The age-herald., 1901-01-04
Whisky and Crime.

the cases investigated by grand juries are directly attributable to the evil effects of whisky drinking" said lawyer who for fifteen years has represented the State be- fore grand juries in their investigation of cases of crime or alleged crime.
 Several men were discussing the saloon in local politics, and were unanimous in the opinion that hot fight over the liquor dis pensary question would be waged next year, before the nomination of candidates for the Legislature.
 T have got nothing to do with the dis pensary question at the moment, but I do know that at least nine out of every ten crimes arise from over-indugence in strong drink" the experienced lawyer maintained. Virtually all murders are chargeable to drink, nearly all cutting scrapes, and most of the crimes against or about women. Yet we sometimes see jurors punished for being drunk on the jury. These cases are rare but they do exist: drunken man sitting in judgment a~juror on the man who in a drunken fit committed murder, perhaps, A very large percentage of men and boys go about constantly carrying deadly weap- ons and therefore prepared to commit mur- der. If anything like large proportion of the armed men got drunk we should have six hundred murders year instead of the sixty-odd which disgrace Jefferson County
 Birmingham Drunkards Few.
 ''It is remarkable to what an extent pub lie opinion and public habits have changed in respect to drunkenness" said an old timer who has been always "one of the boys
 ;t+lo ;,,Jx man is in ordinary times, and compara- lively speaking, rarely seen on the streets of Birmingham At our mardi gras festi- vals drunken men were numerous in the streets, and on the last Christmas Eve there were hundreds of them enacting ri- otous and disgraceful scenes in the streets and public places; but with those horrible exceptions drunkenness is not very com mon vice in Birmingham. My knowledge of Southern and Northern cities>-and have travelled largely, convinces me that Birmingham is the soberest city in respect to strong drink in this country. Scarcely once a month does anybody see a respect able looking man drunk; that Is to say,~a man whose appearance would indicate that he held anything hike a respectable position in the community.
 And business men wiH no longer excuse any of their employees for over-indulgence, and some firms will not employ a man whom they know to be addicted to the whisky habit. Unquestionably public opin- ion now holds that some degree of dis gracefulness attaches to drunkenness.
 This is all mighty change from con ditions that prevailed ten years even; for formerly, not only did men socially re- spectable get publicly drunk, but some of them were accustomed to becoming soci- ally intoxicated, and were thought no less of for it And men of high position who drink in public place, do not now drink at all Thus, and by these changes, Birm- ingham has come to be the soberest of all cities, and one needs only to visit neigh boring cities, such as New Orleans Mo bile, Montgomery, Atlanta, Nashville and Memphis to discover what great differ ence there Is in favor of Birmingham
 "Reluctant as some incorporate tenn perance' persons of the Mrs Nation type would be to accept this as a fact, there are number of bartenders in Birming- ham who constitute a strong influence against drunkenness! These men, some of whom are known to me to be good citi- zens, always endeavor to pursuade their customers not to drink to excess They personally know most of their customers, are personal friends of many of them, and when these friends show signs of taking