The Brookhaven leader., 1885-10-22
A Business Talk with our Business
Man.

in .Brookhavcn and close her saloons,
would seriously ii not fatally cripple heI
trade. This assertion has been iterated
and reiterated until it is familiar to all
THE LEADER is not going TO insult the III
teIligrnce If any merchant of BrOOkhaNon
by assuming that he really believes there
is anything in this claim. What we wish
to call attention to here is the fact that
! the proposition is about TO be reversed,
and the question now to be considered IL,
" neither the liquor traffic is not, Mt this
very moment, driving trade druy from
BroOkhavenf
To begin with, in undertaking to an
swer this question, we quote the follow
ing paragraph from n recent issue oil IN"
Wessnn Times:
| Some fifteen bales Of prohibition cotton
came To WesSOn last week from Just east
! of Broek The farmers were actin
AIRED by two motives, one to disabuse the
pubIic mind about whiskey controlling
| trade, another the good prices our mer-
| chants pay, aud their fascinating way OF
| selling goods at rock bottom prices.
A
This might he taken as nothinGm ore
than .sportive newspaper gush, but a
representative Of THE LEADER has within
the last few days come into the possession
of other information which is corrobora
| tive of this and far more convincing. Mr..
| II. L. Beacham, one of the leading farm
ers of the Caseyviilc neighborhood, VIII"
has previously sold his cotton and done
hi. trading at this place, informs "s that
himself and number of tho best-to do
farmers in that section of the county are
preparing to transfer all their cotton and
trade, amounting to twelve or fifteen
thousand dollars) to Wesson solely from
the fact that Wesson is Prohibition
town and Brookhaycn il not. They agree
that while they would prefer To trade
here, if whisky we're banishcd, as it is,
they intend going to W'ss"n, because
they can do about az we'll i'll prices for
cotton and goods, and when they send
their drivers there to market, they always
return sober, without their teams beng
abused, wagons broken or goods lost,
which is not always the case when they
send here. He also ssys some of his
nciglIboIs who drink liquor to excess are
Joining in this move, because they are
not tempted to drink when whiting Wes-
son. and after selling their cotton and
buving what goods they want, instead o.
getting into a saloon and squandering the
rest Of their money in drink, they carry
it home aud have it left to spend at anoth-
er time for something of service.
That cotton is going from just east Of
Brook haven to Wesson is literally true,-
and it ~ not Rortgagcd cotton either !
Nr. Isaac c. Smith Informed this writer a
few days ago that there had already been
carried from his gin, 3 miles east of Brook
haven, from so tots bales OF cotton to
Wcsson, and that there is great deal
more to follow it. On being asked Why
this was, he stated that the farmers could
get as much or more for cotton i'll Wens"n
than Brookhaven and they were deter
mined 10 resent the idea that they are
Another wcll-to-do farmer who lives
, out on Fair River tells us the same thing,
and SAWS nearly all the cotton from his
neighhorhood which has heretofore come
to BrooLhayep is being diverted this y"ar
to Wessou.
Wo also gathered good deal of the
same sort of information a few days ago
among the Lawrence county people at
Monticello.
The result of it all will he that there
i'll lie decided falling off this season in
Brookhaycn's cotton receipts, while
! those of Wesson will he correspon1ingly
increased.
| We can bnt express in conclusion onr
| regret that our business men should have
suffered themselves to be placed at such
disadvantage on this question. AS mat
ter of fact, we hazard nothing in saying
that goods can be purchased rs cheap in
| Brookhaven as any where, and in this
way farmers may re alze fully rs much on
their cotton as in Wesson or elsewhere ;
1
though this be true, n large number 81
country people are not going to take adj
vantage of this fact while it is proclaim
ed on all sides that it is 'the saloons
which draw their trade" Othrs still
are carrying their trade t" Wssson be-
cause they say Brookhaven does not
display the same business enterprise.
Let our merchants bestir themselves
and mako their inducements known, and
| let them make haste 10 set themselves on
tho right side of the liquor question. The
truth is, the men who, as rule, are
drawn to town simply because liquor Is
sold there, arc the most undesirable class
of customers. They spend their cash with
the saloons, then beg credit Of the mor-
chant, and often never pay the debt be-
canse the saloons continue to gather all
of their cash earnings.
->~------
! MARRIED.