| OCR Text |
Show Eaw and the Liquor Traffic 1 1 By FREDERIC J. HASKLV ffoo regulation or suppression of the Jibr traffic is a public issue, which ites far more interest -among the pie in many parts oC the countn 5 the trusts, the tariff or the ra litis. li-tis. A report ot a committee to a. vculion nf brewers begins: 1110 int alarming growth und lntonbiu-pn lntonbiu-pn of the prohibitory spirit calls io. Jfcravest concern on our part, smi its tho necessity for a general clos-Sip clos-Sip of our ranks ami the action fcigorous methods of (Intense.'' At rconvontion of the wholesale hquoi lers of the country, it was repcat-bilcelnrcd repcat-bilcelnrcd that the danger from the S-Saloon kagiie and ai.ica orgiunza-s orgiunza-s was much greater than , that rom b" food Jaws or other liado Liou- a ut what is even more significant, hat the liquor interests, when en-ng en-ng upon the greatest battle thoj b' ever known, are breaking ranks. Urc about, to begin fighting among nselvcs. The wholesale dealers lay Iblamo on the retailers tor tho anti fen agitation. The wholesalers ne'e ne-'e the retailers ought to be made Worm to the strictest, of Irws and u'a'ltions, and that a saloon-keeper fi sells to an intemperate man or in ifewav violates the law, should have llifensc revoked. The saloon-keep- ! "resent this attitude on tho part of .wholesalers, which they describe ifa hypocritical " holier-than-thou " " 'hen the brewers are also at outs S'ih the distillers, laying all the blame iiithc prohibition sentiment on the Skey business, which they thnik has ffght the more innocent beer into Lepute. A speaker at the national j'ting of brewers found much sup-,fc sup-,fc for his proposition to cut loose in the whiskey people, to try to get i&' separating beer and whiskey and lit alone. The oflicial organ of the 7jbrs, in commenting on this speech, J iigly advocated the separation. rith the storms of internecine strife BUI to break on the defensive side; lithe liquor business, the forces of BFanti-liauor people are being aug- OUed every dav, and, encouraged by remarkable anti-saloon victories in JfSbutb, the fight is to be waged in irv Slate in the Union. Not only itfthere been a sweeping movement lick has placed new laws on the stat-sfebooks, stat-sfebooks, but there has been a dis-ft dis-ft movement toward stricter law rprcement. In Kansas. ?tfnino and lEfch Dakota, long disregarded stat- arc now being rigidly enforced, is especially true of Kansas, 3 the ''joints" have been wiped rtand breweries confiscated. itjjc new prohibition sentiment, has niifested. itself more particularly in iVSouth. Tennessee now has a larg-f larg-f population living in "dry" terri-tathan terri-tathan anj- other State of the Union, faor may be sold in Tennessee in but ftS municipalities. Nashville, Menial? Meni-al? Chattanooga and La Follctte. The Jjle of the Anti-Saloon league in Mnessee has been successful, despite Ifalmost insuperable barriers erected tfthc State constitution. In other ,ljes the expulsion of liquor has been .ninplished by local option, but the Hnessec constitution forbids that Ijse. "What was impossible by direc-jjicwas direc-jjicwas accomplished by indirection, bill was passed some twenty-five fs ago prohibiting the sale of liquor (in four miles of a school, except in fporated towns. Tt was designed Irotcct the University of the South fflewanee, an institution of learning f.ated . on a mountain, where thcro lr;'no incorporated town. Its general LJtt was not dreamed, of. In those "frthere was a "doggery" at every fjsroads. At the next meeting of the islature every hamlet of thirty or ij"' people applied for incorporation. &a an amendment was placed on the IV mile" law, as it is called, forcing for-cing the sale of liquor within the jcribcd limit except in towns of fe than 1000, thereafter ineorpor-ijiji ineorpor-ijiji Then several towns, having less 'jra thousand inhabitants, and desir-Wto desir-Wto get rid of saloons, surrendered Mr charters and reincorporated, thus jJying the four-mile law. At various jions of the legislature the limit was $ed, first to 2000, then to 5000. and, 1 IJpiiig Mothers and raj Over-burdened Women Btations of life, whose vigor and (Jtllty may have been undermined and jken-down by over -work, exacting irtal duties, the too frequent bearing of