The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1907-03-23

IneSe: 1ne Df0OKnaV6R lnQlVlu-
ual referred to, when not under
the influence of drink, is one of
the cleVerest, gentlest and most
harmless of men, but, unfortu-
.nately, with an inherited appetite
for strong drink. He went from
BrookhaVen to Natchez with his
Masonic brethren to attend the
meeting of the Masonic Grand
bodies in that city, in perfectly
sober, normal condition; but ina
Natchez saloon, under the conv1vial
surroundings of that occasion, be
was tempted to take his first drink
in that high license saloon city and
then started on the desperate
spree which never ended until
after he returned and committed
the awful crime with which he
stands charged. The Leader does
not desire to make 1t appear that
all the liquor he drank after leav-
ing Natchez came from some IL
censed saloon; it may or may not
have done SO; but it is a fact that
the drunken debauch which con-
verted an otherwise good citizen
into a reckless criminal and
brought upon him disgrace and
unspeakable humiliation and re-
gret, did not have it's beginning in
prohibition Brookhaven, hut in
the gilded saloons of high license
Natchez, where the sleeping, in
herited thirst in the man was first
aroused beyond his control.
Fifteen or twenty years ago
when Editor Pink Smith forsook
the vermilion hills of good old
Tippah county for the Mississippi
Delta, he was reckoned a weak
kneed prohlbitionist, void of any
deep conviction on the liquor
question; but when he got into his
new environment at GreenyiIle,
where the saloon influence over
shadows and dominates nearly
every thing from the big polite
ians down to street scavengers, in
Guiding the newspapers, he soon
discovered a great new light, and
since that. time, as indicated by
the above excerpt from his paper,
thinks that the best way to pro-
mote morals and Christianity and
reduce crime in every community
of any size is to license a few
well-regulated dramshops that are
never well-regulated.
What follows will show how his
false theory works in his own.
town.
On the first Sunday in March,
Rev. Charles e. Diehl, pastor Of
the First Presbyterian church of
GreenviIle preached sermon to
bis congregation on Civic Right
eousness," taking for his texts
Acts 1917 and Acts 1925. In
more than column and half re
port of his sermon, published in
the Greenville Democrat of Tues
day, March 5th, we find the fol
lowing, which throws some inter-
esting light on the situation in
Greenville where they have those
good, pious, high-license saloons
under rigid restrictions, !" which
Editor Pink Smith sanctimonious-
ly decided after years of close OBJ
servation and prayerful study, are
| so much better for the morals of a
community than prohibition.
lSays the Democrats report:
Mr.. Diehl emphasized the lax
public sentiment concerning the
morals of men. That crimes are
committed here and condoned
which in almost any other com
immunity would subject a man to
social ostracism He emphasized
also the open Iawlessness, appar-
ently known and winked at by the
officials. Either the officials know
and conniye with the law break
ers, or, il they do not know, they
are notoriously incompetent.
He said, I'VE know that the
town is open; we know that they
know many things; we know that
they did close things up eighteen
months ago, proving that they can
do so if they so desire. Why
don't they do so nov? Whatever
the reason, whether personal
Ipleasure or profit of some kind or
lottier, whether lndolence or fear,
lthey are untrue to the trust I'M
posed upon them. I would that
we had officials who so respect
their oath Of Office that they would
lenforce the law impartially be-
cause il is law, but we haven't.
Their point OF view is that they
we're elected by the people, and
that they are to give the people
] what they want, and it often seems
that they decide what people
/ want. This is. false position,
but we cannot blame them for
/ thinking that this is what the peo-