The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-12

muroot ana tue Nke nave incksss~u Prohibition seems to have transferred. In part at least. crimes from the city where they are easier detected, to the distant parts of the county. whore 1t is impossible to police the county. I can see no reason for this state Of af- fairs. unless 1t be that more whiskey is being drunk in the country places than before z"
 Judge Burke is Judge of the County Court and has occasion to observe the criminal tendencies of the people.
 Sherin Casey confirms the opinion of Judge Burke. He says there are an average of more prisoners<in the tali since prohibition than before. He told the writer that on Jan. |. 1908. he had no inmates of his jaii, while Jan. 1, 1909. the first new year under prohi- bition, he had five prisoners. He does not believe in prohibition and openly declares 1t failure in the city and county. notwithstanding the county voted dry by a majority of about 700 on the notable Dec. 9, 1907.
 One would naturally infer from these surprising facts. that prohibition forces captured the community by storm, of the merchants puts it, "nullihed the suffrage of man who Is the bread- winner, by crowding the polls with singing women and children"
 Have subsequent expressions at the polls. when women did not sing, when children did not plead. when preachers did not preach. proved that the voters on Dec. g were not sincere, that they were not registering their free will.
 Such leading citizens as George H. Parker, banker and capitalist, Probate Judge Burke, and Mayor George F. Beyer, merchant, declare that the peo- pie have already been rebuked for vot- ing prohibition upon the county. There seems to be something of substantia- tion in the recent Presidential election.
 Cullman County. vacillating through the early years of it's history between the Democratic and Republican col- umns, had become to be recognized as Democratic. Parker and not Roose-- welt carried the county in 1904 Dem ocrats have held most of the county offices in recent years. The L423 votes for Hon. John l.. Burnett and 1.4s1 for H. H. Freeman for Congressman If the Seventh District during the last election, might be said to indicate that so far as national issues are concerned the county might be regarded as doubtful.
 Admitting. however. that the county is equally divided on party lines. Lit would seem that no other cause than prohibition made . Republican victory in Cullman County possible on Novem- Der 3. 1908. Politicians sof the county declaret that prohibition was renewed as an issue during the last election. It seemed that the people were anxious to do the thing over again. Probate Judge Burke and George H. Parker say that the November election was an unmistakabie rebuke to the Democrats of the county and slap in the face of prohibition. They point out that every candidate for county office who was prohibitiOnIst or rested under that sus- picion was nailed for mud" Regard less of party lines. every man who was tagged either in fact or by imagina- ton. as "dry" advocate was sharply defeated for office.
 Here's the record. A. Hoeppner, a German citizen, and Democrat, pro- claiming himself an anti-prohibftionist. was elected coroner of the county over Oscar Fischer, Republican. although there was a handsome majority for Taft in the same expression of the Yot- CTS. Emmet E. Matthews, hepuph- can anti was erected Tax Assessor over his Democratic opponent by vote of I ,es6 to 1,257, the. latter candidate in- ciirrinp the ahimosity of the Germans and other anti forces. B. D. Cook. Republican, and in reality Prohtbi- tionist was elected Treasurer of the county over c. W. Bragg. a Prohibi-
 
 was shrewd enough to keep silent about prohibition, 1t is said. and because fhere was a blighting resentment against the Democratic Party which. ttawas claimed, had showed prohibition on the county.
 There were only two Democrats land ed in office in November. one of these has been mentioned. The other is R. A. Davenport, who was elected Com missioner of the Fourth District over his Republican but Prohibition oppon- ent, John L.. Walker, by the vote of i,577 to l,@9S. All justices of the peace elected were Republicans. It is the opinion of Judge Burke that they were all antis.
 The most serious blow that seems to have been dealt Cullman County by the dry business is in the stopping of immigration. The history of Cullman is the history of immigration an in- terestfng and inspiring history, from the May day in 1873 when the late revered John G. Cullman, founder, came here with the wilderness daring his axe and hoe. until the present. when cleared and prosperous farm lands, under the industrious touch of the German im- migrant, abound in oceans of potatoes, strawberries. grapes and other truck growth that move swiftly and plenti- fully to the county seat where mer-
  the profits of trade.
 But the property owners, the men who have done most for the welfare of the community. are solicitous for the future of the country. They fear that prohibition has destroyed the fountain whence came the vigor and life of the settlement. Not the tapsters fount that lifts its enttcing form behind the mahogany, but the fount of immigra- ton, that which has made the county and the city and which was counted on for further advancement and prosper ity.
 That the German immigrant is not coming again to Cullman is admitted on all sides. The negro is not here Not a black face is to be seen in the city, and it is said his color is con- spicuously absent from the county with one or two thrifty exceptions. The American had his opportunity to de- velop the once latent resources of the soil here. He did not listen to the call of the wild. It was laughed to death, the idea of forming a separate county of Cullman, when it was first proposed in the legislative halls at Montgomery, It was proclaimed by Morgan, Winston and BIount counties that to cull Gull man from their strips of territory was to make a poor house, so apparently barren was the soil of Sand Mountains