Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1892-09-01
Rev. T.. =. Jones States Some
Plain Facts About the
Capital City.
4 Majority of Her People, In
Guiding Church Members,
Under the Dram Shop
Influence.
And This is the "College Town"
to Which Doting Parents
y Will Soon be Expected
n to Send Their Pre-
I cious Boys.
From the \. O. Christian Advocate ]

AS well as l remember dates, five
years ago Kinds county voted mo Ii.
cense." The county saw the good eff
fects of prohibition upon the moral
social and financial interests of the La.
boring classes, and desired to continue
dry; but jackson, the leading town in
the county, and the capital of Missis
sippi, desired the open saloon, and by
her vote fastened the saloon on the
county again. Out of the six or seven
hundred voters In Jackson at that time
Il mean the second election) there
were only about eighty votes polled fol-
prohibition. So you see there were
only eighty men in jackson that were
opposed to the open saloon. Let me
remark just here, in behalf of the
county, that the anti-saloon spirit is
so strong and persistent in the county
outside of jackson that saloon can't
exist in the county save in Jackson.
For the last three years Jackson has
enjoyed the blessings (S) of from three
to nine saloons. jacobson, and not the
county, is responsible for all the whis
ky sold in Kinds county during the
past three years. II Jackson had not
been whisky town three years ago,
we would not have had saloon in the
county during the last three years.
And if jackson were not still a whis-
ky town, sold under the saloon, there
would not be saloon in the county
to-day. jackson now has nine licened
saloons. And she wants nine under
the new law. Any person desiring to
sell liquors must secure a petition to
the City Council containing the names
of majority of the registered voters.
Under this new law jackson has nine
saloons. A majority of the registered
voters in jackson have it i'll their
power to close every saloon in the
place. Why don't they do it? Just
because they are in favor of the saloon.
Words fail to describe the inertness
of this place on the question of prohi-
bition and the unreserved surrender of
her people to the liquor traffic. So l
am forced, that you may see our de-
plorable state, to mention some things
that have recently transpired. About
two months ago a whisky petition was
being circulated. The pastors Of the
various churches met to see what could
be done to circumvent the whisky
movement. After talking much and
doing but little we decided to have an
other meeting, and that we would en-
deavor to get the leading men of the
different congregations to meet with
us. Several meetings were had; but
the presence of these leading members
was not secured. Failing to secure the
cooperation of the "leaders" in local
movement, we decided to call prohi-
bition mass meeting, To give empha-
sis to the call we asked the leading
citizens of the county to sign the call,
which call was to be published in some
leading county paper. We received the
following reply: IF the Christian PEG,
pie of Jackson will bring on the fight,
we will come to your support" We
circulated a call in jackson for pro-
hibition mass meeting, and, to our
grief, not over thirty men, and most OF
them in West jackson, signed the call
So the mass meeting failed. And
Jackson has entered the protest
through her officials and political or
gans against any and all efforts to
abolish the open saloon. There is but
one paper in the place opposed to the
open saloon. On the other hand, ex-
cept that one, the press of Jackson is
on the side of the saloon. They are
ready to make war on prohibition
The city officials are leagued with the
saloon, and are openly opposed to pro-
hibition. They say to business men
who are the friends of Temperance I'll
you oppose the saloon, you will do II
at the peril of your business" The
druggists and physicians, with one OF
two exceptions, are on the side of the
open saloon, and opposed to closing
this prolific source of disease.
| Time would fail me to speak of 9th
ers that are in favor of saloons; but
we will speak of the churches. How
do they standf At present ON the side
of the open saloon. God counts every
man on the other side. Our Savior
said, .He that is not for me is against
me-" So every man that is not against
the open saloon is for It. IL the mem
bers of our various churches were
against the saloon, we could abolish it
and not have the blind tiger either
Who is responsible for the bondage Of