Gainesville daily sun. (Gainesville, Fla.) 190?-1938, 1907-12-16
TRUTH ABOUT GAINESVILLE"

Line train in Gainesville on Tues
day, December 2. was not start
led by any extraordinary changes
that had taken place since | let
loose from the Florida Southern
train at the same spot on an after
noon in June, 1882, The Florida
Southern of that time is the At.
lantic Coast Line of the present,
the only noticeable change in
front of the Brown House is that
the present road is a standard,
while the road Of we olden time
was a narrow gauge. West Main
street is the principal thorough
fare o. Gainesville, and presenting
the same general appearance to-
day as it did in June, 1882. II the
street has at any time been paved
it shows no visible signs Of 1t.
In reading the rosy-posy prohi-
bition statement of the wonderful
advancement of Gainesville, l am
reminded OF question put to a
negro by his attorney In a case
of assault with intent to murder:
Question-In what position were
you standing, and in what position
was the prosecuting witness
standing at the time you fired the
shot?
Answer-We want standin', sab,
we wuz advancin'.
Question-How were" you ad.
vancing?
Answer-He wuz advahcin for
ward, and / wuz advancin' back
wards.
The above is an excerpt from two.
column article in The Times.Union of
December 18th by Allan Rodgers. who
1t is understood recently visited Gaines.
vile in the interest of the anti-pro-
of Jacksonville. His state
ment that no extraordinary changes
have taken place in this city since
1882 is about as true as other state
ments he makes derogatory to Gaines
Vile. The editor Of. The Sun came
to Gainesville to reside in August,
1879 and has not been out Of the
city since then for more than four
at any one time The Brown
House. and nearly every other brick
building in the town, has been erected
since 1882, including the magnificent
court house; so his statement that
the town has advanced backwards
Is not borne out by the fats.
The whole trend Of Mr.. Rodgers arti
Gle is an effort to prove that Gaines.
vile has not advanced during the
four and a half years that the sale
Of liquor has been prohibited in the
city and county. but he has not &C.
his object for the evidence
Is here TO disproye his statement We
do not say that the town would not
have advanced equally as much had
liquor not been voted out, but We do
say, from our own personal knoWl-
edge. that voting the saloon out OF the
city has not been detrimental 10 the
business interests while ii has proven
a great blessing from moral stand
point, and the best evidence that the
people are satisfied with present con
ditions is that you cannot find a white
business man on the square who
would vote TO again license the sal"
Of liquor in Gainesville.
His comparison Of the number ot
cases on the docket Of the
last circuit court with the term prior
TO the county voting for proh.uitiun.
proves nothing The phosphate and
naval stores industries hay" NOR"
than doubled during that time. and
everybody knows IN" low class OF
negroes who have come into the Coun-
IS To work I'm these industries has
been the cause OF the Increase In Grim.
inal cases The large number ~ ar.
rests for violation OF IN" prohibition
law shows the determination 81 our
people % put 4 stop 10 this class az
crime. and the punishment melted out