The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-08-04

4
ed by moral purpose and religious
conviction, / kneel down and pray
with him and have faith i'm him and
faith In God that He will help him to
carry out his purpose of reform.
when a comrMnity works itself
into frenzy of songsinging, finds 1t
necessary to parade little children
with banners through the streets
saying Our Fathers Are Drunkards,
and sends it's women to the polls to
sing songs while men vote. l tremble
for the moral purpose that Is repre-
sented there. When community says
that 1t Is going to swear off drinking,
and the leader of the party is the
man who profits most by the Illicit
sale of liquor, you Will pardon me If /
have some doubt concerning the
moral purpose represented by that
sort Of prohibition. Prohibition to be
effective must have behind 1t not
merely the moral purpose to enact a
law. but to enforce It. A community
has just so much capital. It's moral
purpose Is Its capital. and you can do
Just as you please with that capital.
You can dissipate 1t If you wish in a
hurrah campaign and not have
enough moral purpose left to teach
your police the difference between q
black skin and white skin, between.
crap game on East Pay street and
an open gambling hell on Meeting
| street
May God give us the intelligence,
the earnestness. to understand that 1t
as waste Of splendid endeavor to en-
act laws unless we organize ourselves
to enforce them. II a law is not en-
forced 1t is worse than farce; it is
step toward anarchy, a threat to ev-
cry other law. and he who proposes
IT Is no more friend to temperance
than the general Is a friend to his
cause who allows himself to be taunt-
ed into fighting battle with the ene-
my under adverse circumstances. If
consider that prohibitory law In
Charleston will make II more lawless,
I would regard myself as traitrous to
my creed and to all / hold dear II I
allowed myself. Sor the sake of ap-
pearance. to be forced into voting for
It,"
After pointing to the battle of At
lanta as an illustration of his mean
ing here DIR. Jones proceeded to a dis
cussion Of the local conditions as they
affect prohibition.
"ls prohibition for Charleston a
force or a farce?" he asked. 'I be-
lieve that ultimately 1t will be a force,
that the time will come when we shall
regard 1t as shame that any man in
this fair city shall put the bottle to
his neighbors lips. Butts it at pres
ent as method to this splendid end
likely to prove a force or farce? I
rpely that 1t will be screaming
farce. and not force. / think 1t will
be very much the same thing as If a
man $4,000 in debt would announce
that ne was going to get out of debt
by borrowing $4,000. 1t is like a
man struggling for very existence to
support five children proposing to
adopt an orphanage, with all the re-
sponsibilities that went with it. 1
want to ask: Will 1T be enforced .?
And we can answer that question by
asking another: What has been
done? Have We enforced the laws
OF limitation which have been upon
our statute books? You know, just
as l know. that the mayor Of this
city has said publicly again and again
that he is enforcing the laws at pres
ent Just as well as the people want
them enforced. 1 don't believe that
Is true. but yet the challenge has not
been taken up. and you and / know
that the present law is a farce in
Charleston.
| "Wha. are we going to do? Take
away al limitations and trust that in
some mysterious way by the enact
ment of a prohibitory law the condi-
tions will be changed? don't be-
lieve 1t. You and 1 know perfectly
we'll who are supporting the present
prohibition asitation. Some good
people-not at all a majority of the
best people of Charleston-some good
people in alliance with every blind
tiger keeper in Charleston. / know
of my own personal knowledge that
a man who has grown wealthy in this
town by dealing in contraband liquor
has approached two OF my personal