The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-26

orally.
 Great interest centers about the meet i ing of the commission in Memphis, Oc- 1 tober 4. Among other important matters
 
 land. It has crawled like a serpent through the halls of Congress. It has
 peeped and laughed above the newly made grave of hunger, and has sent reel Ing forms with staggering footsteps to
 final Judgment behind bars which were riveted by the same laws that legalized l the sale of whisky. Insanity, pauperism and crime mutter, weep and curse in the shadow of the dramshop. and later fill the charity wards of hospitals and asy l lums. Senator Carmack of Tennessee, speaking of the political activity of the saloon, said few months ago: 'I was weary of a condition of things where the man whose business 1t Is to make the laws must hold his office by consent of the man whose business 1t Is to break the laws. I am weary of the insolent and dictatorlal spirit which so largely per vades the saloon business of the state
 At recent meeting of the National Ed ucatonal association at Los Angeles, 1t was decided that there were four serious problems confronting the educational leaders of the country, as they deal with the school children, viz.: "A disregard for constituted authority" "a lack of re spect for age and superior wisdom" "a weak appreciation of the demands of duty" and the disposition to follow pleasure and interest rather than obliga- tion and order" Such are the conditions confronting the educational leadership of the country as they deal with the younger generation of our land. Those to whom tho history and workings of the saloon are well known will not be slow to see tendencies here which are found, without fail, fostered in and by tHe saloon. The l whisky forces In a western city some months ago distributed samples of liquor among the school children at play on the campus resulting in some fifty children l being taken home drunk. This was "mis-
 sionary work" among the younger gener- ] atlon.
 Schools Do Not Need Revenue. i But we are told that the saloons have
 built our public schools and therefore we
 cannot spare the revenue derived from 1 that source. Any one acquainted with i the character of the leadership and citl- ] zenship of Birmingham will know with l out question that the public schools of l our city will not be closed for one mo ment because of tho lack of revenue from
 the licensing of saloons. If the saloons 1 built our DuDllC HcnOOlS they may III tAS
 same sense be said to have built our or
 phans' homes. our insane asylums, our
 jails and our penltentiaries, because we l have already seen that three-Quarters oi l tho inmates of the above-named instl- tutions trace their misfortunes directly or l indirectly to the influence of the saloon
 Further more, Maine, New Hampshire
 Vermont, Iowa, Kansas and Georgia, by
 statutory law, have all declared tha'
 not only can their public schools do with l out the revenue from the saloons, bul that they will prosper more when divorced
 from this iniquitous traffic.
 Political economists are all agreed that 1 industry and intelligence are the creators | of wealth The saloon has failed to con vince even the most liberal minded tha'
 fl is the avowed destroyer of wealth. 1 server of wealth. On the other hano l it si the avowed destroyer Of wealth
 for this reason. namely, that anything which shortens the life and dimlnshes inc efficiency of labor, is wealth de- stroyer. It is urged that 1t will not re- duce crime, in reply, we call the at tention to the state of Maine, as com pared with the state of Alabama. In the l year 1906 Maine had two murders. Maine Is a prohibition state Alabama has aver aged 250 murders per year during the ] last four years. And yet the Commercial ! cOm1nlttee tcll uS tiicy dio CPP~@~N - prohibition for moral reasons"
 It is urged that prohibition will not prohibit. If this be true it is true for | only two reasons, namely, the officers either cannot or will not enforce the law, or the men who buy the whisky are ex- pected to perjure themselves before the 1 courts. It has been truly said that blind tiger is much less dangerous than A tiger with two big eyes. wide open, 1 zHrl,t robbery of the First National bank to prohibit the bucketshop. It has taken only few deaths at grade crossings to produce l Legislation for compelling the railways to remedy this by building viaducts.
 It ,s urged that if Alabama passes the prohibition law or If Birmingham goes | dry that foreign labor will forsake south | ern fields. Where will 1t go! PehnsylVahia has all the labor 1t needs. Tennessee has less whisky than Alabama, Kentucky is rapidly approaching the prohibition stat ute. Fifteen thousand foreigners have not vet left Georgia. Moreover city that dictates the price of steel will not be easily bankrupted by prohibition law. And If Birmingham has laid It's foun- dation upon the frail glass of a whisky ! flask. the sooner that foundation is re- placed by something more substantial the better 1t will be for all concerned. Birmingham can better afford to be known by the character of It's citizen | shin and the uality of Its steel, than by the brand of its whisky; and % long as the men and the steel remain, the loss of whisky will not materially anect the destiny of so great city.
 Let us hear the conclusion Of the whole matter. We have seen that the entire social fabric is endangered by the detri- msntal influence of liuor. We have seen that if has organized Its forces to do .'missionary work" among our boys who arc to be the future statesmen and In dustrial cbieftains of the south. We have seen further that the saloons are insolent and dictatorial in political affairs and that they will not hesitate to influence iepislation at any price or by any means. We have also seen that the educational interests of the country have been im- haired by the example. by the Influence, and bv thei injurious effects of the sale of intoxicating liuor under the shadow of our nihlic schools. We have seen again that cities as great as Birmingham, and states as great as Alabama have dared to nut down the whisky traffic and have thereby proved that our public schools and our municipal governments are not dependent upon the revenues derived rom anch sources. We have seen by a. most conservative estimate that 65 per cent of Rirmingham criminals owe their educa . tion in large measure to the saloons Of our city and that If we will vote them af4 4hor for ty