dren, or other causes, will And In Dr. jifce's Favorite Prescription the most SGjnt, invigorating restorative strength Jsr ever devised for their special bene-WNurslngrmothere bene-WNurslngrmothere wiHJind It especial-valuable especial-valuable i sustaining hclr strength 4promptIngn itmndant rKwrlshment Jilhe child. tJxpl'ctant wptkrs too Jifind It a pricclessvbo3PRr pNpbre tho -m for baby's coming and rSbdrlng .Tordeal comparatively painless? Ji fa9,nohnrm in any state, or condition ) jeJemalo syslemJ fllicate, ncr'vouS, weak women, who 3jat from frequent headaches, back-hf, back-hf, dragging-down distress low dowi. CAe abdomen, or from painful or lrros D1 monthly periods, gnawing or di:: 2d sensation in stomach, dizzy or spells, see Imaginary specks or spot '4ng before eyes, havo dlsagroeabk' t 510 catarrhal drain, prolapsus, antc-B antc-B Jon or retro-version ooother displace I flLs of womanly organs from weaknes.' arts will, whothor they eiperlono k fj or only a fow of tho above symp jl'Ki find relief and a permanent cure b Jlfe faithfully and fairly persistently T Pierce's Favorite "Prescription. Mis world-famed specific for woman's finessos and peculiar ailments is a .3 glyceric extract of the choicest na-IT na-IT medicinal roots without a drop ot Idpol In its make-up. All its ingredl- .printed In plain English on its bottlc- $'')per and attested under oath. Dr. ce thus Invites the fullest investiga-i.of investiga-i.of his formula knowing that It will aund to contain only tho best agents j2Vn to tho most advanced medical r-nce of all tho different schools of prac .Awfor the cure of woman'e peculiar tneases and ailments. jk you want to know more about the H position and professional endorse-1 endorse-1 tt of tho "Favorite Preecrlption," send M al card request, to Dr. R. V. Pierce, alo.'N. Y., for his free booklet treats f .ipf same. ca1n't, afford to acrept as a subsu-ijlor subsu-ijlor this remedy qfTincnvn cnmyosltlon 'icret nostrum of unkiwvm, oomvooi Don't dp It at the last session, made to include the entire State. "Whereupon Knox-villo, Knox-villo, having over 50,000 people, held an election and went "dry," its representatives rep-resentatives in the legislature repealing the old charter and enacting a new one prohibiting saloons. In only one town did the election or prima' result in a victory for tho wots, and that was in La .Folle?Lte, a mining town in the mountains, where there is a largo foreign for-eign population. Tho movement which has Tcachcd high-tide in Tennessee is sweeping all ovor the South. .Kentucky, a fatato whose whisky is famed in the four quarters of the earth, is now well-nigh a prohibition State, ninetv-seven of its 119 counties being totally dp-, whilo there arc local option precincts in every county but one. tThc Sunday closing law. "for j-ears a dead letter in the cities, is now being enforced rigidly. rigid-ly. Govornor Beckham, tho Democratic nominee for the United States Senate, is lined up against the liquor interests. inter-ests. Samuel W. Ilagcr, the Democratic Demo-cratic nominee for Governor in tho election which takes place this fall, has written to tho Anti-Saloon league that he stands for the county nnifc system of local option and for strict enforcement enforce-ment of the liquor laws. A. E. Will-son, Will-son, the Republican nominee, is expected ex-pected to take a similar position, and, according to tho Louisville correspondent correspond-ent of a liquor .iournal, "the liquor interests arc jockeying for position." All this in Kentucky! In Alabama there is a new law which permits the people to choose between be-tween license and no license, or between be-tween saloons and a county dispensary. dispen-sary. Over half tho State is without liquor. In Arkansas sixty of the seventy-five counties aro dry. and tho lawrs are rigidly enforced. An example exam-ple of the prohibition sentiment there is a law requiring a man to take out a tag license to drink, costing $5 a year. In Georgia 124 of the 146 counties coun-ties are without saloons. In Atlanta the saloon license has been raised from ilOOO to $2000, and whisky to 20 cents a drink. The Georgia Legislature is now in session, and tho ,anti-saloon pcoplo are in control. In Louisiana seven-eighths of the State is dry .territory. The polico jury of Mansfield