Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1909-02-26
Two" :" Billion. lIl[I...: !:
flfss, stg+e,cfif,-4 u fss.d 4 Tsal6W
FOrDrink
uomJioa Jew 3 i3.5iii3i"
90 Inll|Yessa;llr "a 1908.
Total Waste of Curse Last Year
More Than $29.34 Per Capita
Despite Great Local 0p-
ton Progress. d9s9a
COSTS $40 TO 81 REVENUE.

|
! Years Review of Liquor Traffie's Ae-
! count With Civilization Reveals
Startling Figures-Averase Monthly
Drink Bill of Nation In 1908 Could
Pay Public Debt of Nation In Less
Than Fifteen Months-Waste Of
Drink Curse In Fourteen Months
Greater Than Whole Amount Of
Money In circuIation-Year's Loss
Six Times Total Money Coinage Of
World In 1907. Fl L--5dti
Dropping in on King Alcohol this
New Years day Of 1909, I found the
willy old scion Of satanic royalty look
ing unexpectedly hale and hearty,
with that sinister smile of supreme
self confidence for which he has long
been famous still ornarnenting his
pudgy bibulous countenanee. t@7
/ thought Itnoticedla a trace ofaweari-
ness. pass across his sodden brow as
/ wished him the compliments of the
season. Heiseemed slightly paler than
is usual for his conviviaf highness,
but with sudden gesture of imperial
impatience, as if the suggestion of a
"Happy New Year" reminded him un-
pleasantly of deeting ambitions and
departed joys, he responded reassur-
ingly in democratic dialect:
"Well, you see, am still on deck
and fit for every fight that may loom
on the horizon of 1909, despite all the
hard knocks and unkind predictions Of
my foes during the past twelve
months" -
"But you have lost lot of territory
during the year, haven't you?" que
ried, falling naturally into his uneon-
ventiona style.
"They say so. Five new Prohibition
states have been swung into line
against me, and few thousand towns
and cities have put my agents on their
/ legal blacklist, but I've still a-plenty
to be thankful for"
"How's that?' interrupted, amazed
at. his apparent Indifference to his rap
idly lengthening roll of defeats and
casualties, 4sa
"Well, it's this way: The temper
ance folks and Prohibitionists have
been raising an awful racket lately,
there's no mistake about that! They
have shown pretty conclusively that a
good many people are down on your
old Uncle AL But as for claiming
that they have captured half the ma
I ton and will win the rest in jiffy,
why they're way off, that's all. Be
tween you and me, I'm glad some OF
them think So It may be easier for
me if they get to iollying themselves
I'D over their wonderful victories and
overlook the actual facts in the case.
"They say that local and state Pro
hibition this last year together with
the panicly business conditions cut
down my income from the American
people by more. than S90,000000. IN
"I'll admit that's a tidy sum to lose
In one twelvemonth, but before crow
ing so much overJstf1at1 my foes had
better look at the other side Of the
picture. Z. .sdEf
"AIy total income from my 100000
licensed saloons, 1breweries and dis
tillerfes last yeaK according to the Of
fetal and fconservatively estimated fig
ures here before me. amounted to not
less than 50, 1873 .942,630, of which this
sol 900 900 or $4,000, 600 decrease since
last year is less than 4 1-3 per cent.
King AieohoPs Untouched Strong
idj j4Gf $3.50 ~aa holds. fit i~s ~ y
b SAT the same rate it would take
nearly a quarter of century to wipe
me off the map, and they haven't vet
touched me where I am strongest"
"Where is that" l asked casually.
j"You ought to know.si he replied,
,teThe big liquor producing centsrs, my
internal reve-ue alliance with Uncle
Sam, and my control of national poli-
tics through the two old parties. I
As long as my friends, the enemy.
Ture easy on me fere IN these three
strongholds, can snap my fingers at
| alls their local hullabaloo. 'gAstlss
'There IS just one thing to worry
about, and that and the old despot
shrugged his shoulders as9if a chill had
/ suddenly shot. down his spine-"and
that Is the everlasting agitation par-
fied on by the 250,0O0 political live
wires they call the Prohibition party. 7
Ii.3i'"I thought their vote fell off and
they lost. their, grip at the last eleci
/ -tion S,, intnrierfnd
"That's just where the trouble lies, l
The fumed ''They don't know when
| they're Nckedi No sooner have the
election returns come In but they're at
It again as If they had made q clean
sweep of the whole game. They've
proved to their own satisfaction that
/ wherever they gain votes the pohtici1
ans tumble over themselves to pass
some more laws aimed at me, and
where they lose few in one election
1t Is sure to mean whole lot more at
the next, as result of our natural
'hilarity over their seeming reverses.
z They're pounding away at these
three strongholds of mine night and
day. 865i days a year, and / know all
| their ammunition is aimed solidly at
these targets. But. say. I'm becoming
s34.sg3ffNng t93fG Dct ~ 1875 vi