The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-29
ALABAMA'S
 LIQUOR TRAFFIC
TWENTY COUNTIES ARE PROHIBT- TON AND NINE HAVE THEIR
 DfsPENsARIEs.
Law 10 Rigialy Enforced-Wllliam E Curtis Describes the Method Used to Control whisky
 Busfneua.

 cial to The Chicago Record Herald. Alabama is quite temperance State. Of the sixty-seven counties twenty have prohibition laws. nine have dis pensariess for the sale of liquor in quantity by the municipal authorities and the remainder have high licenses. One the Mobile and Clhio Railroad, passing through two and one-half States, there Is not single saloon
 between Mobile and Jackson. Tenn. There Is not barroom or any place where liquor can be bought in any of the counties of Alabama, Mississippi or Tennessee. on the line of that road: and no beer. wine or liquor can be sold in its dining cars.
 Excepting the city of Selma, there is not saloon or barroom on the line of the Southern Railroad between Mobile and Birmingham, and on the East and West Road. excepting Selma and Demopolis. there is no saloon be- tween Montgomery and vicksburg. There is no general liquor law in
 Alabama. Each county is the subject of special legislation, according to the demands of It's citizens. If any county comes into the legislature with an ap-, plication from the people E=dorsed at l the polls for prohibition, dispensary or high license. 1t Is almost sure to ob-' | tain the legislation at once. and the ten | than half the counties no action what | ever has been taken. but several of
 them come to the legislature every ses-
 sion for regulating acts.
 | While the appetite of the white peo-
 pie for liquor has not been suppressed
 or satiated. and they drink perhaps quite as much as they ever did in their
 homes and clubs. saloon drinking has practically been stopped throughout
 the rural districts, because experience has demonstrated that the country sa- loon is the hotbed of mischief, local l disturbances and lynchings. and most of the shooting in the State for many years has been done under the influ-
 ence of crossroads grocery whisky. It
 has also been demonstrated that a great part of the trouble with the ne- | groes--their idleness. worthlessness and shift1essness-is due to liquor
 drinking, and public sentiment de-
 mands stringent regulations. which
 have been enected In twenty-nine coun-
 ties. In other counties the cost of a
 license has been placed as high as to
 make 1t unprofitable for a crossroads | grocer to sell liquor. The patronage
 of the country saloon will not justify
 the payment of the license fee and the
 internal revenue tax. So the saloons at
 which the poorest whisky was sold and | l matched have been closed up, and the | consequences are so wholesome as to
 encourage similar action in other parts
 of the State and in neighboring States.
 Whisky drinking nas been the greatest
 curse of the negro.
 | Occasionally a blind tiger" Is set
 up; Illicit distilling is common and whiskey is often peddled about the
 country among the negroes, on holidays | and circus days especially; and 1t is
 usually difficult to convict the culprits But when they are convicted they are Ialways severely punished, being sent
 to the penitentiary for term of years
 and being compelled to pay fine of $500 for the offense and $1,000 for the
 second, while the costs ruin a man
 financially. Every violation of the
 liquor law is punished twice; first in lthe Federal courts on charge of sell | ing without a license, and second in Ithe State courts for violating the State | law. Usually cases are first tried in the Federal courts, because they sit in the large cities and are not subject to
 local influences. It Is very difficult to
 get jury in a local court to bring in
 verdict against a neighbor Although | its members may realize that the man
 they are called upon to try is deserv- | ing of punishment, they feel that 1t will be very embarrassing to meet him atfer he comes home from a term in the penitentiary. But city jury in the Federal Court is quite apt to convict, and the State courts are now accept | ing certified copies of the records of the Federal courts as final in such cases
 In some of the prohibition counties | it is a msdemeanor for a man to offer
 wine or whiskey to his guests the pen alty for selling or giving away Is the same. But in hospitable plantation houses 1t Is not a crime for servant | or a host to place decanter and a bottle on the table. If the guest Is familiar with the customs of the coun- lt try nothing further is necessary. Peo- pie buy their supply of liquor from
 leans. Mobile or Montgomery and have | it shipped to them by express.
 The dispensaries are run very much
 as they are in South Carolina. Shops are opened at convenient parts of the county in charge of sworn agents, who
 sell bottled liquor in the original pack ages for cash-the smallest quantity Is pint, the largest is a demijohn con taining two gallons. All packages are sealed and it is unlawful to open them or the premises. Some people think this encourages drinking at home. They say that a man who would take one drink. perhaps. If he could buy 1t, drinks the whole pint because he cam not get any less. But those who man. age the dispensaries and others who are observing their operations, insist that this Is not true, and that they pro- mote sobriety. especially among the ne- groes. The keeper of the dispensary is authorized to refuse any or all appli- cants. according to his judgment. There is no way to compel him to sell, and as he Is paid a salary by the coun- | ty and has no profit from the business there Is no inducement for him to do SO. He is forbidden by law to sell to habitual drunkards, or to men who
 have already been drinking and may refuse to furnish liquor whenever his judgment is against 1t.
 There Is always profit in a dispe nsary.
 because 1t is a monopoly, 1t does a cash business. the expense of management Is very small and prices are regulated so as to produce a revenue. The proceeds are devoted to school purposes. At Tuscaloosa. for example. the dispen- sary pays a profit of $3O.0OO a year. of which $12,o00 goes to the county and $500 to the city schools
 Montgomery has a handsome new nf ha i,,