The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-26
DUNCAN COMES BACK
 AT CARD TO VOTERS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE s1

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5)
 -~~~-~~-~~~-~~~-~~~~~S~ ~S~O~~~No~~.e-~~O~~~~ Northport. Coroner's verdict. whisky and heat
 Then they say: Tn the steel mills, machine shops, rolling mills, and In all other finishing plants, a highly paid class of labor is employed. The work requires brawn and muscle, and the waste of tissue Is enormous'
 What Will Physicians say9
 T would like to ask if there is a | physician here that is able to show that a strong man is made of strong drink. Was there ever a man built up to strength and activity by alcohol? ? No; physicians will all admit that 1t Is the greatest destroyer of tissue, and that 1t makes the weakest men. Tn ey may fling at the soda fountain as sell | ing 'so-cal1ed soft drinks of which basis because the poor little innocent soda fountain does sell drinks, but none of them contain one drop of alcohol.
 The next sentence says: Many of the 1 best workmen are of foreign birth and descent, and like their fathers before them have been accustomed to refresh ing themselves after their exertions.'
 And yet I know of one pipe works employing 300 men, only 25 of whom are of foreign birth, and ten of the twenty-five are skilled laborers, 'tre- mendously many Oh. we are going to the dogs because ten men can't get drunk
 But the fact is this, a large per- cent of the men in these plants are our l own negroes, working in the crude ma l terial, and our own citizens, on the finished product. I have that from a good authority, as well as the fact that the American laborer drinks two l one.
 "As to the bonded debt they say, The l interest on the bonded debt Of the city of Birmingham amounts to about Sf29,- | 900 per annum; the amount realized from liquor license Is sufficient to pay s120 000 of this amount leaving only l 5000 to be paid from other funds. The city will receive no benefit from in creased tax valuations until the fall Of | 1908. Should her income from licenses be entirely swept away. either default will have to be made on her bonds. or | else important appropriations in other directions, such as for schools and fire department. curtailed with a possible alternative of increased licenses on other occupations.
 Statement Is Untrue.
 T do not like to brand a statement as untrue, but that Is certainly untrue. In the first place the saloon license is not 5000, and counting everything. 1 pool rooms and restaurants run in con- nection. you cannot bring the liquor l license realization up to $120,o ,o00 a year. Why do they send out statements that they know are untrue? I believe in 1 fighting fair. but in this campaign you will not go one step without having to i fight dishonesty. This statement is a confession of the fact.
 Tt does not necessarily follow that al Nt,,ia rla loon men, you will remember. cannot get insurance Grom any company in the world the saloon Is acknowledged as the most dangerous place in city. and if its empty building will decrease the tax value will not the neighboring prop erty be correspondingly increased?
 History of Disappointed Hopes.
 Here Is another fact me history of prohibition has been, as rule, a history of disappointed hopes, of viola tions of law, of undiminshed crime, and of reaction. Maine, Vermont, Kansas and Iowa can bear witness to this
 "Oh, you prohibtionsts get out your handerchiefs the Lord pity us in our disappointed hopesi And yet I can show you statistics from five counties in Vir- ginia with a population of 5000o people who in one year of prohibition had only five white and twenty-seven colored men in jail. In Jefferson county. were that the case, the poor sheriff would starve to death. and that would be horrible!
 Then. at last, they trust that the voters of this county will not be carried off their feet by an emotional wave. Bless your deal little hearts. don't let people sing these lullab bles and put you to sleep so you will have no time to think. No, no, mol We love you SO. Don't let the boogerman get you. Oh, no, no; God bless youl
 .'rEe statement closes with: We can only hope for, and we should demand d percentage of drunkenness and crime not higher than the average of that of other great industrial communities, and if our present liquor laws cannot bring about this result. we will still have other rem edies'
 .Is that the best that these men can wish for Birmingham, that she shall not be worse than other cities. They might wish her to be just a little better, it seems to me.
 Facts About Cambridge.
 Now l want to give you few facts 1 about a city of 100000 population, an in- dustrious iron center This city is ! Cambrige. Mass. Cambrige began prohi- | bition with tax valuations of S59.5oO.0O0, l and in fifteen years it increased to se6,- ! 000000. This with a city that was hard to handle, being In four separate towns, 1 and with Boston. wide open, only across l the bridge.
 ",rhe savings banks deposits before pro i hibition showed a gain of s166000 a year, 1 and after the gain has been s445OOO per i year, more than three times larger. When | 1t comes to local trade. only one man 1 said he had been affected. I am beg ! gar because men used to buy loaf or 1 bread, and now they buy barrel or flour However the value of property has increased sS6.OOo,ooo in fifteen years, which more than makes up for the little sl0o,OOO they used to get in saloon H. censes
 'Durham, another city of @.0oo innani- tants. reports that after a year Of prohi- 1 bition there has been no necessity TOT raise in taxes Bristol, Tenn, sends word that since prohibition began they nave , had no trouble in renting the saloon buildings for better rates than before. { These figures are not we believe or we hope but they can be verified
 Let Us ask God to help us see what we need, what is right. and then, God heip- ing us, let us do 1t.
 Dr. Duncan will preach next sunday afternoon on, Docs Prohibition Pro- hibit?"
 Woman Eats Money.
 .Stob Auy1sf gb-After