Evening journal., 1907-08-26
LOCAL OPTION IN
CECIL COUNTY, MARYLAND
In Contrast to New Castle Co., Delaware
The Fallacies Published Broadcast Made to
Face the Facts---Opinions of Leading
Citizens Showing the Real Effect of Pro-
hibition in Our Neighboring County.

There is more whlskey drunk here
now than ever before. The prohibition
system Is demoralizing in that it in
culcates secret drinking Men ami
boys get whisSoy in quantities and
drink until the stuff Is all gone. It
takes lots of business out of town,
too"
Hon. George Il. Ash, auditor Of the
State Of Maryland. and editor of the
Cecil Democrat, one Of the most care
fu students Of local and State condi-
tions and a man who neither touches
nor tastes intoxlcants of any kind, had
no hesitation in declaring that Cecil
countv's alleged prohibitive measure
had a bad effect on Elkton and the
county IN general lie said further
There Is more drunkenness now than
under our license system. Whisky IS
hauled to Ellxton by wagon loads and
handed over TO the least responsible
members of the community. Jugs are
omptied at one drunk Plenty of men
get jugs on Saturday nights and stay
by them for three or four da-s We
had no such conditions under license
five years ago. why. last Sunday / saw
Ia mere child. a small boy. reelng drunk
He had been to n spenkcasy, one of the
many along the creek Boys Of 16 and
i7 are common visitors 10 these secret
hiding places. None of them could have
got drink IN any one Of the licensed
places that we had here a few years
ago.
1T hurts business, too The men who
drnk-and all that ever drank drink
their money for liquor. but they spend a
good deal for railroad fares and express
charges but that f not ALL They do
their buying Of necessities where they
buy their liquor A drink or two at
home satisfied them when they could
get freely into "a public house. Now,
it, never less than a quart and often
a gallon
THE people who reside between Elk
ton and Newark, naturally, drive to
Newark TO do their business Newarl,
Is booming There is not "a single house
going up In Elkton this year. There
has been very little building here for
years. There IS lots of building at
Newark. Delaware
"Our court expenses have not been
reduced; but have been heavily incroas-
ed. as the records will show In 1902,
the last year of license, our criminal
court expenses foil short Of $4,000.
The next year they reached nearly
10000. Besides In 1902 we collected
about $4,000 from the licensed hotels
Ia the county Violence Is a common
Saturday or Sunday night occurrence
They occur along the river and In the
negro quarters II all comes from the
secret and Illicit drinking of bad whisky
"Do YOU know that nearly all the
negroes voted for prohibition2 prohi-
bition was carried IN this county. both
In 1902 and IN 1906, by combination
of sincere prohibtionists and the speak
easy crowd The voters boast of their
powers thus 20 get into the Illicit busi-
ness II pays them A decent man
won't sell liquor without license, so
the business which goes on all the time
has fallen into the worst hands"
Joshua Clayton, Esq. the well-known
Elkton lawyer, who Is Delaware born
answered the question as to prohibition
| In EllSton as follows;
why we had three druggists that
sold openly until last March, when two
Of the proprietors were convicted with
a suspended sentence. Since then the
drug stores have been dry; but there
is as much whisky drunk here as ever
on Sunday, July 90 last, a mob of aC
drunken men came into town from the
fair grounds whore they had been ca
rousing all of Saturday night. one Sat.
urday night recently 1920 bottles OF
beer we're distributed in this small place
We have about 5000 inhabitants. We
have the trouble and IN addition Elk
ton loses $3.50 yearly as her share OF
former license fees In those days q
man would take a drink or two in the
evening and then go about his busi-
moss Under license Elkton went tc
sleep at midnight. Nowadays Il wakes
up about II o'clock and stays there
the rest Of the night You see the
drinking man now drinks out OF bot
tie and he usually sticks to the bottle
until IL is empty
Under our constitution every man
tried must be represented by counsel
We spend thousands every year for mer
who run speakeasies. We have only hat
four murders here I'm ten years, and yet
we have averaged about $500 a year
for counsel fees, 80 per cent, Of which
went for the defense Of Illicit dealers in
whisky
Il find that men who vote for no II.
lcense are O) the sincere temperate,
men; CD men who owe bar bills; CD
the speakeasy men; and 70 these ma,
be added a number OF temperate drink
ers who wish to try the experiment
The latter will vote for license mex
trip"
superintendent George b. Kerfoot, OF
the Providence Paper Mills. said:
Look at this town (Elkton). II i.
dead. Not a house going up Not q
horse hardly to be seen on the street
have seen this street lined with teams
Now they can be seen in Newark, Del.
lor at oxford, Pa Northeast of here IN,
folks go TO Newark or Wilmington
South and west of us to Havre a,
Grace or Perryvile. From the lowei
end of the county theyal go to Middle.
town. our Cecil county towns are dead
| tell you. / can tell prohibition towf
the minute I set foot in Il. and I don
drink-a drop of strong liquor either.
why the liquor men are runnln,
"a line from Newark to our mills. Ou
men go TO that town. buy by the quar-
or gallon. Result, they and their friend
get drunk But more than that. the.
spend all the rest of their money a
Newark. They do all their buying there
Last Sunday morning. I counted hv