The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-10-12
RISE or PROHIBITION
Cause Of AntiIiquor Legislation
In the South.
THE NEGRO IS RESPONSIBLE.

Whites Fear the Drunken Black Man.
Free Access to lntoxicants Cause Of
Racial Wsrs---I4ears. and His League.
The Oklahoma Constitution.
BY WILLIS J. ABBOT.
In the October Review of Reviews
appears an article by the Wash
ington correspondent of the Atlanta
Constitution, putting for the first time
into complete form the record Of the
spread of prohibition, local or state,
throughout the south. The article is
too long to summarize. but 1t is well
worth the careful attention OF the peo-
pie who still cling TO the old concep-
ton of the south as the home OF the
toddy and the julep. As a matter of
fact, by far the greater part Of the
south Is now under stringent prohibi-
tory laws. Under local option 90 per
cent of the counties of Virginia are
now dry, and prominent editor in
Richmond told me there only few
weeks ago that that city would be car
ried for prohibition IL the matter were
brought to vote-something that do
not believe could be said for any city
Of equal size in the north. The polit-
| ical foundations of Senator Tillman's
emInence were laid upon his dispen-
sary system in South Carolina, but
only recently the governor Of that state
told me that the dispensaries would
have TO go. not because they regulated
too strictly the sale Of liquor, but be-
cause complete prohibition was de-
manded by the people. The greater
part Of Texas is dry" under local op-
| ton, and the editor of one of the most
prominent newspapers In that state
| told me that the time Is near at hand
when 1t will have state prohibition.
Meantime its lawmakers amuse them
| selves with such statute as one max
ing 1t a misdemeanor for n man to
take u drink on a railroad train, and
only within n week or two the sheriff
of county In another state who un-
Willingly committed this offense was
dragged off train and fined by q
country squire. Georgia Of course has
state prohibition, adopted by vote so
large that Governor Hoke Smith. per-
sona!!y disappearing tho BILL felt him
sell obliged to sign It, Kentucky,
which makes more whisky for the de-
lectation Of Its sister states than any
other commonwealth, permits its sale
in barely a tenth Of Its own counties.
Moreover. state laws adopted IN many
Of the southern communities prohibit
railroads, under severe penalties, from
carrying liquors OF any sort into local
option county. This applies only TO
freight originating within the state,
but this year q bill In congress will he
pressed for national legislation which
shall estop interstate railroads from
carrying liquors into prohibition states.
1t is to be supported by southern con-
gressmen, who In this cause seem ready
to forget their ancient state rights con-
victions.
The Explanation Of This Phenomenon.
| Curiously enough, while the south has
made this prodlgious advance in the
cause of temperance If prohibition
means temperance, which some doubt
the north has progressed little, IL mt
all. Since Maine led Off with constitu-
tlonal prohibition and Kansas follow
ed there has been an almost entire ces-
satlon OF agitation for state temper
ance In the north. Why should the
south, whose public men are always
| ~ pnl. f,as iu1t tui Inn nd tuf IN
rights, have been 50 ready TO wink at
violations OF both when the suppression
of the liquor traffic Is involved? Here
Is the answer as given to me the other
day by the mayor of one Of the largest
cities Of Virginia.
ITS the negro" said he. "rhe right
of the negro to vote and his use Of his
vote have kept southern white men
voting the Democratic ticket for easily
twenty years after they had come into
sympathy with Republican policies.
Now the black men are turning the
Democratic party of the south into a
prohibition party. Every man who has
lived long In the south knows that In
districts with large colOred popula-
tion the whites live In constant dread
Of riotous outbreaks. They dislike the
negro sober; they fear him drunk.
Much of the great majority given to
prohibition In the city of Atlanta, a
majority that could not have been oh.
tanned in any northern city OF like
1 character and size, was due to the At
lanta race riots of Il year or more ago.
These riots hardly would have occur
red except for>the free access to intox-
icants possessed by both whites and
blacks at the time. Mark my words.
az, long as the negro is as powerful an
element nRanerlcally in the life OF, the
south as 1t Is now prohibition will en-
dure and Will be extended"
| Hsarst's National Programme.
Mr.. Hearst. who has led OF perhaps
thrust his Independence league into
preparation for national activities. does
not read history very well, though he
ktands a chance OF making some his
tory himself. Fn
Last week he held meeting OF ma
ticnal sympathizers coming TO New
York from nearly half. the states of
Il