The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-02-23

City. with a population of ls,tOO. has
a yearly criminal court TIL OF $4,000
and sends fifteen convicts to the penL-
Tertiary, wlte five dry counties, with
81, zoe inhabitants. have yearly
criminal ~r'Iri till of S3.00o, and sends
six to the penitentiary. Thus IT is
seen that ave dry counties, with 49,
eco more Of population, has Si,5uV
less crimingl expense and sends nine
less to the penitentiary than one wet
county, ppt Of the 100 counties in
Virginia, fhirty-foIr wet counties and
eleven wet cities has a yearly criminal
court expense OF $4,000. and sends
SIS conyicts to the penitentiary, while
siXty-siN Try counties ard eight dry
cities have q yearly criminal court e&-
pcuse % $I23.G00 and sends 3 00f
couNtcts to the State prison. Forty
five wet counties and cities have $l17-
coo more criminal court expense and
sends 2l5 mere conyiets to the State
prison than seyenty-four dry coun-
ties and cities
Prof G. 7. Jordan. the leader of
Staunton's dry" forces to glorious
victory. spoke for his home town.
Tho work of Kidding the city OF sa-
looms had been difficult for the rea-
son that many of the most prominent
citizens of the city We're engaged in
the trade and there We're no saloons
OF the lowest type there. \ prodig-
lousy long, hard fight had brought
success, but after winning at the polls
temperance victory is never won,
said he, as long as the liquor men
have money to carry the fight into
the courts. The speaker pointed out
the weakness Of the law as II now
stands. Each judge is supreme in his
own jurisdiction and the present Law
had been construed in nine different
ways by various Judges. In his city
the liquor men charged that ia votes
had been illegally cast and on that
ground they wished to have the cleo
tion set aside. Investigation showed
however, that they had voted the H.
legal ballot and the court declined Ia
permit them to become beneficiariee
OF their own crime. The temperance
people got busy and had some of the
unlawful voters indicted and, said the
speaker. by tho grace of God" we
convicted some. among them being a
negro who was convicted OF perjury
"A Camden jurist has just said" con.
| tinued MIR. Jordan. that to cast ar
| Illegal vote is a worse crime thar
| shooting PRESIDENT. because an H.
| legal vote goes to the heart OF the
! nation This negro was given one
| minute I'm iati and was pardoned b,
| a Democratic governor mot tho pres.
| ent governor So he could go and
| vote Wet next time.
| However, even after voting dry, .
| a town does not have local option
! said the speaker As long as IIarri.
| sonburg is wet, stanton is unable Il
have that freedom from rum fol
| which il voted. stanton has i'm.
| httt
| that il would If HarrisonDurg anc
! Richmond were compelled to respec
Staunton's rights During the las
| year Of The wet regime there wer,
f53 arrests. In the first year of thu
dry period the arrests were 312. IL
the last year of the wet rale 3i2 ar
rests had been made for drunkenness
| Under the dry regime this numbe
had fallen to 30. Fines were collect
ed to the amount og S3,516.ep durin
the last wet year, While the first dr.
year they reached $1.774G5. II cos
81. l42.tG to feed the prisoners tn
last wet" year, St,S40.S0 the frs
dry year. The city treasurer. on
OF the most conservative men in tn
Statc-So conservative in fact that tn
! speaker could not say whether he wa
| wet or "dry''-had recommended
Reduction af- ten cents ON the hun
dred dollars in the tax rate. The cit
had $s,9e9 more cash revenue III
first dry year than it had ths las
| wet year.
In wet" times there were certai
sections of the town that ladies pass
cd through with great reluctance. A
a great gathering held in stanton las
September visitor said; II used t
think You temperance people were
lot of fanatics but / see to-day wha
| never expected to see-~women an
children walking as freely on John
son street az they do on Main street
The wives and children have fu]
piatters. there being numbers of case
[ | whore families who once suffered tn
pangs of hopeless poverty no,
enjoy, the blessings Of prosperity.
"Staunton sends to the conventio,
to go at the matter systematicall
and aggressively and vote the Who'll
State dry
Who is responsible for the failur
OF State wide measures? II call n
names said the speaker. but Their
are three men Of such influence il
I the Legislature of Virginia who, /
they had said the word, the measur
would have passed
Illustrating the failure of so man,
prominent people to keep themselye
qualified to vote be told a story of
negro in the town changing VIII,
paid his poll taxes while leadin,
citizen failed so to do. The saloon
seeks 10 increase the negro vote, an,
when IL gets up to 10000 the negr,
will hold the balance Of power an,
will be supreme. As big as is TIL
liquor question, II is absolutely swal
lowed up in the great conflict for ;
| uure government
The Bristol Situation,
DIR. w. S. Neighbors told of the
Bristol situation He said that hi,
town had some peculiarities. Yo,
could walk down Main street with
one foot in Virginia and the other il
Tennessee. On one side OF the stree
are saloons; on the other side there
are none. The only difficulty abou,
the situation was that you can't drink
on one side and the other side stay
sober. He had returned to Bristo
on the 5th day of last August and
! from that time until the LIST day OF
October. when the saloons reopened
| he had not seen drunken man. Since
| that time he had seen an immense
number The day the saloons reopen
| ed a man, the head of family, who