The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-19
WILL FIGHT WITHIN The PARTY
DEMOCRATS MUST GIVE THE STATE
PROHIBITION, SAYS col. PRICE,

Rt DASSAHSNs tHC AUhS Oh thC .0CoN-
gia PrOhibitionists-WH Flight
Within the Party Ranks Hereafter.
Public Sentiment Must he Educat-
ed Up 10 the LaVv-For This Reason
He Doubts the Effectiveness of Pro-
hibitIon in Sayannah-The MOON
sinners of North Georgia and Col.
Prices Friendly Feeling Toward
Them.
Col. w. P. Price of Dahlonega is spend
ing a few days in the city, visiting his
daughter. Mrs. Walter L. Wilson, on
Duffy street. Col Price has visited Sa-
| vannah before and has a number of
friends here who VIII give him a cordial
welcome. He is one of the solid men ana
representative citizens of Northeast Geor-
gia, and was prominent for a number Of
years in state politics. having represent
ed the Ninth district in Congress for two
terms during the early seventies.
Col Price has always been stanch
Democrat and he does not consider the
fact that he voted for Palmer and Buck
ner in the last presidential campaign de-
tracts anything from his fidelity to the
principles of the party 1t was propaoy
due to Col. Prices influence that the Ex-
ecutive Committee of the State Prohibition
Association at its meeting in Macon this
week decided that ii would hereafter con-
duct its fight within the ranks of the
! Democratic party. Col. Price is vice
president of this association for his con-
! gressional district. Notwithstanding he
has labored in the cause of temperance
for life time he is the reverse of rabid
| prohibitionist and is much more conserva-
tive in his views on this question than Is
the average advocate of his cause.
| q began as a temperance cadet at II years
of age" said Col Price yesterday, land l
have continued in the work ever since.
When 1 enlisted in the cause l expected
that whisky would be swept out of the
state, and that dEamsheps and dram drink
ing would be things unknown in Georgia
within a few years l grew wiser as l
grew older, however. l learned that a
great reform cannot be accomplished I'M
Ill the minds of the people have been ed
ucated up to it, and that it is better not
| to pass a good law than to pass it and
have il remain a dead letter on the stat
ute books. | would rather not see coun-
| ty adopt prohibition where the sentiment
| of the people is not sufficient to secure
| its enforcement. Our work all these years
has largely been a work of education. A
great deal of good has been accomplished
and prohibition prevails in nearly all the
counties of Georgia outside of the cities.
Prohibition is not as effective as it might
be in The dry counties because the liquor
dealers in the cities persist in pouring liq-
uor into these counties. This is one of
the main reasons of the fight for state
prohibition"
Col. Price said that the resolutions pub
lished in Yesterdays Morning News eX-
pressed the views of himself and his fell
low members of the association as to the
proper course to adopt to secure their
ends. I'VE feel" he said, that the Dem
| ocratic party owes it to itself and to the
people of the state to give us the best
laws that il possibly can and when 1t hon
| estly undertakes to do this we are sat
isfed that prohibition in some form or 9TH
er will not be far off. Our idea is TO secure
the nomination and election of Democrats
in each county who are opposed 10 the sale
of liquor. The Republicans are pretty
strong in some of the counties up my way
and we shall ask our friends in that party
to pursue the same course. Our resolu-
tons are addressed to the Democratic
party, however and it is upon that party
we shall rely to secure the reform"
When asked if he thought straight-out
prohibition could be enforced in Savannah,
Col. Price said very candidly that he
doubted it. with the various elements
in your popula tion and the sentiments of
the people here" he said Il do not be-
lieve that rigid prohibition would be a
success. 1t would be necessary TO provide
means for legally obtaining intoxicating
liquors for those who felt the need of them
and this could be done by means of dis
pensaries. There was dispensary pro-
vision in the Bush bill, which was killed
in the House four years ago"
Col. Price remarked that he lived in a
moonshine district, and that notwithstand-
ing he has been a prohibitonist all his
life, he is known in Northeast Georgia as
the friend of the moonshiners II once
secured the pardon of ninety-nine moon
sinners during my term in Congress by
order of President Grant" he said. "They
were poor men who had been hard press
ed by the revenue officers aided by Unit
ed States troops, and their families needed
them at home. Up our way the moon
sinner has the sympathy of the general
public, including church members and TO-
hibitionists as well-that Is as against the
Western distiller. 1t is looked upon as
a case of the little moonshiner on one
hand as against the big Western dis
tiller backed by the United States govern
ment, and our sympathes are with the
under dog"
|
sinners come by their inclination to make
whisky naturally The majority of our
mountain people in Northeast Georgia, on
both sides of the Blue Ridge, in fact are
descendants of the Mennonites, of Dutch
and German ancestry, having moved into
Georgia from North Carolina. Their an
cestors were staunch, honest, God-fearing
people. They regarded the making of
liquor as a matter of course, 1t being
about the only means they had of convert
ing their mountain corn into marketab Bile
product, there being no railways and the
roads mere mountain trails. 1t is pretty
much the same with the mountaineer of
to-day. He regards as a hardship that
he is not allowed to distil his few bushels
of corn, gathered from his scanty acres
into liquor, for which he can easily find
a market. The revenue tax of $110 a gal
lon gives him a big opportunity for profit
and furnishes an inducement for illicit
distilling."
Col. Price said that Notwithstanding
Dahlonega has been prohibition town for
I III y