The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-17
LID ON TIGHT IN ANDALUSIA And Despite Wet Days
 of Tore. INCONSISTENCY OF EVOLUTION Once Determined to Keep Saloons: Town Now Satisfied, xe<isl.tive Dispensary Has Made Break From Wet To Dry Gradual And Easy, Jug Trade Grows
 Precarious.
INCONSISTENCY OF EVOLUTION
BY CHARLES L. HAROLD.

Andalusia. April 1e-(Special-The Magic City of the pine region affords an unique history on the suo1ect Y probibitiou. Since the early eighties the people of Andalusia have had the right of perpetual option. Durins a,i these years they exercised the priVi- Iere and annually for long time they wouid form in a procession for the poIls to register their will on the iio,or traffic. Each time. however, the { wet champions held their own. and It took the Legislature, in state-wide sweep, to brush the legal sale or It away.
 In other beats of the county they had perpetual--or annual option-ano with crushing majorities they long ago sounded the death kne1l of whiskey. But in Andalusia, even with the su- preme efforts of prohibitionists. even with the protracted oratory of tenn perance speakers brought here to neip campaign, the reign of wet did not cease by the voice of the people direct ly affected.
 Dispensary . Success.
 Then. by special enactment, respond ing to the pleas of many of his consti- fuents, the Representative from this county succeeded in landing dispen- sary for Andalusia. With one lurid blaze of glory. like meteor across the heavens. the dtspensary began here January 1, 1908 and ran the course of . year It prospered like none in Ala bama ever prospered in the first year. without practice In the business and with only the guide of the law. the municipal authorities poured net Of more than $20,000 into the treasury. They turned over 25 per cent of the net profits to the county, the remain der was retained and appropriated to OFa rvaa on an excellent sanitary sewerage sys- tenn.
 Yet more wonderful than the finan- cial success of the dispensary was it's effect on drunkenness. During the first three months of the last year of open saloons a total of thirty-three drunks were fined by the mayor. Dur ing the corresponding period or 1908 or the siispensary year this list or trunks had shrunlx to eight. Residents tel, of the great difference which seemed evident nearly every day but more especially on Saturdays during the busy season.
 Now. note, going further. the effects of prohibition. The first quarter or 1909 cut down the fines for public drunkenness to an isolated pair The uolice court has come to look like a scene of frost. The wheels of justice have nearly rusted for lack of offenses. 
 Lid Is On.
 It would be hard to find town with q tighter liJ They are practically chewing the law to the letter. That is fine way in which the. condition con- trasts with those in towns where the people with a vengeance drove the license system from their midst Though an Andalusia. not many years ago. the temperance campaign organ ized in righteous fury. though the day was rife with religious song and demonstrations by women and children made the day a memorable one, the voters registered in favor of con- ttnuei saloons And now, notwith- standing this previous rejection of pro- hibition, the law officers do not show any prejudice against the dry put on them by the Legislature. Blind tigers, if detected here. are run down with speed and punished. The jury system. it is said, may be expected to render full aid in enforcing the law.
 Public intoxication has almost be- come unknown in Andalusia. The population of the city and environs has increased wonderfully since the saloons were abolished. It was thought they were a big contributor to the business of the community. They were looked on as q trade Eetter. Soon the pro- Kressive element learned that the saloons were an incident and that the growth of the city was potential. that the future of the town and county was assured from within and was not trace able to accident or theory. Yet with the coming of more people the scenes