The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-07
SHIPMENTS ON RIVER
 BROUGHT MUCH MONEY
Traffic Was Worth $250,000 to
 Marengo County.
E3usiness Men Divided as to Effect Of New Law, and Planters Are Concerned Over Future of
 the Negroes.
BY CHARLES L. HAROLD.

Demopolis, March 6.-(SpeciaL)-A AQuor trade, larger than the public knew, was abolish ed here by prohibi- ton.
 There's many a bibulous person be- tween Demopolis and Mobile on the Tombigbee river. There's many bibuious person in the surrounding counties of Alabama and large slice of East Mississippi territory. Much of this pop pulation drew upon this centre for their supply of liquor. It Is most advantageously situated between Me- ridian and Selma, on one hand, and Mobile and Birmingham. on the other. |.
 With the coming of January l. Therefore, Demopolis suffered finan- ctal jolt greater than might have been expected by outsiders It is estimated that the whiskey traffic through this point amounted to s250,000 annually To have this business suddenly re- moved from the town caused depres- sion. temporary, at least. Some liquor is being received here these days, both by freight and by express. No one seriously contends that as much is being consumed locally as under the saloon regime. It is safe to say, how ever, that the amount is growing weekly.
 In the discussion of prohibition as affecting Demopolis, Mayor J. B. Meri- wether, president of the City Bank and Trust Company, says that the town is "duller" than he has known 1t to be since 1890. He did not at tempt to attribute the depression to prohibition altogether. He, like, oth- CT business men of the community, realizes that the panic is on;" he realizes that the cement works have not been in operation for many months: that the cotton mill has shut down and that the thousands of dol lars spent here by the government monthly in the construction of the river locks are now missing. Yet the shock of prohibition has had its dis tanct effect.
 No one attempts to put the town in the brush heap The natural re- sources are too many and too prom asing. The community Is bound to recover from the effects of sudden prohibition. The city revenue must be recouped slowly. Mayor Merfweth- CT and his administration Is not try ang to supply the saloon license de- Acit of s5,G00 at a single bound. A net increase in licenses of 15 per cent was effected. It IS. aimed only for the present to>raise enough money to run the city on most economi- cal basis. The schools are bound to suffer for the time. It was from the fattened treasury resting on saloon licenses in a large part that the schools received much of their sup port The educational advantages cannot expect to be what they were before until some sweeping step is taken in revenue adjustment.
 As in many other municipalities Demopolis aldermen run shy of the privilege tax. They realize that il ever there was a time when industry and business of every kind must re- ceive encouragement 1t is now. They wish to make the licenses burden as light as possible on all shoulders.
 More Cash Trade.
 But, as If to defy panic, prohibition stified industries and all, no less thar half a dozen leading merchants of the city testify to increased business since fhe coming of prohibition. They tel of more cash trade. The proprietors as well as clerks, are apparently re 3oiced at the improved environment under prohibition. This is especially true of the negroes who, they say. arc