called the “excessive use of alcohol” a “curse, and one of the gravest dangers that confront mankind” and that saloons “notoriously vicious and lawless” should not exist.
“There are those who argue and sincerely believe that the saloon is the poor man’s club,” Osborn wrote. “But they have no defense for the vile saloon which is a combination grogshop, den of prostitution, resort of robbers and a gambling hell.”
Source: Osborn’s special message as archived by the University of Michigan and digitized by Google.
A Special Message of Governor Chase S. Osborn to the Forty-sixth Legislature … By Chase Salmon Osborn