The Dawson journal. (Dawson, Ga.) 1878-18??, 1883-01-04
THE INAUGURATION AND
RESULT
Of the Temperance Movement
in Putnam.
EAToNToN, Dec. 9th, 1882.

A10%'y Do1 GOO-
vile, Ga:
DEAR SIR-In reply to your inqui-
ry about the temperance move
ment in Putnam county, permit
me to offer the following brief his
tory of its Inauguration, and the
results growing out of it:
About two years ago, petition,
signed by over five hundred of the
best citizens of the county, was
submitted to the commissioners of
Roads and Revenues of the county,
in whom is vested the authority to
license the sale of spirituous
liquors, praying that the license
fee be fixed at five thousand dol
lars. After considering the petit
ton, the board was in doubt alb nut
the advisability of such action, but
concluded to give it trial at
3d. 900 and accordingly passed an
order, that after the 9th day of
September, 1881, no license should
be granted in the county, save for
that amount There had been,
and was at that time, FIVE bar
rooms in Eatonton selling annual
ly $4,000 worth of whiskey.
On the 9th day of September,
1881, all of the former license
having expired, one of the saloon
keepers applied for, and received
a license, paying into the treasury
of the county $4,000. Last May
this man proposed to the courts to
give up his license and quit SELL
ing, If they would refund to him
one thousand dollars, which was
done, and the board Immediately
revoked their former order, and
raised the fee to $4,000, as first
prayed for. Since then Putnam
has been strictly a temperance
county, no whiskey being sold
within her boundaries.
AS to the results of this action
no favorable comment can be
too strongly uttered. A practi-
cal demonstration has proven con-
clusively, that combining the sale
of spirituous liquors to one house
in a community where formerly
five saloons fourished, reduces
drunkenness ct a low estimate at
least fifty per cent; crime and
immortality to a like extent, be-
sides saving as in our case, at least
$4,000 to consumers, which went
into more legitimate channels,
with better profit to the buyer.
Since the total abolition of its
sale here, the revolution has been,
of course, greater. No successful
argument can be found against the
present state of affairs. The tenn
perance movement has not hurt
the trade of Eatonton. On the
contrary our merchants will all
testify that their business has in
creased, instead of diminishing.
They are every day drawing from
surrounding counties, in which
whiskey is freely sold, more trade
than they ever had before. Madi-
son, Monticello, Clinton and
Milledgeville each week furnish
customers for Eatonton merchants.
And the facts in the case show
conclusively why this is true.
Twenty thousand dollars saved in
community, and spent for articles
of use to the buyer, on which the
seller makes a fair profit, is enough
to give a new impetus to business.
Neither has prohibition injured
the labor OF the county, as was
predicted by the whiskey men. On
the contrary our labor is more
easily controlled, better satisfied,
and more reliable in all respects
than formerly. The well-dressed,
contented appearance of our col
ored people will at once strike the
eye of q stranger in our midst.
Many poor negroes who formerly
spent their hard-earned wages for
whiskey will next year commence
life with little money laid by.
The records of the Superior and
County Courts will show a decrease
of crime at least seventy-fve per
cent, and the mayors court, for
the violators of town ordinances,
has been practically closed, not a
case having been docketed since
this system went into effect, attri-
butable directly or indirectly to