The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1891-10-01
OMEN TO MEMO.
EDITOR BULLETIN:

uau tne lolio"llS CilpPihSs apou'
Atlanta, Georgia:
''The cost of city government in
Atlanta, Ga, increased 10 per cent.
during the first year of prohibition.
Rents, in Atlanta, Ga, declined, I'M
der prohibition, 10 to 60 percent.
Two hundred stores and 900 resi-
dences stood empty. Such is prohi-
bition prosperity. Under license this
has changed.
During the short reign of prohi-
bition Atlanta, Ga, was forced to
sell $50, 900 of gas stock, worth more
/ than par, to meet current expenses,
for which the revenue was more than
sufficient before prohibition. Taxes
in Atlanta increased 40 per cent.
during the single year the prohibit
ing law was in force" "Prohibition
drives valuable citizens and vast
capital from a community. Two
bank presidents are authority for the
statement that 100000 in cash
was taken from Atlanta, Ca, in the
first three months after prohibition
went into effect.
Memo asks me to "strip the mask
from (my) eyes and read and digest"
the above.
| suppose he thought that it was
the first time that the above clippings
had been heard of in Honolulu. He
is mistaken. Nearly all, if not quite
all of the clippings in his last article
are to be found In pamphlet issued
by the liquor dealers National Pro-
tective Association of Louisville,
Kentucky, whose paper Memo quotes
from. This pamphlet was used in
the recent Nebraska campaign, and
for campaign purposes. | give my
authority. Let the public judge
how trustworthy Nemo's clippings
are. l do not blame Memo, he was
deceived by them as many another
man has been.
Hon. George Hillyer, Mayor of
Atlanta, Georgia, in 1886, the first
year of prohibition, gives the follow
ing sworn statement:
MAYOR HILLYER's EMPHATIC DENIAL.
81 was Mayor of the City of At
lanta during 1896, the first year that
the prohibition law was in force.
The statement that 'the taxes of At
lanta increased 40 percent during
the first year of prohibition is wholly
untrue. And the statement that the
city was forced to sell $4,000 gas
stock to pay expenses that year, is
also wholly untrue. The facts are
that Atlanta was never more pros
porous than during 1886, the
first year of prohibition. The rate
of taxation has not been increased in
II years. At the end of the year
1886 there was larger surplus in
the treasury, after balancing every
account and paying every cent of
current expenses, than at any time
In the history of the city, either be-
fore or since. In the year 1886 the
city donated $50, 200, proceeds of
the sale of gas stock, to the establish
ment of the chronological School,
an institution now in successful oper-
alton, and believed to be equal to
any in the United States. A year OF
two later the city used $50, 900 to
build girls High School, and $15,-
600 to erect the main building at the
fair grounds. Both of the latter
items being also proceeds of the sale
of gas stock. But not one dollar of
proceeds of any of said gas stock
from first to last was used for cur
rent expenses.
Il have been a resident of Allan
ia % years, much of the time one of
the Judges of the Superior Court,
and am confident of the fact that
there was less crime and more real
prosperity during the years of pro-
hibition than at any previous time in
the history of the city.
''GEORGE HILLYER.
"July 20, 1890.
GEORGIA., FULTON COUNTY. IS.
"Persopally appeared before me a
Notary Public in and for said county,
the undersigned citizens of Atlanta,
who on oath say that they know
George Hillyer, the signer of above
and know him to have
been Mayor of Atlanta in 1886, and
also Judge of Superior Court of
Fulton County, as stated, and know
him to be reliable in every respect.
"a. A. MURPHY,
"W. J. ALBERT.
Sworn TO and subscribed
before me this July 30, 80
"HARRY KRoUsE, n. P, Fulton
Co., Ca
If that is not enough to satisfy
any one that Nemo's statistics, 'solid
and unanswerable," Gas he calls
,hem), are worthless, worse than
hat, then the following from City
Clerk Broadwood of Atlanta, Geor-
yia, will leave no doubt.
"ATLANrA, Ga, July 20, 1890.
"This is to certify that the follow
ng figures show the total amounts of
he value of real estate assessed
md personally returned in the
City of Atlanta for the years named:
Cor 1880. ......... $40, 800, 900
+" 1S81............ 22,196, 900
" 1882. ...... 23,736, 900