Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1908-01-23
Prohibition.

Prohibition.
There is another matter that doubt
less will engage your most careful
consideration I allude to the ques-
ton of State prohibition. The people
Of North Carolina are determined to
make a trial of prohibition, and the
only thing to decide is when and how
this can best be brought about The
curse and degradation of the liquor
traffic is fast becoming a stencil in
the nostrils of decency, and there is
an imperative demand coming to you
from every section Of the State to
drive out these places of vice and
wickedness, and to convert the money
thus wasted in riot and drunkenness
into channels of business, thrift and
industry. Every one in the State
knows my views on the liquor ques-
ton, for, publicly and privately, 1
have contended that, both from an
economic as we'll as a moral stand
point, the greatest blessing that could
possibly be given the State would be
| the prohibiting of the manufacture
and sale of Intoxicating liquors as a
beverage anywhere in it's borders.
So firmly am l convinced of the sound
ness of my views on the subject of
liquor being a curse to the people of
the State, that, if the power to act
were vested in me, 1 would not trou-
BILE your body to consider the matter,
but would at once free our land from
this monster evil that, in my opinion
is the source of thousand woes and
scarcely a single blessing.
When I issued the call for this spe
cial session 1 did not know whether
the voice of the people could now be
heard, or whether it would have to
wait until the regular session; but sc
quickly has the demand for relief
crystalized throughout the entire State
that it would be utterly wrong tC
deny the people a hearing upon a
matter so vital to their public and
private life.
[ would not put my judgment against
that of the one hundred and seventy
members who compose your honorable
body, all of whom are just as patriotic
and many far wiser than I; still, after
visiting the people in every section
and hearing and knowing their views
as I do, am thoroughly satisfied that
no act ever passed by any legislative
body in North Carolina would give
the joy or be more generally endorsed
than would be the act of this General
Assembly in giving prohibition to the
entire State.
Under the Watts, Ward and other
similar bills, by legislative enactment
prohibition was given to all rural dis
tricts, until at least four-ifths of the
States territory thus had prohibitory
laws. These acts have produced good
and not evil, and have been endorsed
by the votes of the people in three
general elections. Also, under the
same laws, villages, towns and cities
| throughout the State have declared
for temperance, until ninety per cent.
of the entire territory of the State
now has prohibition. Thus we know
the will of the people, for they have
spoken by their votes in no uncertain
sound, until all agree that it is newt
/ able that liquor must go. So, why,
| then, entail needless expense and en-
gender bitterness by local fights, when
by your act, carrying out the will of
a majority of the people, you can set
tie this matter at this session?
Pass the law let it go into effect
July 1, 1908, and before the general
election in November all agitation will
cease; for, as well said by one of
North Carolina's wisest statesmen, GA
liquor dealer without his liquor is
| about as weak as Samson shOrn of his
locks Refuse at this session to dis
pose of it, it will enter into the next
campaign, be the issue in many coun-
ties, and cause confusion and strife;
whereas by action now you destroy