Middletown transcript., 1907-09-14

ln0AO DISC toWu LII i. OO0S " pro.
hibit Not bit. The man who wants to
drink can get it by the quart and he
usually gets drunk. Drunkenness is COM
mon. Is Centreyille morally Ibetter than
"wet" towns that I may have seen?
| think not, we are no better here than
we ought to be. Ofcourse, the politicians
are afraid to take up the matter. Things
are so close down here between the
'straights'and the IN dependent that no
man who wants Office can afford to add
to the number of issues."
Chas. E. Tucker, Esq, said that 'spro-
hibition had been in force so long in
Queen Anne's that comparativelysyoung
man could not say what its effect was on
business The law does net psehl.iibb;;ss 4.
Four men would club together aud get
gallon for 81. Thus they drank more
liquor than they would if they paid ten
cents for drink over the bar.
Mr.. Walter Wright. the largest dealer
in hardware and agricultural implements
on the Eastern Shore, if not on the PEN
insula. when interviewed, remarked:
Il am perh aps not proper person to in.
teryiew on this question because I am
not prohibitionist. I am opposed to
it, because it interiors with personal
liberty. 1t does not interfere with drink
ing with the men who can afford to send
away for it. I have often thought as l
have travelled through those hustling
towns of New Jersey and New York,
with fine hotels and even saloons, that it
would be better to control the traffic by
means of high license. There ought to
be one good hotel in every town and it
appears that hotels cannot be properly
maintained without the privilege of
bar"
Alfred Green, the leading dry goods
merchant, promptly said EYES," when
asked whether he was satisfied with pro-
hibition. He thought it kept "whiskey
from the rabble." Did ii prohibit drink
ing? "0h, no, there is quite as much
drunkeDHess here as ever, but it is not
so public"
When asked as to its effects on busi-
ness, he concluded there was not as much
business now at Centreville as there was
before 1888, before the act was inaugu-
rated" nor did he think that the morals
OF the town had much improved.
Mr.. Lewis Evan, well-known official
of the Queen Anne's National Bank, had
no difficulty in defining his position
against this alleged prohibition. He
called il farce. Convictions we're rare,
impossible. Every man in
volved in trials periured himself. The
county paid the costs of attendance of
hundreds of witnesses, while there was
no let up in the illicit traffic. As a busi-
ness proposition it was all out and moth.
ing in. As moral question the periurers
were worse than the drunkards.
The hypocrisy of it ramitied all classes
Of society and debauched the integrity
Of the people of the county infinitely
more than whiskey could do. Whiskey
is as common here as it is in Delaware,
and yet we get no revenue for the county
from it. The men who drink, and that
covers nearly everybody, drink more,
because the bottle is more tempting than |
he bar, and yet if there was a bar here,
ew men would send to Baltimore or |
for stuff.
1t kills business. There is no business
lere. The country people 90 where they |
AN the most readily get drink. High
license would give ns good hotel in
very town in the county, and that means
business. That is what / see in other
tates and / am convinced that is what
Va ought to have here. / believe this
ounty would 60 for high license ii the
opportunity came"
The opportunity will come much sooner
han any Of these honest msn believe.
thirty years of any system incuIcates
Is truth or faIsity in a generation. In
he language Of Mr.. Wright Prohibition
nterferes with personal liberty" and
he new generation in this latitude will
ot stand for it. The more Georgia, in
q brutal course is quoted, the stronger
ill become the resentment on the East
IN Shore to these arbitrary and hypo-
ritical pretentions. They have passed
he line of local option in Delaware and
county option and in Georgia
ley have enforced state option. The
ext effort will come from the south in /
8 passion and senseless insistence in the
lape of bill for National option. When
rat comes the whole tyranny will be
Tept away.
Here are the figures in the liquor busi-
ess in Queen Anne's county. In 1906
iere were 20 presentations for violation
the liquor laws and only three con-
clions. This ia what makes sensible
en tired. They see that it is impossible
enforce the statutes that public
oinion will not support the officers of
Ie law in prosecutions under statutes
lat are a violation of common sense.
They see that the population of the
'unty has decreased, and the criminal
lpenses have increased. In 1894 the
iminal costs were 50, 1856. 80; in 1895,
sO64. 20; in 1896, 81, ,Os6 so, and In 1905,
ith reduced population the criminal
sts approximated "a, 10000.
The thinking men OF Queen Anne's
unity, who are not intimidated by
,litical ambition nor debauched by
rpocrisy, reason that the seven districts
that county could easily be made to
" 100000 upon an $4,000 license,
cure a good hotel in each town with
10 at Centreville. weed out the miser-
lie speak easies and the purchasing
ent." reduce the criminal court ex- c
nses by one-half, put the truth in the q
outh Of its rampant Pharisees, and g