The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1907-09-19

est him drunken also. that thou may
est look on their nakedness.
The cup of the Lords right hand
shall be turned unto thee, and shame
full spewing shall be on thy glory"
Heb. 3:12-16.
1t does not take Il prophet nor the
son of a prophet to tell you that
Henderson is at the height OF her
glory, and that shameful spewing
shall be upon her glory, if there is
not a mighty change in her affairs.
| will meet one other argument
briefly, and then l close with the dis
cussion of this subject scarcely be-
gun. ''If the dispensary is voted out
there will be blind tigers, "they say.
That is perfect subterfuge; but we
will meet even that fairly. There
would be some whiskey sold on the
sly, and there would be some whiskey
brought in by express to satisfy the
thirst that has been created by the
open saloon and the dispensary; but
to u large degree the creation of that
thirst, which must be carried on
among the boys under existing con-
ditions, would be stopped. Stop the
thirst and you will stop the sale.
Keep creating thirst and you will
ever keep open a market. The con-
ditions would be ten fold better with
some whiskey sold on the sly than
they are today with over $40, 100000
worth of the accused stuff sold per
year under the auspices of the Chris
tian church, with the church men,
bers in this town as the trustees, and
managers, and statesmen OF the only
legal barrOOm in Vance.
In the sight of God, anything that
ruins and blights human life, and
brushes human hearts, and turns
homes into hells on earth, is an I'M
lawful business 1t may be legal in
the eyes of man, but it is illegalin the
sight of God. That being true, for
humanity's sake, for your own sake,
and for ChriSt's sake let us as law
abiding citizens get out of the bust
ness, and turn it over to a set of rem
egades and cut-throats, who are
willing to carry on the DEVILS work
regardless of law or consequences.
Then and only then do we place our
selves in an attitude to stamp out
this great curse. Place it where it
belongs, under the ban of an outlaw,
and then every law abiding citizen
has the right to deal it a death blow
Every Christian and every law abid-
ing citizen could then assert himself
with all of his influence to stamp out
this crime producing curse. AS it is
our hands are tied and we have to
look on it in silence, because it is our
business.
1t is a bloody, cruel, indece Mt, I'M
Christian, inhuman farce for the
the State Or a town to permit mento
sell that which will infame mem s
passions, and arouse them to mob
violence, and then send out officers
of the law to capture those same
men and place them behind prison
bars, drag them before the courts
and fine them, or sentence them to a
long Imprisonment, when that which
was legally sold them infamed them
to do the illegal things. When the
law sells that which renders men in
sane, that same law ought to protect
them and their families while they
are insane. read this little incident
some days ago. A drinking man
was arraigned for drunkenness, the
court adjudged him guilty, and the
Judge on the bench said to his wife
before sentence was passed, II am
very sorry Madam, but I'll have to
send your husband to Jail and
have him locked up" She replied,
"Your honor, don't you think it
would be better to lock up the sa-
loon, and let my husband have a
chance to work for his wife and chill
dren?" In the name of Christianity,
and in the name of all that is good
wouldn't it be better for the citizens
of Henderson to close up the dispen-
sary and let the poor drunkards
have chance to work for their wives
and children, even though it did
cause the property owners of the
town to pay fraction more tax?
The tax is certainly coming out of
the wrong mans pocket, and I can
not believe that there is a property
owner in this community that wishes
the poor drinking man to pay for the
education of his children. If there is
such a one he is willing to take the
life of his fellow man that his children
may be educated. Durham, Greens
boro, and other prohibition towns
are cited as illustrations that pro-
hibition will not prohibit, and that
the community will be overrun with
blind tigers. | confine my remarks
to Durham and Greensboro, as
know more about those two towns
than any other that have prohibi-
ton. l have recently talked with
some good citizens of those towns
and they tell me in substance the
same thing; that the change for the
better is most wonderful. That the
Improvement is wonderful bey ond
description. "Have you no blind
tigers?" I asked They replied,
"Oh, yes, some; but we have them
on the go. You see it is an illegal
business now, and We are at liberty
to run it down and chase it out. .
eve have goodly number on the
dockets now, and we are going to keen
it up until we have a clean town. J
"And the best OF all is that our boys
are not subjected to the temptations
OF the open saloon nor the dispen.
sary." "How about the prosperity
OF your town." | asked. And in
each case they replied, sit is more
prosperous than it has ever been
before"
| Ii you read the News and Observer
OF last Tuesday, / believe it was, yor
saw that Greensboro has recent,
grown to be the largest city in thu
State, with a population OF over AZ.
| 600, anu those getting up the towr
directory stated that the population
was increasing so rapidly that j,
would be necessary to get up a new
: directory each year.