The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-12-02

order to take their turn IN paving tax L
that they might register. OF the 5000
votes registered $500 were colorcd, and /
when at length the books closed both |
factions claimed majority of the regis |
tered voters.
The registration over, the people be-
gan to held meetings.
AND APPROPRIATION |
CLUBS,
white and colored. were formed in every
ward. Each faction established head
quarters, the general committees APP
pointed sub committees and the great
work of eleetioneering took on new
power. The Prohibitionists narrowed
the issue to bar-rooms or no bar rooms.
The ti-Prohibitionists held great
business mems meeting, in which the
the liquor men took no part, and declared
that while thew were not whisky men
they opposed the bill on principle. II
sought to deprive men of their liberty
and their property. 1t was impraeti-
cable. II was sumptuary. 1t was fan
atical. If ii passed it would cripple the
commerce of Atlanta without improving
its morals. They gave notice that they
would fight the measure to the bitter
end
The Prohibitionists took the ground
that the bill was right and if carried
would improve the city in every respect;
would help it to greater material pros
perity and purify it morally. All the
churches sprang to the side of Prohibi-
tionists and have been actively engaged
in the fight, except the Catholic. The
priests refused to enter the field. For
more than a month past the war has been
waging with unprecedented
yIGoR AND BITTERNESS.
Almost nightly large and small meetings
have been held throughout the city and
| county of both factions. Sometimes a
score of meetings would be held in a
single night.
The theatre has been well nigh
deserted, real estate has been fiat, build
| ing has been almost at a standstill, and
every form on business has suffered-all
| from the tremendous agitation. Crimi-
| nations and determinations have been
| INDUCED in by both sides, and in many
instances there has been boycotting in
| trade.
Bitter feelings have been engendered
| which will sting for years to come. So
| intense and divided has been the fight
that families and relatives have been
estranged. The wsr has been carried
into ocal, county and State politics, and
the election of public officials here fol
| years to come will be influenced by theil
position in this campaign. The city
ticket recently put in the field by mas
meeting ras nominated by an anti
prohibition majority.
With the pitching of
SAM JONES BIG GOSPEL TENT
here two weeks ago the fight from
prohibition stand point became furiousl,
fanaticai. The monster meetings he'll
there have surpassed in numbers AM
| religious enthusiasm anything ever seer
, in Georgia The platform has beeI
I crowded nightly with white and coloret
preachersan red hot religionists, who's
praying and singing and intemperat
utterances have been revelation.
There was no spirit OF Cancellation o
compromise in any of these meetings
ALI colors, classes, conditions hav
swarmed to the tent, and their earnes
and rapturous demonstration has show
how tremendously the preacher can sti
the populace when they give way
religious excitement. Thousands of We
men and children have attended thes
meetings. On the other hand, the NEE
E ings of
! TIE AUTHORIZATIONS
have been more businesslike and th
speeches of their orators more conserv;
tive. Their meetings have not been $
large as the tent gatherings, for the re;
son that no women or children WEI
there. The women and children of th
city, backed by the churches, have bee
e almost unit for the blue badge, Will
/ a mai rity of the business men, and
g least half the negro men and nearly a
e the foreigners. have stood up for the re
e badge.
In many instances young ladies hay
e cut their male friends for wearing til
e red badge, and in some wives hay
+ sworn to abandon their husbands
e they voted against prohibition.
TIE DOCTORS
,. were badly divided on the bill. Many
+ them publicly proclaimed that it was a
! inhuman measure because it did n,
$ allow the use of whisky or brandy
2 the practice of medicine a large nur
Il Der supported the bill on the ground tn
| dlCOuOI 10 SOOQ SuOStlluNC II
! whisky, which they held was not ne
v essary in the practice. The election Ca
n not be..guaged by anyother election whiC
if was ever held here. 1t is the first tin
q thai the churches, the professions, Il
II societies of all kinds, the merchants Ar
Is the masses have all mingled in so saya.
a battle.
Both afternoon papers have fougl
e, L, Il. 1 ~. ~ n.
has steered neutral course EDITORIAL
while its local page has been used /
both sides. Thousands of dollars ha'
been paid the local papers for commun
cations, local paragraphs and disccu
sions. Indeed they have printed lit
else for weeks than. articles pro ar
con.
The question has been written abol
J. and talked about from
al EVERY IMAGINABLE STANDPOINT
s for weeks, and the more people talk al
E, write about it the further they seem
Is drift apart.
d A wilderness of statistics has bee
e appealed to, speakers of all kinds hay
II been imported, prayers have been utter,
s. by thousands of men and worlen-ever
Is thing seems to have been done on bot
sides that could possibly be done
e convince the other that it was wrong.
% Never in the history of elections hay
q both factions fought more stubborn
z for victory than the prohibitionists an
II Anti Prohibitionists of Atlanta. Ever
s inch of ground has been fercely col
5 tested. The agitation has unquestio
e. ably hurt Atlanta in almost ever
e respect. 1t has interfered with trad
n 1t has made friends enemies 1t b.
!, decreased the value of property. In
a woid, it has injured every branch
business in the city, without so far il
I proving its morale. Now that it
a ended, will she advance or go bacl
Tile will tell.
A Distinguished and Deserved Con
Dilment