Fitzgerald enterprise., 1906-10-06
Whiskey Property Up
BY W. D. UPSHAW.

through the prosperous counties of Wilcox and
Irwin, in Georgia. and see with your own eyes
the strikiog change for the better since the sa-
loon and the dispensary were driven out
Last wear, the first thrg that greeted the
eve-ves and the "nose"-of the traveller as he
a'iehted from the at Abbevllle, was
wreched barroom right at the depot, with its
fumes and its fuss, it's topers and its loafers
Now that self-sa me house is filled with the nec-
essities of life, legitimate, wholesome business
is being done. and the money that went tor IL
ouor sorrow aud horror is now buying health
and happiness for bodies hearts and homes.
While the saloons held their bloody, debauch-
ing scepter over the town, The whlskey sympa-
thzers declared that Abbevle would be ruined
from business standpoint if the saloons should
be stopped. They r. stopped 1n December
But as is always true, the merchants declare
that the cir Chris tmas trade was be tier than 1t
had ever been while not a single arrest tor
drunkenness was made during Christmas week.
And the for mer whiskey fri nds-the few
that can be found-are all compelled to admit
that Abbeville is new town-cleaner IN its lite,
happier in its homes, stronger in its com merce
and certainly far safer atmosphere tor that
thriving institution, the Georgia Normal and
Business College, with it's hundreds Of students
every year.
Rochelle too another wild awake and grow
ing town in Wilcox county, is taking on new life
since whiskey was driven out; and Seville, poor
little rum.cursed, whiskey-soaked Seville, that
was so long and eye-sore for decent people who
travelled the Seaboard from Cordele to Abbeville
Seville whose three saloons seemed to domi-
rn+I &hn ork~o
ple of that precinct arose in their might and
smashed them to death by majority of ten to
one-Seville, thank God and the militant voters,
stands purified and redeemed!
oc1LLA-FAIR, BEAUTIFUL ocILLA!
There is not a better town of fifteen hund-
red people in Georgia, or the South, than Ocllla.
Four years ago, when l helped Pastor W. J.
Barton in gracious meeting saloons blotted,
and blighted the face of the town. Many of the
strongest men of the community convert
ed. Their leadership began to tell for the pub
lie virtue and civic righteousness. They said
the barrooms must go. They did go-but
the Dispensary came instead. For time the
decent people seemed pleased, Less drinking,
they said, and the dear school fund" of the
town received handsome purse from the dis
penSarY. Long live tue ulSpSuSAly! Ou' IL
was noted by keen observers that liquor from
the darling dispensary" kept on making peo-
pie mighty drunk Gust as the fine liquor does
from the Piedmont bar in Atlanta). Debauch-
ed negroes and 1ow-down white folks would con-
gregate around the "dispensary of devllment," J"
blockade the corners and then line the streets,
until Saturday night!-yes, forerunner of hell!
The sons of the men, and the husbands of
the best wives in the community were going
down before the "school-saving" dispensary.
The spectacle was heart-rending facts,
we're intolerable! The dispensary must go.
Ocilla, Fitzgerald county must be free!
Hon. B. E. Wilcox, the stainless Christian
gentleman who represented Irwin in the Legis-
lature, went to work, and he did not work alone.
Hon George Wilcox, his stalwart kinsman over
in the Senate, went to work, in that dignihed
and conservative body. The lines we're drawn,
the battle was fierce, but victory came. And
Georgia's Christian Governor, Joseph M. Ter
rel signed the bill.
The dispensary went out of Ocilla and sa-
looms out of Fitzgerald-the old county Of Irwin
and the new county of Ben Hill.
Ocilla, one of the most generous, unsel6sh
towns have ever seen, is rejoicing that the dis
pensary is closed, and her manly citizenship has
determined that the welfare of her splendid
school shall not be dependent on the bloody tax
levied on the depravity of drunken white men
and carousing negroes. The merchants declare
that the cash trade has already greatly improv-
ed while the Saturday nights of bacchanalian
revel have been converted into the order and
quiet of the former Sabbath day.