The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-14
SAYS PROHIBITION
 HERE IS NOT FARCE Sibley Writes In Answer to Former Chief Mcdonald CITES CONTINUED GROWTH Says Tragedy of Last Saturday Is But Another Evidence That Ubiquitous
 Liquor Traffic Respects
 No Laws"

my good friend and neighbor. ex-Chiee McDonald for l confess that as a theor- izer, calamity howler and prophet of evil he clearly outclasses me.
 1 l do not think he has been able to l controvert a single fact set out in my recent card summing up the way in l which prohibition had killed" Birming ham. During the campaign last year ex- l Chief Mcdonald and his confreres pre- dicted that as result of prohibition Bir- mingham would become deserted vil- lage; and the public doubtless remem- bers the cartoons picturing the Wood 1 ward and Marx buildings falling into decay and the abode of bats and l owls, and our public schools closed and the children in rags. The best answer to this (and 1t is not my imagining) is the 1 splendid. annex to the Brown-Marx near ing completion and erected by Brming hams splendid developer, who himself feared that prohibition would dsastrously affect his rentals. Instead of closed schools and ragged children, we find the city preparing to spend sSOO,oo0 for addi- tional school buildings, and the happy. bright faces of the thousands of scholars l is a refutation of the islander that has been worn threadbare In every campaign 1 by the liquor interests.
 The recent statement of the First Ma tional bank in comparison with all the other 75 national banks in Alabama com l bined substantiates the statement in my former card. The statement of the bank
 
 of all the other Birmingham banks) ca1- not be reconciled with ex-Chief Me Donald's claim that the Legitimate mer- 1 chant and business man of Birmignhanl, 1 the hotel proprietors, the real estate agents, etc." would testify that business i Tn Birmingham had been injured by prohi- l bition. I am constrained to believe that i the general public will prefer to accept the banks statement as more reliable It ] shows 31 per cent of all cash in vault, 8 1 per cent of individual deposits, 72 per cent of bank deposits, 16 per cent of govern ment deposits, 16 per cent of circulation, i 26 per cent of loans as compared with all the other national banks in the state of 1 Alabama, and while the other banks have 8 total of nearly sS,Ooo,Ooo of redscounts and bills payable this great Birmingham institution has none.
 As I stand at my office window and view the Rains drug store and the work men busy on the Empire and Farley buildings and the new Gum Gambill drug store, all corners formerly occupied by saloons, I believe another statement made ;r arJ {o ,hcto tiof ex-Chief Mcdonald cannot dismiss 1t in so light manner without protest.
 Nobody deplores more than I do the awful killing last Saturday night but it is because the iniquitous liquor traf- fic respects no law but has steadfastly resisted every effort at restriction and regulation that such tragedies occur and alas! the innocent too often suffer for 1t.
 The licensing of the "ridiculousy large number of soft drink stands" to for mer saloon and dive keepers has been forced upon this community by the doia- inant faction in city politics, whose sym pathies have been with the liquor in terests and their every effort has been i to defeat and make no effect the prohibition law. While they may gain a temporary victory they are surely lay ing up wrath for themselves at the hands of righteously indignant public at the base attempt of the liquor interests to | defy the sovereign laws of this great l commonwealth.
 While the record of violent deaths for November is a disgrace to any civilza- l +io, ond oil coro no rcopS ora adIa,,S it 1 seems that Chattanooga, Nashville New York and Chicago Gall saloon cities) are trying to vie with Birmingham in this unenviable record. Students of psychol- ogy will no doubt attribute this wave of violence to the heat of passions and emotions concident with our national | election.
 I maintain that since the law was en- acted it is as much the duty of MT. Mcdonald and his confreres to insist upon it's enforcement and it's majesty upheld as 1t is of any prohlbitionist. Would or did he as chief of police instruct the officers under him to enforce only such laws as appealed to their personal sym pathy? He was so successful in locating
 
 Kansas I feel a keen regret he did not run for chief of police again so that ] we might have been more successful in f driving the wiley beast" from our midst | AS a good citizen and faithful former off, 1 f1cer of the law he should aid in saving the good name of our city rather than publish to the world the statement all | leging that Birmingham Is fast becoming | community of liars and lawbreakers." 1 I prefer to believe that our present l efficient chief of police and sheriff are simply bringing to public notice 1 the coterie of former saloon and dive keepers, who thought they could ruth | lessly defy the laws, and MT. Mcdonald having had such a night t-mare of blind tigers in Maine and Kansas has himself become blind to the fact that our court records show an enormous | reduction in crime, and fewer occu- pants of our jails. At least every judge and grand jury has so stated, and believe they are in a position to de- l eide the true state of affairs.
 Mr. Mcdonald says the present pros- perity is largely due to the Steel cor poration, and I think there is great merit in the claim. But has he forgot ten that during the prohibition cam paign the officers of the Steel corpora tion fought it because they honestly labor. but after an experience of eight