Milford chronicle., 1907-08-30


"There is more whiskey drunk here
now than ever before. The prohibition
system is demOralizing in that it incul
Gates secret drinking. Men and boys gel
whiskey il quantities and drink until the
stuff is all gone. 1t takes lots of business
out of town, toe"
Hon. George r. Ash, auditor of the
State of Maryland, and editor of the Cecil
Democrat, one of the most careful students
of local and State conditions, and man
who neither touches nor tastes intoxicants
of any kind, had no hesitation in declaring
that Cecil county's alleged prohibitive
measure had a bad effect on Elkton and
the county in general. He said further
"There is more drunkenness now than
under our license system. Whiskey is
! hauled to ElktOn by wagon loads and
handed over to the least responsible men,
/ bers of the community. Jugs are emptied
at one drink. Plenty of men get jugs on
/ Saturday nights and stay by them for
three or four days. We had no such con-
ditions under license five years ago. Why,
last Sunday l saw mere child, a small
| boy, reeling drunk. He had been to a
speakeasy, one of the many along the
creek. Bows of Is and II are common
visitors to these secret hiding places. None
of them could have got a drink in any
one of the licensed places that we had
here a few years ago.
''It hurts business, too. The men who
drink-and all that ever drank drink now
and many mOre-n0t only spend their
money for liquor, but they spend a good
deal for railroad fares and express charges;
but that is not all. They do their buying
of necessities where they buy their liquor.
But they drink more liquor. A drink or
two at home satisfies them when they
could get freely into public house. Now,
it is never less than a quart and often
gallon.
'The people who reside between Elkton
and Newark, naturally drive to Newark
to do their business. Newark is booming.
There is not a single house going up in
ElktOn this year. There has been very
little building here for years. There is
lots of building at Newark, Delaware.
"Our court expenses have not been re-
duced but have been heavily increased,
as the records will show. In 1905 the last
year of license, our criminal court expenses
fell short of $4,000. The next wear they
reached nearly Sl3, 600. Besides in 1902 we
collected about $1,000 from the licensed
hotels in the county. Violence is a COM
mon Saturday or Sunday night occur
renee. They occur along the river and in
the negro quarters. 1t all comes from the
secret and Illicit drinking OF bad whiskey.
"Do you know that nearly all the
negroes voted for prohibition? PrOhibi-
ton was carried in this county, both in
1902 and in 1906, by combination of sin
cere prohibtionists and the speakeasy
crowd. The voters boast of their powers
thus to get into the illicit business. 1t
pays them. A decent man Won sell liquor
without a license, so the business which
goes on all the time, has fallen into the
worst hands"
Joshua Clayton, Esq, the well-known
Elkton lawyer, who is Delaware born,
answered the question as to prohibition
in Elkton as follows
"Why, we had three druggists that sold
openly until last March, when two of the
proprietors were convicted with a sus
pended sentence. Since then the drug
stores have been dry but there is as much
whiskey drunk here as ever. On Sunday,
July 20, last, a mob of 40 drunken men
came into town from the fair grounds
where they had been carousing all of Sat
urday night. One Saturday night recently
1 ,920 bottles of beer were distributed in
this small place. We have about 5000 in
habitants. We have the trouble and in
Elkton loses 81, $50 yearly as her
share of former license fees. In those days
a man would take drink or two in the
evening and then 90 about his business. |
Under license Elkton went to sleep at
Nowadays il wakes up about |
II O'Clock and stays there the rest OF the |
night. You see the drinking man uOw
drinks out of a bottle and he usually |
sticks to the bottle until it is empty.
"Under our constitution every man tried |
must be represented by counsel. We spend |
every year for men who run |
speakeasies. We have only had four MUIR |
ders here in ten years, and yet we have |
averaged about 50 200 year for counsel |
fees, 80 per cent. of which went for the |
defense of illicit dealers in whiskey.
81 find that men who vote for no license
are N the sincere temperance men; (2) |
men who owe bar bills ; (3) the speakeasy
men and to these may be added num-
Der Of temperate drinkers who wish to try
the experiment. The latter will vote for
license next trip"
Superintendent George B. Kerfoot, of
.u6 IIONlQGuIb POI NAAAiof oeNAA
'Look at this town (Elkton). tits dead.
Not house going up. Not horse hardly
10 be seen on the street. have seen this
street lined with teams Now they can be
leen in Newark, Del, or at Oxford, Pa.
of here the folks go to Newark
,r Wilmington. South and west Of US to
1avre de Grace or Perryville. From the
over end of the county they 90 to Mid
Gail ktrA r,rns q dnod
tell you. can tell prohibition town
he minute l set foot in it, and l don't
lrink a drop of strong liquor either.
"Why, the liquor men are running a
inc from Newark to our mills. Our men
70 to that town, buy by the quart or gal
on. Result, they and their friends get
Trunk. But more than that, they spend
II the rest OF their money at Newark.
7hev do all their buying there Last Sun
Law morning counted five drunken men
n this little town. I often 90 to Whining