Middletown transcript., 1907-09-14
ION LAW

ID Not Effective ID Queen Anne County.
Maryland. Secret Drinking and the
Speak-Easy-.-Aien, Women and ChiI-
dren Drink
POPULATION DECREASES. COURT
EXPENSES INCREASES
Queen Anne's county, separated from
Kent by the lazy and fragrant Sassafras
river, differs little from its neighbor IN
the opinion that prohibition is hypocrisy
and a harm to the county. Lake Kent,
Queen Anne only needs leader OF cour.
age to sweep away at coming election
the whole fabric and force of so-called
prohibition. There is no prohibition o.
tie sale siital Intoxicating
liquors. No man in Queen Anne's
county, talking to you face to face, in the
quiet of his Office or parlor, will for
single moment insist that prohibition pro
hibits; and he may prove his faith sooner
or later by producing bottle.
If you talk TO an Eastern Shore politi.
clan, no matter which side he is on, be
| will hedge. No man running for office in
Kent, Queen Anne's or Caroline will tell
you the facts.
At Centreyille two shrewd fellows,
playing upon the weakness OF the senti'
mentalists, do thriving business, "tak.
| ing orders" from the men and women,
who want a stimulant. 1t arrives by
boat and train about o'clock P. M.
They will bring whatever you order,
within twenty-four hours. Prohibition
| is joke at Centrevllle, as it is at Ches.
tertown, at EIkton, at Cambridge, at
Easton, at Crisfeld, and in fact at every
town on the Eastern Shore that is touched
by railroad or boat.
Understand that every one who wants
to drink, does drink, be it man, woman,
or child, drink secretly; the worst form
| of intemperance. The man who lifts his
hand the highest in indignation at intem-
perance is sure to keep bottle in bis
house. That is what his neighbors say.
This is changing public sentiment in
Queen Anne's county. Human nature is
nearly Square" All men will play a
square game with you, except the scoun.
drels and degenerates. Therefore nearly
all the men despise the attitude of the
prohibitionist. for they know him to be a
Pharisee and hypocrite.
Prohibition has not decreased taxes,
nor crime, but it has increased the cost
of criminal trials, because of the increase
OF the offenders against the prohibition
laws. Statutes that are impossible of ex-
ecution are productive of lawlessness.
Hence prohibition laws are notoriously
violated and conclusive to crime and to
court expenses.
Centreville, like Chesteltown, Elkton
and Cambridge, testifies to the inability
of the courts to execute the prohibition
that it increases the expenses OF the
courts, that they do not prohibit drinking;
that they invite secret drunkenness by
boys and men; that they cultivate deceit
and much open lying, and that. many of
the men in the county, who shout for pro-
hibition have the best whiskey upon their
sideboards.
Nor does it pay. Queen Anne's county
is one Of the richest on the Eastern Shore,
and yet it has the poorest public build
ings. These buildings do not compare
with any in Delaware. The prohibition
policy is a blight and scares both parties.
from putting any improvement upon the
county.
The population OF Queen Anne's county
in 1880 was 10, ,257, in 1890 it was 1s,46l,
and in 1900 il was 1894 Here is unan-
swerable evidence that the county is not
growing and that the claims of the pro-
hibitionists are mistaken if not fraudu-
lent. Queen Anne's registration in 1905
ware 4719 of which 1868 was colored and
1859 white, representing population of
200, 900; but there was no such population
nor any such vote. The registration and
the vote of an Eastern Shore county are
two things. In Caroline county for ex-
ample, one-fourth of the registered vot-
ers do not vote. The reason given is that |
the men not voting have been bought to
stay at home, which is proof that pro-
hibition does not conduce to political |
nor to any other kind OF NOR
atty. In 1905 the registration Of Queen |
Anne's county was 100 less than in 1905.
The whites fell off 175, and the colored
votes Is. 1t is obvious that the county
Is not growing. It fell off nearly 800 in
from 1880 to 1890, and 100
from 1890 to 1900. When the popula-
lion ceases to grow, the business and
moral strength of the county also goes
backward.
One proposition of the prohibitionists
iails by lack of its own logic. The banks,
they say, are full Of money. The East
srn Shore counties were never SO wealthy,
they claim. Look at Cbestertown. with
its three banks bulging with money,
perhaps . million" There are the
banks in Queen Anne's, holding, atleast,
81 900, 10000 in deposits, and Caroline
with as much, at least. All this gold has
come from prohibition. The testimony
Of honest men, in banks and outside of
them, is that this story Of heavy deposit
is true; but they uniformly add: t'What
good is that money in the banka? There
s no room here for Investment except in
Farm mortgages. What we need il fac
tory, the investment OF this money for the
benefit of labor. Full banks means idle
abor. Our money is taken awav and in