Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-01-01
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A GREAT DRY" WAVE.
1t Is Steadily Rolling over the United
States.

It Is Steadily Rolling over the United
States.
Washington, December 2S.-A wave
OF brOhiDItlon has swept with such re-
marAab.e enect over the soulh and SEN
tIment has SO crystalized against the
sa,oon and it's kindred evils, tnat the
dawn of the new year opens upon vast
srretcn of territory absolutely bereft Ct
iquor, while the area where anti-pro-
..lpitlonists have trlumphed MARKS the
battle-ground for impending hgnts fol-
and AGAINST the sale Of intoxicants.
significant Of the magnitude this
,,ro,lem has assumed is the fact that
n many states promotion looms up as
political issue CT chief concern to the
voters, obscuring other municipal and
state questions. Other states disposed
If the issue, temporarily at least, by
the passage of statutory laws, whose
efficiency must yet be tested. In still
other states, the will Of the majority
expressed at local option elections has
restricted the sale of liquor to the larg-
er cites, where the liquor men gener-
ally are fortified against attack from
rne temperance folk.
Reports rejecting accurately the polit-
ical stage of the prohibition movement
n the south show that more than half
the soutns territory is dry absolute
y, and that in the remaining area list
ed as wet the sale of intoxicants is
upon restricted scale. 1t is evident
that cities are the only remaining
,trongh dds for the saloons and it is
unlikely that this condition will be
modified, except through a radical
change in political thought, through
failure to enforce the laws against the
liquor traffic, failure to sclve the prob
lem growing out Of deficits in county,
municipal and state treasures from
loss of the whisky tax, or inability
tc cope with the illicit sale Of whisky
and perhaps other obstacles which fol-
low in the wake Of prohibition.
Georgia now holds the center of the
stage and for yeRShas been expert
menting in what NJ Strictly a near
PROHIBITION" law, in that It forbids the
sale bf, liquors containing more than 4
per can't of alcohol. State wide pro-
hibitIkn laws become effective on jan
ary lin North Carolina, Alabama and
Miss. Islppi.. leach Of which, a major
ity of counties had heretofore prohibit
ed the sale of liquor. Prohibition ad-
vocates in Louisiana have suspended
their fight to test the new Gay Shat
tuck law for the regulation of the IL
luor traffic, which also becomes opera
tive January l.
The anti saloon people say they will
be content if this law is enforced rigid
ly. Tennessee is the chief center of
interest among the other states where
state wide prohibition fights are In pro-
sress. The ProhiDitionisls assert that
state wide bill will pass the legisla-
tire which they expect to organize and
control. With the backing Of the state
machinery, the local option forces are
equally confident that such bill will
meet defeat.
Kentucky, the second largest distill-
ing state in the Union, with 119 coun-
lies, has but four in which the sale of
liquor is not prohibited Virginia pre-
sents a slring of victories for the anti
sa.oon element, as prohibition now eX-
lists in so out of the states 100 coun-
ties.
In Texas, where more than half the
counties have accepted prohibition, the
voters soon will be called upon to vote
loon IL constitutional amendment for
prohibition. In Arkansas, two thirds OF
its area, or IS counties, are dry and
the question Of state wide prohibition
will be presented to the voters for de-
cision.
Florida is partly dry" through local
option, and like some Of the other
states, the sale of liquor principally is
confined to the cities. The results Ct
prohibition generally are CLEANED from
reports indicating a great decrease IN
the record of arrests for drunkenness,
IN increase in the bank deposits of la
borers, fewer cases of wife abandon
ment anG a decrease in criminality
generally The difficulty in enforcing
the prohibition laws however, is cCn-
ceded to he one of the chief obstacles
to it's absolute success in many states.
and this phase of the question: togeth-
ar with a falling off in revenues, is to
some extent battling to the authorities.