fixed the saloon license fee at $5000. The Stato Supreme Court decided that this fee was so high as to be prohibitory and set it aside. The lit.'diEc was then fixed at $3500 a year, which was paid. How would that look to a town where $750 is considered high license? In Oklahoma tho constitutional convention con-vention made the proposed constitution constitu-tion prohibit the sale' of liquor absolutely abso-lutely and without qualification. The enabling act passed by Congress directed di-rected that the portion of the new State now known as the Indian Terri-tori' Terri-tori' should be prohibition territory or twf-nty-one years. Tn Mississippi, three-fourths of the State is without saloons, and there arc strong movements on toot to restrict the jug and bottle trado shipped C. O. D. to places without with-out tho State. In Texas over two-thirds of the territory of the state is without whisky, there being 147 counties totally dry. 55 counties partially so. and oily 47 counties totally wet. In South Carolina Caro-lina the state dispensary has been done away with and a local option law enacted en-acted in its stead. Tn iSorth Carolina the anti-whisky sentiment is strong. Great, growing manufacturing towns like Grcenshoro aro dry, largely because be-cause the manufacturers aro opposed to the sale of whisky. H In Virginia the sale of intoxicants is prohibited in rural communities and towns which have no police protection, leaving only the larger cities and towns wet. Sfaryland has much dry territory. West Virginia has 55 counties and 30 of these are without saloons. Delaware will vote ou the question of licenso or no licenso this fall. So much for tho south. Tn tho north the movement toward prohibition is not so strong, while in the far west it has not been felt to any great extent. Vermont used to have a prohibition lnw. There was a great huo and cry over it, and in 1903 it was repealed re-pealed "and towns were allowed to vote separately for license or no license. Immediately Im-mediately 92 towns licensed saloons. Next, year the number was decreased to 59, then to 36, then to 27, and in tho elections this spring only 19 towns gnve license. In every county, and in the whole state, there was a majority against license- -t 4- Tn Ohio the anti-saloon forces havo been active and successful. Tho legislature legis-lature passed law permitting local opiion hy petition, obviuting the necessity ne-cessity of holding an election. Tho people of a town, or of a section of a town, may circulato a petition and if a ma jority sign it the saloons arc banished ban-ished from that tcrritorv. Over 3500 saloons were put out of business in six months. More than 60 per cent of tho municipalities arc dry, 1140 of tho 1376 townships havo no saloons, and 350,000 pcoplo live in tho dry sections of the larger cities. From every section of the country, with the possible exception of lower New England, New York and New Jersey, Jer-sey, tho reports are that prohibition sentiment is increasing. There is very little of the old-fashioned tenipcranco lecturer agitation. TJio appeal is made on social, economic aud political grounds. The anti-saloon people agree with Governor Folk of Missouri nnd Governor Campbell of Texas that tho loss of revenues is moro than offset .by the saving in criminal court costs. North Dakota counties have no saloons sa-loons and no iails and North Da Icota is not nioveu by the revenue argument. argu-ment. . The Anti-Saloon league is organized in every slate, and it is attracting many prominent men to its support because be-cause r.he3' ay the saloon is such a po: tent power for evil in politics. While the tide is running strongly against them, tho liquor interests are fighting hard. The 'wholesale liquor dealers or the country havo recently decided to enlnrgo the scope of their organization known ns the Protective Bureau, which is fighting the battle of the liquor interests in-terests in the press and at elections. This Protective Bureau, according to its own report, spent $2S,97li.70 last year, and won 70 per cent of tho elections in which it took part. However, its efforts wore confined to those localities whoro tho sentiment was known to be evenly divided. It seems to recognize tho futility of venturing a general L'ranolc with tho will of the people. |