Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1908-08-07

1a.re sto.Gy anniGvn;ant eido1 .l.l.c
by their own steadier habits and by
the new demands automatically devel-
eping wherever the dramshop parasite
IS removed from business
This paragraph. in one of the leading
organs of the beer trade gives the lie
TO all their convention ISLANDERS about
Prohibition.
1t also clearly reveals the real motive
behind all their promises to "be good"
and all their professions of reform.
From their lengthy and formal "reso-
lutions" one. would imagine that this
was the first time they had ever had
their attention called to the rottenness
and vice which now flourish so open
ly wherever the saloon lives to breed
them.
The brewers say they are shocked at
the fact that gambling has been dis
covered in connection with their bars.
They are ''aW-aw-so exceedingly
sawry, don Chino" that boys of minor
age have been permitted to drink In
their resorts.
Their fine sensibilities are rufled
that some OF their saloons have become
lurking places for criminals. that some
even foster and encourage wine rooms
and prostitution as an aid to business
and that on flaming signs the names
of leading beermakers hang above
dives and buffets alike.
All this is very affecting, but it would
be far more convincing were the brew
ers honest in their claim that these
conditions are a new and sporadic de-
velopment and are not general.
Brewers CooIIy Lie When They Call
Bad Saloon New or Rare.
Facts and the record of the drink
traffic prove that the same brewers
and saloon men who now pretend sur
prise and regret over the present char
acter of their business have been
promising just as excitedly to reform
for all the past forty years, with ex-
actly the same result-no change and
no. reform at all.
How the Poor MaIigned Booze Makers
Felt Twenty Years Ago.
Alas for the penitent beermakers of
1908, the promises and good resolu-
tions of his predecessors of other years
rise up to mock his pretended anxiety
for reform.
Twenty-Five years ago the national
liquor dealers convention Tor 1000
In high sounding resolutions" de-
clared:
Resolved, That we are in favor of both
public and private morality and good or
der and popular education. We most ear
nestly favor temperance and most strong
ly condemn emperance.-NatiOnal LiQ-
uor Dealers Convention October. 1886.
What the Liquor Traffic Was Twenty
Years Ago-and Still Is.
On February 10, 1889. in the midst
of the last great Prohibition revival.
Bonfort's Wine and Spirit Circular,
then, as now, the oracle-of the liquor
trade. read the following curtain lee
ture to its friends. which one could
easily imagine was an editorial from
its latest issue in this new hour of
liquor defeat:
'It is all very well for the wine and
spirit trade TO quiet its apprehensions,
but the fact is still apparent
that the sentiment against our busi-
ness is constantly growing In this
country and gaining friends among
the most substantial element in our
population. The question is a grave
one. and the sooner we appreciate fully
the hold it is securing OH the public
mind and conscience the better. 1t Is
to most of its followers what the slav-
cry question was to Its adherents-
a great moral question. The good that
alcohol does is little referred to. The
harmful effects following its abuse are
seen by all the world. To check this
abuse is the aim of the conservative
classes. and, hoping to find remedy
in Prohibition, they are rapidly falling
into its ranks. We are familiar with