Middletown transcript., 1907-10-05
Etrruar 0nitmtitter
EtrRtIaF Oniilntif1eR
HnIiH
IlGEN6EAND La Y
Worchester County, Maryland
As 1t Is
COMMON SENSE OPINIONS
Worcester Wet Compared with
Somerset Dry
COMMON SENSE OPINIONS

4 A sure way to carry Delaware for Ii.
cense is to send several car loads Of bust
ness men, selected from the leading
towns Of this State, to the various Eastern
Shore towns, ending the itinerary at POGO.
moke City, Worcester county. This town
is one Of bali dozen carefully inspected,
and it is the most progressive and bust.
nessIike of them all. Comparisons are
said to be odinus, but no one can fail
to see the difference between dry
and 'swet'' town. A single night spent
at the leading hotels of such towns will
be an object lesson worth many votes for
| license.
Pocomoke City has six licensed hotels.
all within three or four squares of each
| other. Repeated visits to the several
corners occupied by these houses failed to
disclosed single intoxicated person, not
one eline-up'' Of drinkers, although the
bars we're all in sight Of the streets, and
not one loud or unseemly word
was heard. Il is in no sense inti-
mated by this that unseemly sights
and sounds were seen and heard
in the "dry" towns. Not at all. The
Eastern Shore towns are well behaved,
well governed and it is a pleasure to
visit any one of them; but the fact re-
mains that Pocomoke City, with six bars.
was just as we'll behaved as the other
communities, and showed good deal
more business activity than its neighbors
did, Of the same or even more numerous
population.
In referring these matters to leading
business man of the town, he said, that
be was opposed to license and hoped to
TO have all bars taken out of Wor-1
cester county; .'but, il is the truth"
he said, 'sthat we never have any
complaints to make of our local hotel
keepers. They certainly conduct the
business according to law and decency.
A word with Squire Quinn confirmed
tho shove statement. He too, was in
favor of prohibition, although he knew
nf very little drunkenness. When asked
to seo his docket for the last quarter.
he said that he did not have single
case of drunkenness, disorderly conduct
or violence. This was so remarkable and
unusual, that J. D. A. Robinson, the |
police magistrate, was looked up.
Squire Robinson's docket, beginning |
with July lst, 1907, showed % entries;
Is for drunkenness and consequent Of
fences; but no entry for selling liquor
without license. This is remarkable |
record for a town of 5000 inhabitants,
with an additional population Of several
hundred foreigners, some of whom are
doubling the track of the N. Y, P. & N.
railroad, while the rest are cutting tim
Der to use as mine props in Pennsylvania.
1t naturally brings to mind Police
Magistrate Jumps docket( Easton, Md.
which showed over 100 cases of drunken
ness, since July Ist last. and only seven
other charges, FIVE of which were for SELL
ing liquor illegally. This is the "wetn
and the .'dry"of ii with a vengeance.
Easton is believed TO contain 1000 inhab-
itants.
When one drives ''scross the bridge"
over the black Pocomoke, which is said
to be the deepest river in the Peninsula.
he enters into Somerset county, OF which
ancient and beautiful Princess Anne is the
county seat and Crisfeld the principal
place OF business. Somerset county has
a record of six lynchings in as many /
years. No one recalls that any one was
ever lynched in Worcester, which con-
tains Pocomoke City, Berlin, Snow Hill,
Ocean City and several minor towns and
villages. Worcester has more area than
Somerset, but because of its poorer soil it
has fewer inhabitants. Nevertheless they
are building good stone roads out of POGO
moke City, and Crisfeld, with all it's ad-
yantaees OF unparalleled water facilities,
cannot be named in the same class as
Pocomoke.
Princess Anne and Crisfeld each claims
a greater population than Pocomoke, and
yet the two together do not do as much
business as the latter. The four banks of
the former two towns show loans and
discounts to the amount of $4,000
while the three banks of Pocomoke show
only $500, 600; but these latter loans are
made at home and are the result OF quick
or daily deposits, while more than $780,
600 of the Somerset banks loans repre-
sent time or savings deposits. Pocomoke
is doing business, Princess Anne and Cris-
field for some reason are asleep. They
have probably three times the population
that Pocomoke has. but they don't do
as much business. A half dozen houses
are being built in Pocomoke. II there is
any other town on the Eastern Shore of
!, 900 inhabitants. putting up half dozen
houses this summer the writer has not
heard Of it.
Squire Lankford OF Princess Anne
gave reasonable explanation for the
above fact. He said: 'sThere isn't q |
farmer within two miles of the south and
east Of us that does not drive To Poco- |