The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-04
FARMERS AND MERCHANTS
SAY NEGRO IS BETTER
Bottles Are Scattered Arouud the
Town.
Bat the Negro seems to BE Imprcving
81 Over Enfercea Prohibitfon-rhey
Quarrel Less with tAe Mer-
ehants-rAs foyer
Gets His.
ny CHARLES :. HAROLD.

Dadeville. April ESPECIAL Dur
ing court week several farmers fell to
discussing whiskey and the negro. 1t
was busy court week this, and repre-
sentative farmers were In town.
Il well recollect." said one of them,
that IT was a mighty good induce
ment to work to give nip OF whis-
KEEP as a reward. Those were great
old corn shocking parties we used to
have. you know, and I tell you we had
Q lot of zest In the game when the
nfggers knew that whiskey was at the
other end OF the night. or morning. to
be proper. But you know that was on
occasions. and as for me and my Ia
key as regular thing. We were
afraid to. I don't believe now that 1t
Is essential to make him work"
Here another big planter, with the
trained eye OF q practical labor expert
put in to say he Is doing much bet
ter with the whiskey sales reduced by
prohibition.
II am quite sure" said he, shat the
negro Is not getting one-fourth the
gin and stun that he used to get.
Some of them are not getting II at all.
Some say that a niger will naturally
not work on Saturday afternoon. 80
long as there was whiskey In easy ac-
cess believe II to be maxim But
whether you believe me or not, know
that my negroes are working Satur-
days when they used to go to town.
1t has about convinced me that they
were not born with the appetite. as
many believe" j.
This was corroborated in some quar-
tiers and denied in others. II Is an
economic problem that has two SIDES
every time 1T Is setup for solution. But
on this they all seem agreed. that the
CO x,r ND al aalr
has sigpally improved. 1t was found
so in Dallas. in Perry. In Marengo, In
Bullock and other counties, and II
seems just as true in the red hills of
old TalIapoosa. Planters OF the old
school refer to the days before the
war. when statutes were enacted pro-
hibiting the sale of whiskey to slave
and free negro. They formed probably
the first statutes of prohibition In Ala
bamas history. The subject Is alluded
to In the very excellent historical pa
per by John v. benson Of Opelika, en-
titled slave Laws of Alabama" I'm
der the direction of DR.. George Petrie
of the Auburn Historical Seminary.
Mr. benson went thoroughly into the
slave legislation of this State. A copy
OF the old enactment prohibiting the
sale Of spirituous and ardent" liquors
! to the negroes Of olden times are given
In full.
80 'si without warrant. -
7j So, 1t would seem THAT whiskey1in
the negro's hands seems to be with
out moral or economic warrant In his
tory. 1t might have been nice and
nourishing at the coFn-shuckings, but
not permanent energizer.
Yet there are farmers who tell Of
piteous begging OF negroes for whis-
KEY. They mad enjoyed the freedom
OF drink so long that they were not
prepared for the violent change that
came with prohibition. While they
were arguing the effects Of dry and
the saloons were open. he looked on
the prohibition business as a theory.
Now that he has found 1t fact. has
tested its stopping qualities. he misses
the whiskey the more. And If he has
not the money to order 1t, he has TO
r. siea to his fate Even II he has