The gold leaf., 1910-03-24

what to Bay Also.
The "Self speaking inVance" "contin-
ues to attract attention and demand
space in the public prints, whether
the movement for local option"
amounts to anything or not. In the
News and Observer of the sixteenth
J Mr.. L. L. Hicks had the following ar
! ticle:
| To the Editor:-Much has been
said in thepress about the "great Sell
speaking" and about it being the
entering wedge to split open and
abolish the prohibition law.
Why he selected Henderson and
Vance county to try with his center
ing wedge" and see it bounce is
mystery. There were four men in
this town who "didn't like the bill"
and talked a good dealfor "local op
tion," personal liberty" and "the
right OF the poor man as we'll as the
rich to get Whiskey when he wanted
| it,"
One of them has died and the other
three are still "disgruntled," but if
there is anybody else in Vance county.
except those three, who has taken
the subject seriously to heart, they
haven't let it be known.
There are two or three blockade
stills not much larger than coffee
pots in the county. but they move
! very often and get farther and farth-
pr from the road, and their lives are
a burden.
In lyf111f ri lTNYS
here. Generally the apprehension of
one in that condition results in the
flight or conviction of a blind tiger.
Our juries convict a liquor seller as
readily as they do a thief Barring
the opinions and feelings Of few per-
sons and the blind tigers themselves,
the prohibition law established in
May, 1908, by the initiative and refer
endum, is the most popular law in
Vance county that was ever enacted.
Ii Vance county is the easiest place
on the log for the whiskey wedge to
enter, it will remain uncleaved till the
end of time.
The dispensary took in more than
fifteen hundred dollars per week dur
ing the last two years of its life. |
believe that not more than one hun
dred dollars per week is now being
paid for whiskey in this county.
Mr.. Self spoke here in the spring Of
1908. 1t did not influence a single
vote in that election that we have
ever heard of. His speech of Febru-
airy 26, 1910, was thoroughly adver-
tised. Not over $50 people heard it,,
and at least $50 of them were negroes
He said pretty we'll what might be
said for that curse of the human
race, that deposed enemy of mankind,
but it was of no use. The minds OF
the people who run the State, who
have influence in the various COM
munities, have turned away from
whiskey. To deal in it is criminal.
May God grant that it remain SO.
Let no lover of temperance or be-
lever in the prohibition of traffic in
whiskey think for a moment that the
friends of the cause or the cause it.
self are weakening in Vance county.
Respectfully,
T. T. HICKS.
Henderson, n. c., March IA, 1910.
This drew forth a reply from Mr..
William C. Lyon, staff correspondent
of the Charlotte Observer, who re-
ported the speech of Mr.. Self and
made some comments on the size OF
the crowd, the temper OF the audi
ence and sentiment as he found it as
expressed by number of persons he
talked with. Following is Mr.. Lyons
communication published in the News
and Observer Saturday,:
To the Editor: In your issue Ol
Tuesday, March 16, l read with pc.
culiar interest communication
signed, T. T. Hicks, Henderson, N
c., in regard to the speech of Mr.. W
A. Self, of Hickory, at Henderson
February 26, in support OF local op'
tion.
This communication treads heavily
on my toes in one respect. In fact
may say that it throws the lie in my
face directly. In the statement that
not over $50 people heard the speech
of Mr.. Self and that of this number
about $50 were negroes, l am con-
tradicted.
| was sent to Henderson in my OF
fetal capacity as staff correspond
ent of the Charlotte Observer, to re
port the meeting at Henderson.
arrived in Henderson about mid
night on the night of February %
/ Early the next moring | received
telegraphic instructions to give siZt
of crowd, temper of crowd and gen
eral effect of the speech. This | die
in a purely unbiased way from OBJ
servatiOn. | am accustomed to es
, timating the size of a crowd and thi:
was by no means my first experience
in such estimates. | do not know
the seating capacity ofVance county
court house, but | do know thai
when Mr.. Self delivered his speech il
Henderson that the court room wa'
filled to overfowing As l stated il
- my story of the meeting, the cour
q room was packed. Every seat in th'
& house was taken and people wer
8 standing up in the center aisle of th
8 court room and the side walls of room
s. where a narrow aisle extends aroun(
8 were filled with men standing.
8 should say that a very conservative
estimate of the crowd would not fal
z short of 600 people and that of thi
s. number feel safe in the truth of tn
s statement that there were not 1o ne
q groes in the room.
s. As stated further in my story th
Z men, as IsiZed them up, were substan
tial farmers of Vance and surround
ing counties.
E.. L - 4 J..