The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-17

| next, until his retirement a few weeks
ago to accept the place of chief surgeon
at the state insane asylum, said. When
| I was in the legislature / voted for the
| prohibition laws and also for the sub
mission of the constitutional amendment,
not SO much for the latter for any great
| interest In its adoption, but l considered
| 1t no harm to give the people an oppor-
tunity to vote on the question. So you
may call me prohibitionist. / am.
would like to see the prohibition laws en-
forced but 1t seems impossible.
ut may be that the dispensary is a
better solution of the problem. The dis
pensary in Tuscaloosa was success
financially. and 1t did correct some OF the
evils of the traffic, as it is usually car
| ried on In open saloons.
ut is my opinion that the sentiment
for the re-establishment of the dispen-
sary In Tuscaloosa is growing. l believe
an election on the question today would
be very close There Is no telling what
the result would be a few months or a
year from now. unless prohibition laws
are made more effective.
Council Favors Plan
I could not reach all the members Oh
the incoming city council. but am toio
that six of the nine are outspoken Tor lne
return of the dispensary. The seventh
man is doubtful. and the other Two are
not expected to be aggressive IN their OPP
position.
Many people approached are not ready
to make public statements OF their po-
sition, but my personal investigation Az
thorizes the position that has been taken
In this series of articles that majority
of the people of Tuscaloosa are now IN
favor of the return of the dispensary anu
that the sentiment is growing at an as
tonishing rate.
The writer of this series of articles de-
sIres to say just here for the benent OF
those who have already charged tnat ne
is biased in his alleged advocacy OF the
dispensary system that he Is not yet an
advocate of the plan. He has been con-
WINGED during the past year that prohibi-
ton is a miserable failure, and like thou
sands of others In Alabama Is seeking
the best method of regulation. The writer
has been a lifelong prohibitionist, both
in theory and in practice, and no business
or professional connection has Influenced
his position or his views
This writer Is seeking the truth and
will give 1t to the readers of The Age
Herald without bias.
Number Of Arrests
Perhaps some statistics on the number
of cases registered on the police docket or
the city of Tuscaloosa under the three
systems that nave Deen Ill NOeuc odiihS
the past 10 years will be of interest.
| have drawn from the docket the total of
all cases as it Is impossible to distinguish
| those directly or indirectly connected
with the drinking of liquor.
| During the year 1901, the last year OF
the operation of saloons, 1913 cases were
docketed. During the following six years
the dispensary was in operation. The
cases doeketed for each year was as fol-
lows In 1902, 498 cases; in 1903, 434 cases;
In 1904, 465 cases; In 1906 665 cases; In
1906, 800 cases; in 1907, 1888 cases.
In 1908, the first year of prohibition, the
total number of cases dropped back to 1873.
Last year the total number or cases
jumped back up to 732.
The first five months of 1910 show total
of 33s cases or at the ratio of s04 cases
| for the IL months. But study of the
docket for other years will show that the
| first six months of the year are light. ant
that the fall and. early winter months
show considerable increases In number of
| cases docketed. It is estimated that the
| total number of cases for the present year
of prohibition will reach or exceed the
| 1000 mark.
These figures are given for what they
are worth.