The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-20
Athens Loses Money,
 But Likes Prohibition

part of the work. The best results were in reducing asJc.ts s
 On Christmas eve about eight years ago n sew. d1s s before tt.e saioeu< acre abolished there were twonty-three ar- rests on Athens streets for drunkenness On the first Christmas eve under the lispcnrary the art.sts n. d tuInf cd to the remarkable minimum of two. No ratio in favor of prohibition has prob, ably shown higher than this in favor of morality. 7
 No wonder then that in. Athens. too, are many adhefents of the dispensary A leading lawyer of the. town avcws he sees no difference between the city stepping in and handling the liquor trafle and granting license to indi- viduals to do 1t, if the result is to pre- serve the morals and swell the coffers of the community
 May Embnrrass Ceenty.
 And that the coffers s of city and connty have been, greatly swollen by the dispensary operations fs establish : ed by the figures of record. In 1908, the dispensary netted to city and couta- ty . total of $21. .e53.l5. That is a proud performance for etJfe present city aS- nninistration. By an agreements af- fective May I, 1907. the county shared these profits equally with the city which had previously claimed the whole bag. And herein lies a tale that may yet embarrass the county.
 Tn the election of early 1907 to det- ermine whether Limestone county should issue $is5.o00 of bonds for road building, the advocates to cineh the if firrnatiye got an agreement from the city to divide the dispensary prodts when interest on the bonds begaa If the issue should carry. The city peo- pie saw that good roads were as much blessing to them as to the farmer. So the contract WAS ressfily drawn and 1t Is said now that sush consideration, removing the prospective burden of an extra tax, appealed to the voters and the bond issue carried by handsome maJorities. .
 The county was having smooth saii- ing, was paying interest on the bonds with pro@ptness, when comes along ths Legislature and wipes out dispensarJ and all. So dispensary profits for bond interest were obtained for only nine teen months. The county has reach ed the tax limit. There are ebout sixty. five miles of pike roads under construc- tion and the, commission has under taken the grading of ninety-one miles. The interest on the bonded indebted ness for this purpose is SCOTS annual. ly. Fortunately says Probate Judge George Malone. there is d surplus of S25, 900 with the treasurer. With this and an expected normal inepease in tax valuations, the county might pull out. But the finances would have, of course, been much happier if the dis pensary had continued operations.
 aaTlie people understood the contract between city and county, said Mayor Clements. "Tt was expressly stfpulat- ed that the only guarantee was an equal division of profits SO long as the dtspensary operated. There was hint that the character Of business was such that at any time the base would be knocked from under it. The voters understood 1t in the bond election: And what's more, if the Legislature had not interfered in December. 1907, the large majority of voters in Iiiuestone. would have risen on that tremendous wave and swept the dispensary out of existence. They would have deiiber- ateIy ridden the city of its adopted saloon with the knowledge that they would have to dig into their pockets to pay the bond interest,".
 wanted Prohibition.
 Not alone Mayor Clements gives this opinion but other observing citizens of Athens. The county, 1t may be re- membered, had settled on a date to vote for or against prohibition when the Legislature effected the compro- mise whereby Montgomery and other countries were allowed to remain un- disturbed until January 1, 1909.
 But Athens may thank the fates