Middletown transcript., 1907-09-14

bankrupt paIlk on the Eastern Sil0re
will change this extrayagant policy at
once. The overloaded banks Of tile East
ern Shore are peril, but they are no
more the product Of prohibition than
measles il the product of milk punch.
AS Mr.. Barrell, the vice president Of the
second National Bank Of Chestertown,
observed: III is question about which
honest men may differ, but believe that
We had more money here before prohibi
tiou was installed than we have now
But let the local witnesses speak fol
themselves. Here is the testimony o.
the formost citizens OF Centreville. Sou
states attorney has been very sharp after
the liquor seller. He convicted one last
sf,ring, = 9, beeanse HE ffelllesEf sfFeEe that b
represented wholesale house Of whiskey
in Baltimore. He failed to convict
another man, because he caught on an6
swore that be merely filled the orders o.
the folks in this town. Do you see The
difference? You can't sell il here, buI
yon can buy anything for resident o.
the community. Ifyou want quart OIL
pint of whiskey iu "a hours-If you wan
it now lets 60 up to my house-you speat
to the man who knowing you to be {
stranger will look you straight in the eye
Don't hesitate. Tell him here is dollal
for bottle Of Roxbury, and he will take
your order under lamp light and ask yor
i for quarter more, his commission. To
| morrow night he will deliver an innocent
package at your hotel for any nams
you please to have him put thereon
There are two OF these purchasing agents.
One goes to-day, the other tomorrow
The whiskey comes daily. But don't for
get that my whiskey is better than theirs
and YOU are welcome to all have, except
what ! drink myself
"Why they send it here in barrels
One barrel inside another. The outside
barrel is called an envelope the space
between is stuffed with paper and the
outside is marked crockery. There was q
time, over there in Kent, when Tom
Wickes, the best fellow in the world,
kept drug. store. The drinker got O
prescription from doctor, any old doctor
and Tom would paste it on bottle. II
that bottle managed to keep intract for a
month, or year or ten years, the drug.
gist would fill it right along, provided
that prescription stuck to the bottle.
''You can get Whiskey around this town
any where, or you can get it through the
purchasing agents, but most of the busi-
ness or professional men, that is, the
men who can afford it will not deal with
the agents. They send for it direct as
do. The same way with the negroes,
who constitute one-third Of our popula.
ton, they have their own channels, by
boat from Baltimore, or by rail from
Wilmington.
"There are about 1900 inhabitants in
this town, and almost one-third are col
ored. No, the town has not grown very
much. We may have doubled in the
last twenty-five years. Prohibition took
effect in May 1888. l am convinced
that high license, high enoughto con-
fine US to one or two hotels, not
saloons, would be much better for the
country. 1t would insure decent hotel
for the traveller. 1t would bring US from
six to ten ten thousand dollars in revenue.
1t would save US several thousand dollars
year now spent in the futile attempt to
convict the Yiolatora of the law and il
would spare us an atmosphere of hypoc-
risy and perjury"
Mr.. Clayton Cam, a prominent mer-
chant, man Delaware born, and un-
afraid to express himself, began by saying,
that he thought Prohibition does not
prohibit. Whiskey comes here daily
from Baltimore. The purchasing agent"
supplies all what is wanted. Anybody
can get it. "You can see the effects OF it
every Saturday night right out there"
pointing to the street.
Thomas ]. Keating, the good-natured
states attorney, who is a candidate for
denomination as straight" Demo-
crat, and will probably be reelected, said:
"Well, the speakeasies are not suppressed.
| have tried hard to squeeze the life out
Of them, but you can't do it, SO long as
the people want whiskey they will get it.
! 1--WE have very liberal law here, 80
days in jailer $50 fine. If the prisoner
elects to be tried by magistrate aud not
before jury and court he can do SO and |
and then lie is sent to the county Jail |
and later to the state workhouse.
We have two such prisoners in Jail |
here now. Curiously, however, not
our easy statute, We have
lad perhaps less trouble with whiskey
han any other county on the Shore"
J. w. w. Woodford, Esq., the .magis-
rate that has tried more liquor cases
han any one else in Queen Anne's coun-
y, said Of prohibition. 1T is good in
ome ways, in others it is not. There is
10 public drinking, but there is plenty of
private, and it il almost impossible to
convict. Men who will tell the truth
lbout every other thing will lie when it
ZONES to conyicting the man who sold
hem whiskey."
Mr.. Clement Porter, many times dep
lty sheriff, and one Of the best informed
men in the county, declared that Queen
Anne's would 60 "wet" il the opportun-
ty Of vote was given. "There is no
prohibition here" be said, "you will
ind whiskey in nearly every house.
believe that the law has saved a few
Id worthless drunkards who could not
end away for tile stuff, from dying with
leiirun tremens, but it has made
Irunkards OF scores OF the best men, all
ver the country, because they get ii in
arge quantities. You know what man
rill do when he drinks in private Boys
ant drink Well, boys do drink here.
know all about it. am an officer OF
Z n L