Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-10-31
PROHIBITION IN ATLANTA.
What Atlanta's Mayor Has to Say of 1
Effects,

What Atlanta's Mayor Has to Say of Its
Effects.
The REGISTER has received the follow
ing with request to publish:
The Daily Voice yesterday te~legraphed to
Mayor Hillyer, of Atlanta, for authentic
information concerning the status of Pro
hibition in that city. 1t had been charged
in dispatches in the Northern papers-nOt-
ably in the New York Sun, that the pro-
hibitory law was practically a nullity, ard
that the jug" trade had become about
the only important industry of the city.
Mayor Hillyer answered as follows:
Special Dispatch 10 The Daily Voice.
ATLANTA, GA, October 26.-I wish to
say that in the bar room days drunken
ness was common and not always noticed.
The police were less attentive, and many
escaped arrest. Now if q man gets drunk,
or partly drunk, it attracts attention.
The police are active and vigilant, and ar
rests are nearly certain to follow any indi-
cations of illicit sale. The figures in the
police Office show that the arrests for dis
order and drunkenness last Saturday and
Sunday were twenty-five; the correspond
ing days in 1885 such arrests numbered
t~hirty-One, and in 1884, twenty-five. Many
of the cases occurring at present are
chargeable to the use Of domestic wine,
which is not prohibited, and which
it is said, is often ''dOctored." The figures
in the express Office show that hardly one
Jug or demijOhn is shipped per 1000 in
habitants, and all exaggerated reports are
to be condemned. The good effects of pro-
hihitiOn here are apparent. Trade III all
branches except the whisky tariff, ispros-
pering. There is marked improvement in
the habits, the morals and the happiness
of the people. Increased prosperity is adj
mitted and reiOiced in, both as
to private and public affairs.
The attitude of the newspapers
throughout the Union is greatly to be
deprecated. Scores and hundreds of facts
prove the efficacy of the law. Atlanta
now has peaceful streets and happy homes,
| with sober husbands, sons and brothers,
with plenty to eat and to wear, where be-
fore there were broken hearts, fear OF
uOulCSllC Outrage anu SOulCtlulCS dNNuaA
want. The great daily press abroad says
nothing of the great good that has resulted,
but if a hand truck load of jugs is seen
which is no great matter to 10000 peo-
ple) this must he magniied into n jug
train" and the whole press Of the United
States made to ring with it.
There is not One-tenth us much intONl-
cants drunk in Atlanta now as there was a
year ago, possibly much less than that.
Formerly the advocates of barrOOms were
numerous and powerful, now nobody adj
vOcatcS their restoration. Formerly the
temperance issue was high l~icence; now,
the very most that the opponents to total
prohibition would contend for Is high
license. The barrOOm nuisance has gone
out from Atlanta forever, and we would
| like all the wolrd to know it.
We are determined to give total Prohi-
bitiOn 4 fair trial under the law, and are
greatly strengthened and encouraged with
it so far. Our people are already practl'
cally united in the belief that the bar room
will never come back. only wish that
the outside world could see the truth a
we have it demonstrated here. They
would thus escape the danger of being
miSled By the many exaggerated and
prejudiced rumors that are published IL
other States on the subject.
GEORGE HILLYER,
Mayor of Atlanta.