The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-13
ATLANTA'S EXPERIENCE
Her Diminshed Her Values Deprecated and Her Growth Blghted by Prohibition Distressing Effects of Fanaticism Prosperity and Moras-Why Local
 Option Was Overwhelmingly Repudiated

to elase at 20 What is known as the Big
 Bonanza store formerly brought me in l $l500, but now brings only $l20o six of my twenty stores are vacant and my l total rents are from 5000 to $4000 less per l year than before the prohibitory law went | into effect"
 The testimony of scores of leading citi-
 zens and property owners is to the same l effect. The depression in business in | duced by prohibition also interfered wth
 the promptness in paying rents.
 f With this great surplus of houses, 1t is not wonderful that little building was l done in the city under the prohlbitory
 regime. The total number of building
 permits Issued during 1886 was only 33, l about one-third of which were for shed l additions or small Improvements. This number of permits is smaller than that is- l sued by many other cities of the same 1 size as Atlanta in a single month.
 1t is difficult to get at the value of property in Atlanta under prohibition from the fact that there was no demand l for real estate house on the court house square, which was assessed for tax
 ation al $GO00, sold for $4500. A house and
 lot in most desirable portion of the city, the house alone costing Sl7000 to build was sold by Charles Beerman for 1 SlO,OO0 The Weems property, on Capitol
 avenue, one of the aristocratic streets,
 which was held before prohibition at
 $lS,OO0, was put upon the market and sold
 for $10,0OO. Sales at similar reduction were frequent.
 The operation of the law drove many valuable and enterprising citizens from Atlanta. These 1t is estimated by officers of two of the lead
 ing banks of the city, took away
 with them, in cash some three millions
 of dollars. The loss in annual commerce fa aa oifty fl1a anfn affat of hp law was estimated, by thirty of the lead ing merchants, bankers and business men, hone of whom ever sold liquor, at be-
 tween six and seven million dollars. The total value of personal property returned for tax in the city decreased from $7,SS9 269, In 1885 10 s7 679, 439 in 1SS6, and to S7,64l, ,326 in 1887.
 A very serious effect of the law was the intense bitterness stirred up between citizens, which resulted in a general dis inclination to contribute to public en- terprises. This bitterness was not con fined to those engaged in the liquor traf fife and those opposed 10 them. but in Volved, on both sides, the best citizens in the town.
 While values, rents and trade were thus disastrously affected taxes enormously increased Larger revenues than in former years were required 10 support the ma chinery for enforcing the prohibitory law. and these had to be drawn from dimln- ished revenue paying sources. By the operation of the prohbitory law, more- over, the city was deprived of d large income from saloon licenses This amount ed in 1885, to S37,7W 7S. To meet the ln- creased demand and cover the defcien- cies the owners of personal and real propery which had depreeiated in market and rent-paying value 15 to go per cent. were required to pay $i69, ,026 30 in 1886, as in inc of per cent. This increased tax was raised by retaining the old rate of taxation and increasing the assessed value on real es- tate, which was thus made to bear not
 only all these increases in tax, but to
 make good the loss fin revenue due to the decrease in personally as well.
 The cost of administering the city gov
 ernment was thus s4l $40. s9 more in 1886 than IT, 1885. In 1885 the city, with a smaller revenue and subject to higher in-
 terest charges, invested over S27 ,000 more in permanent Improvements than in the year 1886. IL is estimated by those famil-
 far with the clty's finance that her con
 dition was over sl00,0G worse in 1887 than
 in 1885. 1t is certain that the city was
 forced to sell $G5 600 of gas stock which she held to provide funds for municipal purposes for which the revenue of the
 city had before been adequate.
 The police force of Atlanta was in-
 creased 70 per cent under prohibition and
 still found it's hands fully occupied The
 number of persons convicted for crime in
 the superior court of Fulton county, of
 which Atlanta is the county seat. ex-
 elusive of cases continued from former
 terms of court, increased from 51 in the
 year ending July l. 1886. under license.
 to 85 in the year ending July l, 1881, under
 prohibition, an increase of over 39 per
 cent. The total fines assessed in the city
 police court in 1885 was $2l .903 25 This
 had increased under prohibition, in 1886.
 to sZ3,Sl730 Of the fines assessed 65
 per cent were collected in 1885, and only
 5s per cent in 1886. The number of in- dictments returned by the grand jury of Fulton county at It's last two terms prior to prohibition was 1i6. The num-