The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-29
Letter to The Editsr
New Decatur And ProAisision.

New Decatur And Prohibition.
 Editor of Advertiser:
 For year I have read with great in- terest the daily issues of The Adver- tiser. Though have often read things I did not like. I have remained its steaJfast friend.
 You have editorially declared that you are friend to law endorsement and will be in favor of the enforce ment of the prohibition law. Do you think 1t was exactly fair to prohibi- ton to allow your correspondent at New Decatur to declare in flaming headlines that the law was a disgreoe- fui failure there1 His main argunents in proof were the wishes of Mayor Blackwell to have the city make the forcement and the further fact, that the Mayors salary would be cut down anothar year from s1.000 to $500 because of the lessened revenue from liquor. Il, The Mayer n.f,s, in h,s able reply gives suggestions. His faithfulness, firmness and good sense are shown in every line. He further declares that. under prohfoition crime has been greatly de mitted then to re-afffrm his former statements and again to emphasize the horrible state of affairs which calls Tor the reduction cf the Mayor's salary
 And there he reveals the only argu- ment the anti-prohibitionist can find. What. though crime Is decreased and lives are saved and women and ohiliren are better clothed and housed and fed. if revenue is lost to the city7
 Judge Fagan's report for the first six nonths of prohibition in Birming- ham,. one of the most Illuminating and convincing official documents ever pre- pared, as matter of news. ought to have appeared in the columns of every paper in the State. It may have ap.. peared in The Advertiser and escapei my notice; but am quite sure it was not published and I am equally certain 1t did not appear in the other dailies, whose columns, from the beginning. have been against the prohibition law. There is an effort to make the law as intellectual as possible 50 as to bring 1t into disrepute. As the weeks so by, between this and January, these efforts will be redoubled. Il. is busi-
 Ss SSs pSper so ins nSuse Rsan in IO1 and of your readers hope The Advertiser will not allow itself mixed up in any such degrading business.
 Let ses es Sss e tssat 5 sss esass ss public. opinion, favorable or anfavor- able, for any law. Why not then, put in, now and then. some of the good things published in praise of prohibi- ton over against the numerous aiurs and slaps at the law? I will engage to furnish any newspaper In the state, free of charge a suitable and sufficient reply to any argument against prohibis I thank you for printing in this mornings issue the telegram from Birmingham. in which pr. Hardness. In his mortality report. attributes the decrease. in the first six months of the year, Of violent. deaths. to the prohibi- seventeen in favor of the first six months of 1908 over the same period and stab wounds What amount of money would be sufficient akainst these seventeen lives7 What Is sa00 s4,000 or s40.0o0 as compared to seven pened to Dc ms my boy U or yours, the fig- ures couldn't be made big enough to repair the loss.
 in the interest of a few hundred mon who make fortunes out of the traffic and a few hundred more shtrt- sighted individuals who want 10 gain a little revenue from the traffic and few hundred more office holders. who are sworn to enforce the law impartiaily and yet fer fear of losing their offices will boot-lick the liquor crowd and close their eyes to the laws violation. we wlii put gp ths lives & ci our .. fell1w lps they are small in value in comparison with the heart breaking gorrow of wives and mothers and children and the pauperism and crime that comes
 Again, I ask, let the old Advertiser, the best newspaper in the State, treat prohibition fairly. It has come to stay. Of that there is not the slightest ques- tion in my mind. It comes as boon to all, an enemy to none. Let's love 1t and cherish 1t as our best friend. We will thereby save our boys from wreck and ruin. our girls from broken hearts, our labor from utter demorai- xation and our State from misrule and anarchy.
 Respectfully yours,
 W B Crumpton.