The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-30
STEADY PROGRESS
 OF PROHIBITION Changed Conditions in Many Parts of This
 Country MUCH OF IT "DRY" Nearly Half the People Are Now Under Prohibition
 Rule.
MUCH OF IT "DRY"

the United States now live in com munities where the sale of liquor is forbidden by law Alabama is the lat est State to join the movement and after January 1. 1909, the State will also be elassed as dry" Georgia left the license column recently and in a few weeks the sale of liquor will be illegal in it. Mississippi has elected a prohibition governor and legislature, and is expected to join her sister States in the movement. In Florida there are at the present time only eight ''dry" coGnties-so ealled-out of forty7fiye, A petition is now being circulated in the county in which Jacksonville is situated, and when the requisite names have been secured a special election must be held within 90 days to learn the will of the pec- pie on prohibition. Governor Brow ards name heads the petition.
 Alabama's experience is only re- petition Of the struggle in Georgia to secure the passage of a prohibitory law. It is a forerunner of the fights to come in other Southern States. The liquor interests do not retire graceful ly at the first sound of opposition. They fight to the end, and they have aligned with them powerful interests.
 It must not be supposed that liquor dealers are the only ones who are in terested in the subject of the sale of strong drink. Men in all walks of life, not excepting the clergy, are di- ylded on the expediency of absolute prohibition. Not all on the one side are good men nor all on the ather side bad men. Many men of high standing however, are united in the belief that the license should be high and the traffic rigidly regulated,
 In the struggle just ended in Ala bama many arguments were advanced by both sides It has been said that the negro question has done much ito hasten the adoption of prohibition. In the rural communities, where the vote was solid for the abolition of the sa- loon, the trend has been in that direc- tion all along. but there can be no gainsaying the assertion that 1t is the negro who has caused the unan- imity of feeling shown at the present time.
 Authorities declare that before the negro had liquor given him he was the best laborer in the world. Rarely alt the present day iss the abstaining black man d criminal The saloon brings out the worst in the negro's nature, and for this reason the State sought emancipation from the liquor evil
 On the other hand, representative business men have aligned themselves against State prohibition. They say that the cities should be allowed to regulate the traffic for themselves. Competition for laborers is so keen in the South that organizations and com mittees whose function 1t is to distri- bute immigrant labor meet with vary Ing success in their attempts to di- vert any large quantity of labor to the South. Opponents of the present movement argue that with the sale of liquor forbidden by law 1t will be next to impossible to carry on the present industries of the South, let alone trying to work it's undeveloped resources. Such are the habits of the average immigrant, they say, that he cannot be induced to settle in a community where he cannot secure all the liquor he desires.
 A feature of the opposition to the prohibition Dill in Alabama was the presence of 500 women from Mobile. They protested against It's passage, for in Mobile alI the income from the H. quor licenses is devoted to the schools. In spite of all opposition, however, the vote in the State senate last Tues day was 92 to In favor of its pass age. Enc bill had been passed previ- ously in the house. It provides for State prohibition after January g., 1909.
 The spread of prohibition sentiment in the Solid South" has been little short of marvellous. South of Mason and Dixon's line there is not a State, with the exception of South Carolina that does not show a large majority of its counties and population under a "dry' regime.
 Tn the north the dry" territory is increasing. Maine has long had a prohibition law. Her neighbors, New Hampshire and Vermont, which dis carded prohibition a few years ago for local option, show an increase in the number of "dryp communities after each election In the Middle West and on the Pacific Coast the prohibit tionistse report unexpected progress. Recent political campaigns showed the importance of the liquor question as an issue.
 Briefly, the situation may be sum med up by states as follows: Maine has had nominal prohibition since 1855, and the State is now practically
 dry" following the passage of a bill Sivlng the power of enforcement to the State as well as to the counties. New Hampshire has local option, and Vermont adopted a local option law a l few years ago. In Massachusetts one-third of the cities and towns li- eense the saloon. The laws are strict and we'll enforced, Rhode Island is one-third dry Connecticut has a plan of town local ophen. The li- cense towns are in a minority.
 New York has few dry" towns. New Jersey prohibits liquor selling on Sunday License prevails in all the cities of Pennsylvania, Two-thirds of the rural districts are under prohibl- tion. Delaware and Maryland are about evenly divided. About one-half Of Virginia is dry" and the same condition exists In West Virginia ] n..l