Middletown transcript., 1907-08-03


are no failures ii business no drunkard
on our streets, no loafers on bur corners
The moral tone of the town Is high. Tis
people Of Caroline would never go bacl
to the license system. They know
good thing.
M. BATES STEPHENS SAYS LOCAL
OPTION HAS MADE THE EAST
ERN SHORE PROSPEROUS.
There ID no man better known through
out Maryland than nj. Bates Stephens
the State Superintendent of Schools.
found him in his snug apartments il
Denton, coat off, and hard at work get
ting ready for the opening Of the
schools in the fall.
I said, Mr.. Stephens, ] would like you
TO tell me something about the ad'
vantages of local option in Maryland. /"
Willingly. said he, Willingly. but, my
dear sir. local option speaks for itself, and
in more forcible language than ! could
use. Caroline County is one of the most
prosperous sections ofthe country. Take
the town of Denton Since the county
went dry there has been a marked i'm
proyement in morality and business thrift.
Our jail is. practically without prisoners,
our almshonse never has more than .
dozen inmates, and they are not the vic
Tins of the drink, but Of sad misfortune.
Oh, there Is general prosperity from one
end Of the county TO The other. Let
me point yeu to good object lesson; Cal.
vert County under the old license system
was prostrate Nature never did very
much for Calvert County, anyhow, and
together with that fact, and the sway
which rum had there, Calvert was looked
upon as dead locality, from business
standpoint. st. Mafy's County, which
adjoins Calvert, and where natural con-
diticns were far better, completely over
shadowed ii. A few years ago Calvert
went dry, and soon the moral tone Of the
community began to improve; business
began to boom, until to-day Calvert has
thrown her wet sister, st. Mary's. COM
pletely in the shade as far as prosperity
and thrift are concerned.
'Ah, yes, the wonderful Improvement
in Caroline is directly traceable to the
operations Of the local option law. You
will find only one opinion about it here.
Lam satisfied that If the question were
resubmitted to the voters OF this county
it would get the approval Of at least ninety
per cent. Of ourintelligent voters. ! hope
Delaware will follow our good example.
LEWIS SAYS sPEAK-EASIES CUT
NO FIGURE.
/ spent all hour with Henry r. Lewis,
a prominent attorney aud DeIawarean
by birth. He spoke in tile most glowing
terms Of what the local option law had
done for Caroline. Said lie, 1T costs this
county practically nothing TO look after
criminals. We don't have any. Our
Court is seldom in session more than q
week, and the work OF the Grand Jury
is merely perfunctory, The expense Of
"a term Of court here is not one-ffth as
much as it is in one Of your Delaware
counties.
As to speak-easies, said Mr.. Lewis,
when | spoke Of them, they do not give
us any trouble. OF course when dis
trict first goes under local option, il Is
natural to suppose that more or less illes
gal traffic in rum will spring up, and inA
deed is liable to do so at any time should
vigilance become little lax, but they
can easily be put to rout. remember
several years ago, when Mr.. Towers was
States Attorney, they broke out here
and there in the county. Towers went
after them in his determined way. landed
about thirty of them in the House OF
Correction, and the speak-easy vanished
from the land. No, no, that is piece Of
exaggerated nonsense. You have Moth
ing to fear from the speak-easy, il you
will 60 after it.
"As to the influence Of local option on
business, I say to you unhesitatingly, that
it has most salutary effect. There is no
more fourishing town on the peninsula
than Denton. In twenty years 1t has be-
come new Denton. From compare
lively stagnant little town, it has grown
& ii =
to be an important business center, and
in my opinion it is all due to the opera
ton Of the local option law
Mr.. GOLDSB0ROUGH's VIEWS
I had very pleasant interview with
7, Alan Goldsborough, the present States
Attorney. Hetalked to me very enter
tainingly about Caroline County-its
healthy financial condition, its freedom
from crime, the morality Of its YOUTH.
the substantial footing Of its business
men and farmers, the easy burden Of its
mortgage indebtedness.
"Yes," said be, I'VE are in most pros.
porous condition, and in my opinion the
prosperity is largely due to local option.
Why, You take the running expenses Of
this county, and they are nothing COM
pared with that Of yours. The criminal
business Of Caroline County is thing OF
no Importance. Assault and battery.
disorderly conduct, and the like resulting
from indulgence in strong drink, have
no place on our Court Calendar. From
q business standpoint, il from no other,
should be in favor Of local option
FRED R. OWENS SAYS PR0HIBI-
TION MEANS PROSPERITY
Fred r. Owens, well known attorney,
rose from his table, as entered bis
Office, and greeted me cordially. When
stated the purpose Of my call, his face
lighted up. and he said, with enthusiasm,
Local option is all right Prohibition
means prosperity. / point yon TO Caro-
line County with pride. Our people we're
never so prosperous as at the present
time. In the last ten years property in
this county has doubled In value. There
is no county in Maryland freer from in
debtednesa than this. The people are
aoher aud infuakriofsa aud tha roaoar a