The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1906-07-20
snAtL sArooNs cOnR BAcKf

biiity and absolute necessity Of estab-
fishing another newspaper ct Tsllahas-
see, we determined within ourselves
that &c policy should be strictly on 9
line Of good morals, and that we would
advocate such means and measures IS
would be uplifting and eleyating TO our
people; that we would give publicity to
every transaction that came to US Of .
nature that did not tend to be fer the
best interest Of our own home people
and for the best interest Of the people
Of the State Of Florida at large. Since
its establishment It has carried 70 the
people Of Florida, as II has come TO as,
numerous shortcomings in public affairs,
and we have not hesitated a single time
TO give the people our opinion in regard
to them. It has been at times a very
unpleasant position for a newspaper
man 30 get into, and by 80 doing we
have placed ourselves in position,
maybe, to be despised by few Of those
whom we have had to criticise, and also
have cut of from US every hope Of a
cents patronage from those who have
been in power, those who never fail to
use such power within their hands to
hit back, and which those officials have
never failed to do. Such action has not
made Us waver one iota from our first
purposes and resolutions, and we stand
today with the True Democrat just as
we did with it's first issue, and the
motto at the head of this newspaper
stands for just what it did at the begin
ming: GOOD Government; Honesty in
Public Office; Equal Justice to ALL
Special Privileges to None"
Now, as the great temperance ques-
ton is one Of greatest interest to our
people, and as the whiskey element
have begun the first work of what may
lead to another battle for supremacy in
our county --as 10 whether we shall
have open bar-rooms, with legalized
whiskey selling in our midst, again the
True Democrat will take its stand in the
front ranks, and that to fight on the
moral, temperance and religious side Of
the coming battle, feeling that no man
should figure the moral and spiritual
welfare of his community against dol
lars and cents. We do not believe our
government should be a party to BUSH
ness transactions that brings to its
people 80 many ills, in hundreds Of ways,
as II most assuredly does when It IL
censes . business that brings so much
sin, suffering and heartaches as Is the
direct outcome to people who waste
their means in and around the open bar
rooms, and to almost all the ills that
follow in one who spends his earnings
in drink.
Admitting that Leon county has had
It's full share Of blind tigers, that a
number of blind tiger" men have been
dealing out various brands of liquors to
those whom the "blind tiger" violators
Of law would sell it 10, we still claim
that voting Leon county dry and keep
ing open bar-rooms out now for nearly
two years, has been better In a number
Of ways for the general welfare Of
every citizen of this county. In the
first place, most Of our best business
people will testify that it has not in
jured business in any way; that for
every dollar that went of another good
dollar has come back. 1t is a notable
fact that never before were there as
few vacant houses In the city as there
are today, either residence or business
The good morals Of Tallahassee were
never better, and during no period for
years has there been a time when there
was less petty crimes. All of our court
records circuit, county, justice and
city courts-prove this conclusively.
Later we will go to the records and
compile figures which we feel sure will
prove conclusively that Leon county has
lost nothing from voting out bar-rooms
from a financial standpoint; that the
county has gained equally as many
dollars for being moral and clean aS she
has lost by not receiving several thou
sand dollars for lsgaliSing a business
that carries with Il the very many ills
that It took more than she received To
contend with; besides being law-party
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