The leader., 1905-10-25
The c. 0. D. Traffic.

The c. 0. D. Traffic.
The Hazlehurst Courier gives
the following brief but suggestive
account of the way the citizens of
Crystal Springs are successfully
fighting the G. o. D. business of
the liquor dealers in that enter
prising town:
Justice Slay, of Crystal
Springs, was in Hazlehurst this
morning. Being asked about the
9. 0. d. liquor traffic in his town
he said all whisky shipped G. ..
D. to Crystal Springs was seized
by the officers and locked in
ware room. He said they had
enough liquor to stock a big sa-
loon. 1t is being held for the
shippers to come and claim it,
then they will be arrested and
prosecuted for having whisky in
Crystal Springs for sale. He said
since they commenced to seize
c. o. D. shipments very little is
being received there now, the
shippers having been notified of
the action of the authorities and
stopped. So far the shippers have
not moved in the matter, and the
officers are going ahead nabbing
every c. o. D. package and stor-
ing it away. Mr.. Slay said very
little drinking is now in evidence
at Crystal Springs.
If all the other towns would
get as busy as Crystal Springs
with the q. o. D. people, we be-
lieYe this damnable business could
be stopped. Public sentiment can
stop it if it becomes sufficiently
aroused.
Suppose we follow the lead of
Crystal Springs and see what we
can do"
The Gazette makes the same
suggestion to the people of Mag
nolia which the Courier makes to
the citizens of HazIehurst. There
is absolutely no sense in setting
down and looking on while the
spirit if not the letter, of our laws
is being thus violated. If Mag
nolia can furnish an officer as
courageous as Justice Slay. of
Crystal Springs, we can stop this
iniquitous traffic in short order.
True enough. under the decision
of the United States Court, pro-
ceedings might be brought COM
peIling the delivery of the goods
to the party to whom they we're
sent, but legal procedure is al
ways costly and each and every
package of G. o. D. whisky may
be made the subject of expensive
litigation to the shipper.
The G. o. D. business, on this
line of railroad at least, has work
ed virtual nulIication of laws
against the liquor traffic, and the
expressed will of the people in
this county that whisky or other
intoxicating beverages may not be
sold here. No one can object, Of
course. if man orders a gallon
Of whisky and takes it to his
home for his own personal use.
That is his business and nobody
has the legal or moral right to in
terfere with him. But when these
foreign liquor dealers voluntarily
make consignment of whisky to
man who has not ordered it and
then write him a letter advising
the shipment and the amount
necessary to take it out of the
depot, then it comes so close to
being an illegal sale that any Off
cer would be justified in seizing
the liquor and prosecuting the
shipper if he came within the
jurisdiction of the court.
Cases of this kind are common
in Magnolia, and doubtless in
every other town in Mississippi
which has out t-lawed the saloon.
Not only that, but it is not diff
cult to learn of instances where a
foreign liquor dealer has made
such inducements to a local booze
fighter that he has found it
profitable in turn to induce his
friends to join him in his big or
der. There can be no question
that this man is violating the law
and he should be made to suffer
just as any other sort of blind
tiger.
All in all, the people of these
small towns which are becoming
so badly afflicted with the G. O.
d. traffic are not as helpless as the
liquor dealers evidently consider
them. Vigorous resistance and
the persistent handicapping of the
shippers and prosecution of the
local agents of the shippers will
soon make the field most un-
profitable one for both parties.
Magnolia Gazette.
The Leader endorses what is
said above by the Courier and
Gazette, and suggests that Brook
. haven, too, follow the lead of
Crystal Springs in this matter.
Our people cannot afford to sit
quietly down and be run over
rough shod by a lot of foreign
liquor dealers who are plying
their infamous business for i'll
gotten gain.
Tom Myers, shot and killed
himself at Mendenhall, By the ac-