The Brookhaven leader., 1888-08-16
y PROHIBITION.
THE GRAND RESULTS 1T
HAS WROUGHT IN LIN
COLIN COUNTY.
Leading Business Men Testify
ing Strongly to Its Benefi-
cisl Effects.
Better Trade, Better Schools,
Better Churches, Better
Morals and Better
Citizens.
Less Drunkenness, Less Crime
and Less Court Expenses
Than Ever Before.
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY @. I
FITZHUGH ON AUGUST 10, 1888,
AT THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY
OF LINCOLN's LOCAL oP-
TION VICTORY.

born again, and we have assembled
here to celebrate the anniversary OF
the day of it's new birth. Prior t.
that time, its body was diseased with
the terrible cancer of intemperance
whisky had coursed its every vein
poisoning and cOrrupting its life blood
wasting and destroying its vital ener-
gies, and sapping the very founda.
tions of its moral character.
Realizing that if it remained in such
a state, it could never reflect credit
upon Mississippi, the fond parent who
gave it it's existence, it determined
with the aid of those courageous sons
who were willing, if need be, to sac
rifice themselves in its behalf, to cut
itself loose from all debasing infiu-
ences, to throw off the bonds that
had held it in servitude and shame,
and on the 10th. of August, 1886, with
one giant leap, it sprang into a new
and nObler life.
Surely, this is day worthy of eel
ebratiOn. 1t is well for us to cele-
brate events of moment and of far
reaching consequences; it causes us to
be moved by the same noble i'm
pulses that animated us then; we
throw aside for time all selfish ends
and motives and live again a life OF
true patriotism. By rejecting upon
the deeds of courage, the examples OF
heroic self-sacrifce, the terrible diff
culties that beset us, and the almost
death-like struggle which at last ush-
cred in our victory, our whole being
throbs and pulsates with greater
hopes and desires; we are inspired
with new zeal and stronger deter
mination to push forward to the at
tainment of yet grander and nobler
achievements.
How poor the world would be with
out the memory of its mighty events
What thoughts crowd upon the
minds of Americans on the fourth OF
July!
What memories cluster around the
14th for the people of France!
1t is eminently wise and proper that
the "Fourth" should be observed az
a legal and national holiday, for by
freeing our minds for a day of all
business cares and pondering over
the great principles of freedom fol
which our fore fathers bled and died
we are imbued with their same noble
spirit; the God-given principle OF
liberty is more strongly implanted il
our breasts, and we are, therefore
made better citizens and more capable
of approaching all the blessings OF
this grand, free country of ours.
l never rise from reading the great
charter of American independence
that my heart does not prompt me to
exclaim with the sweet singer of Erin
"Oh! if there be, on this earthly sphere,
A boon, an offering Heaven holds dear.
'Tis the last libation Liberty draws
From the heart that bleeds and break
in her causew
And so, my friends, you too, have
wisely set apart day on which to re-
joice in your freedom-freedom from
the bondage of a worse than British
tyrant-a monster that holds in alb.
ject slavery both body and soul, de,
strOying the former and consigning
the latter to a drunkard's hell.
1t has now been two years since the
Local Option law was passed in thii
county, and about twelve months
since the last saloon was closed. Pro
hibitiOn has had time, therefore, tt
make its record, and we are now fully
prepared to note it's results.
1t was said by the opponents of tn,
law that prohibition would not pro
hibit, that the same amount of whisky
would be drunk with the law as with
out it, the town would only miss the
revenue, that the farmers would carry
their cotton to towns where whisky
was sold, that the trade would be
greatly injured, that it would be &
death blow to our progress, that the
public schools would languish and
die for want of sufficient funds fol
their support, and, in short, that the
town and county generally would in
evitably go to the bad.
We shall see how absurd such evil
prophecies, such dire forebodings
now appear under the strong, cleal
light of existing facts.
l have taken the trouble to post
myself thoroughly upon the general
effects of prohibition in our town and
county, and after drawing informa-
ton from the very best and most un.
questionable sources of authority,
am prepared to-day to exhibit facts
which verify believe are absolutely
unanswerable.
First, let me say that prohibition
does prohibit. In a town where Ii
quor has been sold under the license