The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-01-31
FAIR WOMEN WILL LOBBY
FOR MOODY DISPENSARY BILL
is PRACTICALLY
WITHOUT ELECTRIC CARS

q
that since 1 have returned to Jefferson
county that grave has been getting shall
lower and my monument smaller ana
smaller and smaller. l want to warn them
that they must let me alone. For the first
time | declare to you that when my term
as senator has expired 1 had determined
to go back to the practice of my PROFESSION
and keep cut of politics, but want TO warn
my opponents not to rub 1t in too thlcK-l
may get back at them.
"In brief. the bill proposes to take the
| liquor traffic out of the hands of individ-
uals and into the hands of the people. You
say that this is what the states does now.
| No, my friends, only indirectly through Its
sanction. The bill will do 1t directly. I'm
der the provisions of the bill Birmingham
| would have four dspensaries where liquor
would be sold, Pratt City one, Bessemer
| one and on at the rate of one Tor eacn
5000 people. I say that Birmingham would
have four By this mean that Birmlng-
| ham would have four under the population
| given by the census, not by what we
| claim when we are away from here In
| that case we would have seven. DO not
| think that some towns may not be large
| enough to have a dispensary. Any town
| may on petition of twenty citizens of that
| community appeal to the commissioners
court and they may give them dispen.
sary. Thus any city may obtain liquor II
it wants it and if it doesn't want 1t that
| settles 1t.
LAS to the revenue received from the
| system Each dispensary must pay into
! the treasury the same amount as now paid
| for license. If a saloonkeeper has now
| to pay license of $500 then the dispensary
| must pay the same license to the state.
! Unless I am mistaken, Jefferson county
| raised the sum of $4,000 from liquor licenses
| last year; ,0e0 of this going to the county
! and $4,000 going to the state treasury. I'm
| der the provisions of this bill all profits
| from the business are to go to the city
! treasury when the dispensary is operated
| by the city or to the county treasury when
| operated by the county.
| Now a word as to the moral aspects of
| the question. will tell you frankly that if
| this question were one of finances to the
| state merely I would have voted against
| the bill voted for 1t because it was one
| of paramount importance to the morals or
| our state, of our county and of our city
| The moral benefits will be great for many
| reasons In the first place it will limit the
| number of saloons and thus lessen the DAN
| gers of this damnable traffic. You all
| know that if pasture has only six snakes
| in it instead of a hundred, your chances CT
! being bitten are pretty small The bill VIII
| lessen also the amount of drinking by limit
ing the hours during which liquor may be
| purchased The dispensary must close at
| 6 o. M and cannot open before a. M,
| twelve hours altogether. ,
| sMore important than this, no liquor shall
| be drunk on the premises. After all, TINS
| is the milk in the coacoanut. 1t aims 10
| break up the habit of social drinking IN
the saloon Go into any saloon and you VIII
| see group of men leaning against the par
| land many politicians are always theret
| One of them "sets up the drinks, and
dozen drinks are ordered. Now, watch
| them and you will see that they take the
| bottle and fill 1t only up to about one
| sixteenth of an inch and then comes the
here's to YOU They don't do this for the
| Whisky's sake but for the sake of being
social. But watch that other red-nosed fel-
low. In he comes, walking straight TO the
bar, without looking round, in case he
might see anybody. Down goes his money
and see him fill the glass full. He slips 1t
down into his stomach and then goes on
home with his red nose, keeping the mid
die of the road. That man drinks for whis-
ky's sake and nothing else. Thus. the bill
lessons the opportunity of the temptation
to drink for social purposes and lessons
drinking as associated with the saloon.
| again, we are told that the bill will work
great injury to the general business of the
community. Let us see how this is. We
are told that those who rent houses for
saloons will suffer- They will suffer any
way. You grant that whisky is an evil,
that it has ruined many happy home, has
broken thousands of bleeding hearts and
sent them to their welcome graves; hope
has fed from numberless lives; despair has
darkened countless souls; homes have been
left ruined and desolate, with the owner
stricken down by the murderer's hand
| VIII the renter of houses suffer for this?
If there is such an one here, let me ask
you If you will suffer when the dark
angel of death has clutched you by the
throat and few hours lie between you
and hopeless eternity? Will you ask
you ask yourself then, Am I RESPONSE
ble?" Wait! Wait!
1.-The opponents tell us, too, that the bill
will put the breweries out of business. I
want to say that l told the author of the
bill that l wouldn't vote for 1t unless the
brewereS and distilleries were allowed to
sell to the dispensaries or to druggists. L did
not believe in cripplng the home breweries
so long the dispensaries had to buy any
way; better to have the money.
NOW for the economic reasons: Under
the present laws, the state gets $3.50 900 from
licenses for the sale of beer and splrituous
liquors. OF this, Jefferson county gets some
$4,000. Under the proposed law the state
will have revenue from only six or seven
| dispensaries instead of 200 saloons in this
county as at present. From the states
point of view this will be loss. 1 admit
that. do not know how the governor re-
CARDS the bill, and 1 have no authority to
speak for him, but feel sure that he will
not veto it. You know as well as do that he
is coura geous in the discharge OF his duty.
If he does veto it, let him beware of the
women, and you know, too, that he is fond
of them!
AS for Birmingham, / would be willing
to be one of ten men who would guarantee
that Birmingham would get 500, 900 from the
dispensary after her first year. This would
be pure profit and vastly more than she re-
ceives now. We could even afford to let the
dispenser steal $4,000, and yet we would be
better off. The DIRECTORS say that the city
will next monopolize the -four business, the
grocery and the shoe business 1 don't see
why we should want the flour bus ness when
there is more money in the saloon business.
CONTINUED on Third Page.