The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-04-10
THE WAVE Of
PROHIBITION

Not least among the many novel fea-
lures which VII make the campaign
OF 1905 8 memorable one is the gTow-
ing importance OF the propaganda OF
the And-Saloon League. Louis Brown
low. q newspaper man Of Washington,
who has been in HonolHu for the past
two weeks, for the Frederic ]. Haskin
Syndicate. has made a study OF the
political features Of the Battle Of the
Bottle He Is q Southerner and is
familiar with conditions in that part
OF the Union where the Anti-Saloon
movement has made its greatest head
way.
The news that twenty counties in
Illinois had voted dry in one day is
significant said Mr.. Brownlow. 1t is
a refutation Of the oft-repeated state
ment that the anti-saloon victories
in the south were the result OF an effort
TO solve the social perplexities OF the
negro question II is true that the
negro has had much 10 do with the
prohibition sentiment in many Southern
communities, but the real reason for
the remarkable growth Of that idea lies
much deeper.
1t Is an economic question The
South suffers from an insufficient sup
ply OF labor. II is important that the
laborers who are there keep al work
six DAYS in the week In a town where
there is whisky the average weeks
work is five days for white labor and
three for negro labor Thus il came
about that capitalists projecting 8 new
cotton mill went TO Chambers Of Com
merce and Ike organizations with this
proposition: We wish 10 put up
cotton mill in your town We vii do
il II you. viii vote out the saloons. We
VIII not build in a Wet town
One North Carolina town has the
largest cotton mill on earth as the price
Of its taking the pledge Added TO
such things as this is the attitude OF
the great employing corporations which
require 3 water-wagon certificate with
every application for g job. They have
put q premium upon sobriety.
Still LATER in the chronology OF each
southern community which went dry
came another factor. Greensboro. y.
c. Is one Of the most prosperous Of
the new manufacturing towns Of the
Piedmont region. Il Is dry. When
was there last autumn I heard about
the hotels and clubs that If another
vote was taken the city would so wet
I had occasion 10 be present al 3 meet
ing Of the bankers Of the city. I asked
them If il wasn't true that the saloons
would be back again in 2 little while
They laughed, and one Of them said:
In prohibition fights which side
usually has the money and which the
sentiment Of course I said that the
LIQUOR interests were generally the boys
with the wherewithal- Just So as
lsented the banker. But when the Ques-
ton comes Up again here, II il ever
does, the bankers have agreed 10 cover
every dollar OF whisky money with two
OF prohibition coin We fought local
option because We thought il would
hurt business. The town went dry.
Now We send runners from our say
ings departments into the mill villages
on Saturday afternoon and the weekly
$1,000 OF $1,000 that used TO g for
booze comes into our vaults We pay
the mill hands Two per cent. on il
and We manage 10 get 3 little better
than that for the use Of il This town
viii never go wet if the banks can
prevent il.
This Is a sample Of the thing one
meets with all over the dry areas OF
/ the South It is an economic movement
which Is sustaining the Anti-Salooa
League
However, II is q mistake 10 credit
all its force 10 this doIlars-and-cents
reason The economic force is an effect,
I in part, because as the Greensboro
! banker indicated, the business men for
merry fought prohibition Neither is
Z the movement a new one. Il started
I in the South about twenty-five years
I ago in rural communities. Little By
little IL crept into the small villages.
Z than the towns, swelling until il was
/ thrown back by the liberalism Of the
cities. This movement was q moral
and religious one, and its leaders were
! the pastors OF the churches which still
I have so much influence in the purely
I Anglo-SaXon communities Of the South
But il was discovered that the labor
.
the small dry towns as in the Wet cities
[ Capital which needed labor 10 develop
resources saw this and demanded dry
towns for factory sites. That started
/ the economic campaign. The preachers
are still leaders in the fight, but they
are being rapidly crowded out OF the
way by the Democratic politicians who
are clambering on 10 the band-wagon
and the water-wag0n simultaneously
with more haste than grace.
1T is as impossible TO find a Demo-
cratic politician in the South who is
not prohibitionist as il is 70 find an
anti-Taft postmaster. They are all on
the wagon Georgia, Alabama, Missis-
sippi have adopted statewide prohibi
ton Tennessee is all dry but three
cities. thanks 10 a complicated local
option law Kentucky has but four
counties that are all wet and ninety
per cent. of the people Of the state
OF shoots and booze can't buy a legal
dram North and South Carolina are
ninety per cent. dry. Texas and Lou-
isiana are three-fourtls arid. and il is
q crime to take a drink on a railway
train in the Lone Star state Okla
homa came into the Union with 2 white
ribbon pinned To- its sombrero.
The movement is not confined 10 the
South Ohio local option had closed
nearly 5000 saloons in twelve months.
Indiana recognizes prohibition as
paramount issue and indorses Fair
banks for president solely on his but
termilk record They say he has cut
out the cocktail route permanently.