The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-09-03

self is REGARDED as an evil, an enemy.
of civilization and good government
The Enactment of the Watts Act
1t has been shown that the Watts
act provided for the exclusion of bar
Irooms and commercial distilleries from
the rural or upoliced DISTRICTS and for
local option as to the several methods
of treating the drink problem in the
municipalities, or policed districts
How logical this step was will an
pear when one perceives how it fits
in with and adjusts itself to the act
ual conditions in our commonwealth:
Cd BY natural action the bar-rooms
had already passed out of the rural
districts of North Carolina This had
been brought about by the schools
and churches and the Improvement In
the standards of the people. The Watts
act simply made complete the move
ment that the churches and school
houses had practically swept North
Carolina with.
CD While there were few country
bar-roQms there were many distiller-
les of the baser sort-hidden deep IN
the woods, centers of laWIessness. q
menace to peace and order and most
of them constantly defraudng the
government.
The Watts act had the effect of
bringing the legitimate distilleries into
| the light and of quenching out the
| illegitimate distileries; in each case
| comforting a boon upon the rural dis
| tricts for which they had been pre-
! pairing many years.
In evidence of this the fact may be
cited that every General Assembly for
! twenty years has been called upon to
! incorporate an increasing number OF
| school houses and churches for the
single purpose of forbidding the man
ufacture or sale of Intoxicating liquors
within from two to five miles Of them.
| The General Assembly of 1901 thus
incorporated about 800 such institn-
/ tons located in all parts of the state.
CD Under this process, sunder the
operation OF the former local option
law, and under the law giving county
commissioners discretion in granting
! licenses to sell intoxicating liquors.
North Carolina ha3 become by l9O5
largely prohibition territory, as the
following statements will show:
I In sixty counties out of ninety-seven
the manufacture and sale of intoXicat-
| ing liquors was forbidden.
In the other thirty-seven counties
the incorporation of churches and
school houses had greatly restricted
the liquor traffic. The crossroads
bar-room had already reacher the van
ishing point.
SO. therefore, the Watts act, is not
only not radical, but is simply step
in the direction in which North Caro-
lima has been moving for genera
ton; recognition by the Democratic
party of the Well-matured convictions
of the people and a response to those
convictions worthy of a party that Is
truly democratic.
AS a further evidence of the State Of
public sentiment we may cite the fact
that in 1901 and 1902 the Democratic
leaders were beseiged with petitions
for Improvement of our laws relating
to the drink problem; and upon short
notice petitions numbering full forty
thousand names poured in upon the
General Assembly in 1908. Seldom in
our history has a General Assembly
been so earnestly pettioned in behalf
of cause.
This followed appropriately the
adoption of that constitutional amend
ment, which we promised should free
the hands of the people of North Car
Dina. Never wasja policy or prom
| Use SO gloriously1 indicated. Since
that amendment was enacted we have
not only political peace, but we have
industrial confidence, educational pros
perity and moral progress SURPRISING
any period in all our good States his
tory.
The Watts Act and the Farmer.
The Watts act is consderate of the
farmer. Under it he can manufac-
ture and sell brandy and wine pro-
| duced from his fruits or grapes or
berries, or produced from fruits, cranes
| or berries produced by others and pur-
chased by him.
On the other hand. this act protects
the farmers home. 1t banishes fro.<
the cross-road and the highway the
country bar, which, carrying on its
traffic without police surveillance, was
so prone to break the law and so apt
to send along the highways men in
toXicated and in condition to disturb
! the peace and happiness of our coun-
| try communities. From time imme-
| mortal the bar at the crossroads has
! been the fountain of strife and Iisor-
! der, and thousands of murders have
been originated in them, removed as
| they were from the direct control of
| the officers of the law.
In later years the secluded distil-
lery has taken the place of the bar
room, for which the light Of the coun-
try churches and schools had proved
| too strong. These distilleres were of
small capacity, located far from the
| conservative influences of the time,
always centers of lawlessness, the
gathering places of eNil-ioers, ire
quently defrauding the United States
government. making trouble for the
local authorities, and not only disturb
! ing the peace of our country homes
| but greatly hndering the work of the
country schools and churches Their
presence was a constant source of I'M
| eaSineSS, and, where negroes were
numerous, of actual trouble.
The conflict between the laW-ablding
people on one hand, and the distillery
elements. on the other, have reached a
point For twnty years the General
Assembly had been incorporating
| churches and school houses, this be-
| ing the plan of our rural communities
| to protect themselves against the dis
tilleries and bars. AS Governor Ay-
| cock said to the State Convention at
Greensboro, it had become question
| whether we were to stand by the
churches and schools or the distlller-
| les; for while in the policed districts
churches and schools have been known
| to flourish in spite of the Dars they
| have never been known to thrive IN
unpoliced districts where there were
either bar-rooms or distillerles.
With an alternative there could De
no question of the choice OF the DEM
ocratic party of North Carolina, con-
sisting as it does of the rank ana flle
OF North Cardinals best people ana