The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1908-05-21

debate with the governor at Chatta-
nooga, he made most stirring de-
claration and appeal for state pro-
hibition, from which we quote:
The question of the open saloon is
one of the great problems in this
state as it has been in other states: l
am one of those who believe that the
saloon is an unmitigated curse to the
state, a great source of crime and
corruption, a burden upon its in
dustries, a blight upon its homes. l
am one of those who have been con-
vinced by the failure Of all regula-
tive and restraining legislation, that
some way or other, by some method
or other, the saloons must be Destroy
ed. have heretofore adhered to the
plan pursued by the Anti.Saloon
League, which found expression in
the Pendleton law, whose practical
effect is to leave each community
to fight out it's own battles with the
saloons, I will say to you frankly
that had expected to adhere to that
policy in this campaign. But the
wise general adapts his strategy and
his tactics to the movement OF the
enemy. A short time ago the rep
resentatives of the liquor interests,
not only in Tennessee, but from other
states, assembled in Nashville and is
sued their manifesto, slanderously
assailing the character and motives
of the Anti-Saloon League. They
openly and defantly proclaimed their
purpose to enter this campaign with
a view of controlling the politics of
the state in the interest of the saloon:
This means that the liquor power OF
this whole country will make a bat
tie ground of Tennessee, and If we
adhere to the former plan it will give
them the vast advantage of con-
centrating all their power Of coz
ruption upon three or four points,
while the great body of temperance
voters in the state will be idle and
impotent spectators Of the conflict.
my countrymen, when we see the
LIQUOR power of this. whole country
marshaling it's battalions for an in.
yasion of this state, / believe we
should summon to our standard every
enemy of the saloon from the noun
tains to the Mississippi, meet the
enemy at the border and end. this
war in one great pitched battle.
When that battle is over and the
victory won, let US write upon the
statute books law, as long and as
broad as the state of Tennessee,
which will Danish the liquor traffic
finally and forever from every inch
of our soil.
know there are people in Chatta-
nooga who hope to reap harvest of
profit from the fugitive and ex-
patriated saloons of other states, but
I say to you, my countrymen, that
no saloon ever added one dollar to
the moral worth and prosperity of
any community. / say to you that
every dollar Of capital invested in
the saloon is a dollar withdrawn
from productive enterprise and de-
voted to purposes of moral and
economic destruction. l say to you
people of Hamilton county that the
curse of God is upon every saloon
dollar everywhere, and that you can
reap no reward, either in this world
or in any world to come by a traffic
with the devil in the ruined lives OF
men, the broken hearts of women
and the starved souls of little chill
dren. l appeal to the higher man.
hood and the higher womanhood Of
Hamilton county. This is a great and
progressive city. You are great
andenlightenedpeople. Proclaim it
proclaim it, my countrymen, to all
the world that you are not so given
up to a blind and besotted worship
of Mammon that you prize the dol
lars of the saloon more than you
prize the peace of your homes and
the souls of your neighbors.
The Knoxville Sentinel, which re-
ports the debate in full, says editorial
ly:
Our accounts of the receptions ac-
corded the two candidates indicate
that despite the fact that Mr.. Car
mack boldly advocates statewide
prohibition, which is supposed to be
unpopular in Chattanooga, he had
a majority of the crowd with him
and was received with the greater en-
thusiasm.
If this reception in a supposedly
hostile city may be taken as an in
dication of the sentiment through
the state, Tennessee is soon to stand
among the prohibition common
wealths.