The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-09-27

ut has been urged here as well as
in other communities that the people
of Fulton County having given it a
fair trial, by statute of their own
choice, and voted back this evil, ano
in their period Of helplessness turned
their eyes towards the bars hereto
fore discarded and called them to
come back and save the state. Now
III tell you about that, in the state
of Georgia, under the law, local OPP
ton election could be held once in
two years. Atlanta in 1885 voted
dry-the municipality voted dry-the
municipal authority decided that it
would be unfair to close the bars
promptly and permitted them to sell
out their unexpIred license-and so
it was eleven months after the
county and the state voted dry be-
fore they actually became dry. So
they only tried Prohibition thirteen
months in Fulton County and that is
| fact well known to the citizens u.
| Atlanta-and it is a well known fact
| that this matter was taken up by the
| real estate men owning property to
rent that had fallen into disrepute,
/ by reason of the uses it had been
put to in the past and who found it
| hard to find tenants In the future. II
was taken up by them and these
houses were flu 'nished rent free, to
an Irresponsible eiement-voters whom
! 1t was known would vote. wet. And
! it is known all over Georgia that the
! county of Fulton was voted back wet
over the eloquence protests of the
late lamented Henry Grady, by vote
of that kind, when the registration
| laws of the sta e were very loosely
I od int IN hn
lanta went wet the chairman of the
Prohibition Campaign Committee told
me that he was not ashamed to make
| the statement that he cried the whole
night. He said about that time his
family had the increase of little
boy, and Grady walked up and slapped
! him on the back and asked him how
was the youngster. He said .middling
welT-He told him. When he gets
| to be voter, We will have Prohibit
| ton In Atlanta The chairman ask
ed him why: He said When young
sters like this, lying in the laps of
Prohibition mothers, when they ar
rive at the age at which they can
] vote, Atlanta witt go dry. The child
was year of age last August. At
lanta went dry i'll the month of last
August, effective January first, in the
year of our Lord 1908.
Explanation Due.
But to go back to my argument,
why is it? The explanation ought to
be forthcoming here, the explanation
ought to be forthcoming in every
place where the assertion is made
that prohibition does not pay. AS to
why it is that 125 counties in Georgia,
with only two exceptions have found
it not by the statement of Prohibition
orators, but by experience-by the
proof of the pudGing-by the fruit of
the tree established in their midst, to
be so satisfactory, or certainly not
so satisfactory, that they have never
taken the trouble to get up one-third
of the voters, to get back into the
community the ining that saved it,
according to our adversaries.
but you have got an argument
closer home You have got the State
of Florida / am told that the people
in various parts of Florida have de
termined they would ruin themselves,
and with only two exceptions. Hamil-
| ton and Santa Rosa counties. they
have been willing to stay ruined when
they found themselves ruined by the
prohibition of the sale of intoxicat-.
| ing liquor And ] hope you will par
don --.< --A -, 49, fho+ ~zrt,>~s to tho