The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-07-08
PRICE OF PROHIBITION.
CAN THE PEOPLE AFFORD TO IN.
DULGE IN 1T.
Some Figures From a Correspond.
emit Who Has Counted the Cost
and Thinks We Cannot,

To the Editors of the Appeal
Can we as State afford to go into pro-
hibition under all the surroundings
l Think not, and think with facts and
figures staring me IN the face. | will
be able TO prove it to every observing
mird. In the first place the Comp
troller Gays it will cost to run our State
governmentfor one yea 81 ,057 500 IS,
The population OF Tennessee in 1880
was l,542,2s9 souls, and the voting
population vas 259,42 This popula.
ton pay annually the sum for
tipping, S141, 533 %; wholesale
dealers, $i1,7Ol 05; making the
ne amount that liquor dealers pay
into the State Treasury every year
$l53,234 II. Now the taxes on real
estate paid in in one year in 1884,
$226,S44 IS; now the question nalur.
ally arises in my mind can the people
OF this State afford to have this amount
of 1858, 234 II taken off whisky and
levied on real estate or not /;
there is no other properly to
levy it on. Let us examine
this matter sill little further. In
1883 the lands ot The State were as
sessed at $200,00J,000, or about that;
then the amount required to run our
State government in round numbers is
ST ,000,0 900; the interest on our State
debt is $25l 500; our school fund is
$l50,500 in round numbers. These
amounts show to any thinking man
that it takes money to meet our cur
rent expenses. Ask the prohibitionist
how he is to meet these expenses and
he will invariably tell you that he will
do it by lessening our criminal prose-
cutions; that three-fouIths of our
criminal prosecutions are the result of
intemperanGe; that the criminal,
through heat of passion produced by
influence Of whisky, rusheC madly on
TO rash acts, and thus the conse-
quenceg. This is go in some instances,
and always has been and probably
will always be, whether under the in
fiuence Of whisky or not. Now the
argument is by prohibition they will
so lessen the criminal prosecutions as
to save to the State the amount Of
revenue that would be of neces-
sity required by doing away with
the liquor traffic. Now let
us see. l have put myseE to the
trouble to inquire into this matter,
and find that three f0urths Of our
criminal prosecutions are for petit and
gra larceny, and almost invariably
negroes, and find that the State often
has to prosecute both sides OF the
case in the fret place, the States
money psoseCutes the negro, ard the
negro under his pauper cath is fur.
nished q lawyer, which makes it
doubly expensive to The State, and
the State mey go into prohibition fly
times if il chooses and it will not
lessen the criminal prosecutions one
cent and il isa deluslve idea to think
for one mrment of such a thing.
There is another consideration to take
in this matter of prohibition, and that
is, have we right to go into p ohibi-
ton after granting to Z stillers Grd
brewers the right to erect costly prep
arations for their avocstions and let
them run for short time, and then
turn right around and say to the came
parties that are regularly licensed, we
VIII DOH blJp yUA llOlu luDulIR dHQ
you shall not even sell what you have
in bond, without remuneration for his |
ossss on both prop rty and bonded |
1t would be, to say ih,yey
least of it, beneath the dignity of any |
ate to do such thing with its sub |
ects, aud no Courtoi justice would do it |
n the S ate OF Kansas. After abe had
passed her prohibitory law by her
ale Legislature che tried to get rid
If paying the sh,inksge on her dis
illers and brewer, and the famous
.ass Of a suit brought by hre wer
Igainst the Safe for the shIinkage in
be value of his property, and the de-
.sion gwen by Judge Bright, / think
lis name was. of the Supreme Bench,
ught to say 70 Tennessee: You can
lot prohibit without paying all
in the value OF property
.ou destroy. In view OF this fact, 1
1ant 10 ask once more: Are we able
D 20 into prohibition? Are we able
D pay all incoming expenses? The
nit Of election and execution OF seme
,ill cost the State $4,000; the cost Of
our Stats constitution will
ost the people $4,000 more; the cost