The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1907-11-03
Moro Southern Prohibition.

census OF 1900 gave II little less
than forty thousand. The way la
which 1t 10 organized, namely, =
central city with q number Of sub
urbs mostly established by real es
tate spectators make 1t impossible
10 give with any eIactness its pres
ent population. Rounghly speaking It
must approach sixty thousand today.
Tho city 10 above all things a manu-
| featuring town. II IL the great Iron
and steel center Of the South. What
sort of = population that means. any
one who knows Pottsburg, or Johns
town. Pa. or South Chicago. can
readily Judge. However. n few days
ago the county In which Birmingham
is situated declared for prohibition
| by majority approaching fifteen
hundred votes. Birmingham itself,
though a wage-working center went
dry" by only three hundred and
twenty votes. There could be no
more significant evidence OF the
present temper of the South than
this. When all Georgia declared for
state prohibition and even the great
cities Of Atlanta and Savannah were
unable to stem the tide. It seemed
significant and was. But thero could
be nothing more illustrative than
the Birmingham vote. Imagine. n
ysu will. or II you can. Pittsburg
coming within an ace Of being car
ried for local option. or course the
explanation in the South Is the
negro. To keep him from whiskey and
from the crimes to which II incites
him. tho Southern people whs them.
selves do not believe much In the
public regulation of private Affairs.
have been willing TO go to the ex-
treme In prohibitory laws. They
have had prohibition In counties,
In towns. They have now reached
the states. and they will In the next
congress attempt 90 get the interstate
commerce law SO amended that a
wet" state will not be able to She
liquor into a dry one. Already n
like regulation. which Is OF course
the prohibition county from the
products OF the one which has not
adopted prohibition.
Whether the legislation Is going
to accomplish Its end only the test
of time can tell. Was talking to-
day with two prominent Southern
men. one a planter. the other law
yer. Both defended the prohibition
legislation taken throughout the
South states. Both declared that II
would be enforced. and indeed not
wlthstandlns what newspapers are
apt to say. It Is a. nearly enforced
IN Maine and In Kansas as the laws
against theft. embe,llement or mur.
der. But my Southern informants
were also agreed that the danger
now TO meet in handling the negro
population was the growth OF the
use of drugs. particularly cocaine. In
those counties In which the sale OF
liquor had been peremptorily stop
ped. This vice which IL spreading In
the great cities OF the North leads
10. apI 90
plete breakdown of the moral sense
Of the victims than the liquor habit.
II is spreading among the negroes
OF the South with wonderful rapldity.
Coupled with II Is the use OF nos.
trums which are in fact, though not
In name. the worst sort Of whiskey.
! SO as my friend from Atlanta in
| formed ma today, the next step g.
going 70 be laws for the most rigid
supervision OF drug stores, the analy.
sis, and II necessary. the prohibition.
OF certain patent me iirines. and final
ly the complete prohibition OF the sale
! % cocaine To anv except regis.
tered physician. The useful prescrlp-
tion passed from hand to hand is to
be put out ot business. Moreover the
negro doctor unless he can prove his
proper qualification for his calling.
will have difficulty In getting his
prescriptions filled. Cocaine acts 40
swiftly upon the nerves that II has
been the easiest device for the ig.
norant physician to employ for still.
ing pain. II is In that way that the
colored population has been taught
its use. and It's ravages among them
are scarcely to be estimated
The Democratic National Convention.
As usual Chicago gets in its work
L., "a u,