The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1911-11-29
ANENT PROHIBITION, LOCAL
OPTION, ETC.


good state today This being true
it is important for the friends of
the cause to know that the advocates
of the whiskey traffic are always on
the alert.
AS one who feels a deep interest
in whatever makes for the uplift of
mankind | wish to submit to the
citizenry of Terrell county some con-
illusions that l have formed after q
careful study of this much discussed
question. The first proposition l sub
nit is this: Georgia cannot afford,
for any sort of a consideration, to re-
turn to the legaliZed sale of whiskey.
Why? Because the traffic is essen
TALLY wrong, and no amount of sup
posed argument in its favor can ever
make it right Making it in some
measure respectable by giving it the
sanction of the law does not change
| the principle involved You may
dress a wolf in sleeps clothing, but
he's a wolf still. Perform a miracle
| and restore sight to the eyes of the
| blind tiger" and he remains a tiger
and with multiplied chances to d =
YOUR you.
Again, the salvation of the pres
ent generation of boys and men,
the preservation of society and the
protection of the homes of this COM
| mOnwealth demand the maintenance
! and enforcement of laws forbidding
| the traffic in whiskey. A business
| which cannot thrive except as it de-
| bauches men, degTades society,
| wrecks homes that otherwise would
| be happy, breaks the hearts of wives
and mothers and half starYes limo
cent children has no legitimate place
in the economy of our state. Leg
| islation can legaliZe the sale of whis-
| key, but it can't make it legitimate
What are the supposed reasons in
favor of legalizing the barroom or
| dispensary in Georgia? About the
first one you hear as you meet the
representative of the whiskey inter
ests is, prohibition doesn't prohib-
! it," that just as much or more whis-
| key is being drunk in Georgia today
as under the former regime. That
conditions are far worse today than
| they ought to be none of us will
deny; but that more whiskey is be-
| ing used by the men of Georgia today
than under the old order | cannot
| believe, at least until proof of it is
CobtI VI lSAICus NJ, p4l Cl4CA = . IlOI IllC
amount of Whiskey brought here as
formerly, or the whiskey dealers
would not be spending hundreds Of
thousands of dollars in an effort to
| defeat prohibition in this state. If
| they are getting more business now
they are reversing the usual business
methods and are now seeking to cur
| tail their shipments.
h ,c1v
| tell us they want to close up the
blind tiger" and stop the violation
of law. They promise to obey the
law. Whoever accused the whiskey
dealers of-preserving and obeying the
law if it should turn to their advant-
age to violate it? Alabama has re-
Gently returned to the legalized whis-
| key traffic. Birmingham opened up
saloons some three or four months
since. The sheriff of Jefferson coun-
| ty stated that he went out on a tour
| of inspection about the close of the
first day they were opened for bust
ness in Birmingham and found prac-
| tically everyone violating the law by
selling both beer and whiSkey to mi
nOrs and allowing them to drink it in
| the room. Only recently a saloonist
in Montgomery was heard deplOring
the fact that he had paid the city a
| license fee of $500 to do a whis-
key business and the blind tigers in
the immediate section he was in
numbered twenty-five They were
pulling his trade and paying no Ii
| cense. He added that he was power
less to help himself. These are rep
! reSentatiyes of the same class that
| ,I,A
hibition" in Georgia.
AS to the statement that the law
can't be enforced, there is abundant
| evidence to show that the prohibition
law is being fairly we'll enforced
wherever the citiZenry lends the
| proper encouragement and support to
! the officers.
Another advocate says. But we
need relief from the high tax rate,
and dispensary would yield sufi-
| cient revenue to pay a large part of
| our taxes. That is about the weak
est piece of reasoning yet suggested.
| Still, l fear, it catches it's full quota
/ of votes. l wish we might dwell on
! this point to analyZe it fully, but an
/ other phase of this discussion awaits
/ our attention. Suffice it to say that
/ no self-respecting citizen would en-
! terrain for one moment to sell his
| suffrage to any man. Many men
| have not so thought of it, but the
! liquor dealers are making just that
! suggestion to us today. you use
your best efforts to let us into Geor-
/ gia with our traffic and when we get
here we'll pay your taxes for you.
! |, for one, do not propose to be
bought by any crowd, and least of
all that one.
But why so much discussion about
a law already in force in Georgia
when no effort is being made to re
peal it? Something is being said about
local option, but that's not opposed
to prohibition. 1t only gives the
counties in which majority of the
voters want it the right to manage
their own local affairs" That is a
sort of a sample of the taffy the ad-
vocates af the Iegalized sale of whis-
key are seeking to "pIay off, on the