The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-21


 tion and crime, and we all must admit that if it's sale could be prohibited there Is but one way to vote. But we don't get rid of the problem which nature has placed before us; we can't get rid of it by voting
 There are many who are pondering if it is not best to try prohibition. No man can pass the low grog shops which spot this commonwealth without feeling that they should be plotted out.
 Against Saloon Domination.
 The people of Birmingham are not going to stand for saloon domination | don't believe that the better saloon l men want saloon domination. If it were question as to whether or not this | town was to be governed by the sa- looms there would be no question as to 1 how l would vote. We must look 1t square in the face. I am saying what | believe to be true. The people of | Birmng gham going to have an hon | est city government. If the liquor | question becomes assertive we are go- | ing to regulate it.
 "On this prohibitio question there is wide difference of opinion. Good men are going to vote on both sides. and [ | want to talk to those people who are going to vote for prohibition because | they are not satisfied with existing con ditions. There must be fewer saloons. The saloons must be regulated. The | saloon man who fights high license and | sells to boys has got to be driven out | of the district. But because some men l violate the law is it right to use dras- | tic measures, which will drive men out of the community? Is it not better to | enforce the laws we now have? l "I cant deal much in statistics to show 1 what has happened in Maine and Kansas. I can't in detail combat the statistics of | the professional prohibition orators broug l the professional prohibition orators | brought here to influence our community. | But I believe I can talk to our citizens about what I know as well as Brooks ! Lawrence, whoever he is.
 For Sake of Experiment.
 Some men are going to vote for pro- l hibition just for the sake of trying it. l We are not in d new world We have | the benefit of ages of experience. We | know what has been done and the result. 1 I don't know MT. Brooks Lawrence, or | where he came from. l believe from what | I have heard that he is one of the lead
 ing advocates brought here from some where. l do know, however, that in all cities where it has been tried that proh- btion is failure. When my friend Kirk patrick says that after a summer spent Tn Maine He uldnt know pfOnlDlllOn pre- vailed there; when a man like Tom Me- Donald, after making an investigation, | tells me that he never saw such drunk ennenss, when my neighbors tell me these things I believe they are true
 Good For Rural Communities. q believe in rural communities where negroes predominate. that prohibition should prevail. No one can doubt but | that any gentleman in Dallas county could get all the whisky he wants, but | when it be kept from the negroes I | think it should be. It is different here. 1 We have city sprung up over night city which has no peer in the southern | states. Pttsburg leads us in accumu- ! lated wealth and years of start, but we know there is enough ore in Red Moun- | tain waiting to be smelted, the doing of which will make the greatest place earth. But it cant be done without an l enormous influx of men of all sorts, and { of all nations. We are going to have l great city a great industrial community, | which is going to require the best citi- 1 zenship at it's head to lead it upward, both in paths of moral welfare and in l civic development and pride. Show me | where city of this kind has made l success of prohibition and you have my 1 vote But where has any city the equal of this in possibilities and size tried it? ! It is the churchman's idea, the visionary's
 
 | MT. Percy then told a little anecdote of hunting trip he took near Tupelo, ! Miss, dry town.
 | '',rhe experience of Portland Me, and | Kansas is the same which Birmingham ls going to have if prohibition carries con- tinued MT. Percy. "The people of the 1 north and south are very much alike, and l what has happened in one American city | will happen in another But I say from my personal observation that the south ern people won't stand any infringement ! | of their rights. We not law abiding 1 people. There are too many people tried\ | for murder and even when the Judges say hang the jury turns them loose. l You know men in this town who have | committed murder and whose necks l should have been broken, but have been 1 turned loose, and are now preaching morals. If we can't stop murders. if we / | can't stop the shyster, how can we ex1 | pect the American people to bow to sucH | law as prohibition?
 1 The Governor.
 That strong, fearless gentleman who occupies the gubernatorial chair says if prohibition laws are not enforced that he, will call an extra session of the legisla- / ture and keep on calling extra sessions until they are enforced. I mean no disrc- | spect to Governor Conner, but you can't l change people by legislative enactment. ! You may pass laWS, put ieSlSldtuTeS Cdn- not enforce them And you cant stop the breaking of them by calling out the militia. I don't mean to be sneering ut Governor Conner, On the contrary, have the highest respect for him. But sympathy laws cannot be enforced here.
 'I never want a drink more than on : Sundays and election days. daughtcr) There are those who think just because they can't get drink at Sheffield or Centreville that it should be cut out here. If prohibition carries here it is going to be a costly experiment If you have read the papers you will see that the securities nave dropped considerably-not the wild | cat securities, but the good ones. In this | district not a new thing of any magni- tude is being planned or carried out. ! "Do you know that none of the large 1 furnaces here have orders for delivery be- yond January? That they are selling onIy 100 tons where they used to sell 1000? We 1 are going to have commercial reaction. don't want to be taken a pessmist or alarmist. We have here foundation | wealth enough to compete with any part | of the world. We going to have a l period of depression until after the presi- dential election. Why then make matters 1 worse by trying prohibition?
 , When you take away s100,00O revenue from the city you will encourage graft and corruption. When you do it you are going to empty hundreds of buildings and drive out many citizens. When 1t comes