Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-11-10

n 1S0SS64As
to the Puritans of 1850 was not likely
to be longer lived than Jonah's gourds
when applied to the liberty loving An
! glo-Saxon cavaliers of Georgia, and SO
they added by way of provisions for
revenue another side to the political
scheme.
LOCKER CLUBS AND BEER.
Twins were born; locker clubs and
near beer. The locker club was design
| ed to provide an avenue for the rich
and cultivated gentleman who would
| not tamely submit to the stringent reg
ulations of old New England. The
near beer" denominated in the law as an
imitation and substitute was thought
! good enough to alleviate the pangs of
the thirsty poor. Prohibition itself, the
real article, was reserved only for the
! hypoeritical jug-wump who betakes him
self to the secrecy of mis- closet and in
spects the contents of a package from
! Jacksonville or Chattanooga instead of
1 saying his prayers. Thus, we have the
| spectacle of law never designed to
-, prohibit the use of intoxicating liquors
except upon the part of those too ig-
norant to know now to obtain intoxicat-
| ing liquors, or too poor to pay for it. If
| there ever was piece of legislation
! obnoxious to every sentiment of justice
/ and fairplay. and absolutely repulsive
as class legislation, it is the so-calIed
prohibition law. i have already called
attention to the fact that under the
provisions of the local option law when
county adopted prohibition, it got the
real thing. Under the present prohi-
bition law 1t is within the power of any
number of gentlemen, either real or So
called, to organize a locker club where
unlimited quantities of liquor can be
dispensed. Provided that the purposes
of the club are purely social, all other
krules for the government of the club
are practically within their own discre-
| ton. Thus is the use, of liquor made
easy to those who should be models of
| temperance. On the other hand if an
humble laborer should receive a sudden
injury and need stimulant to enable
MIN to bear a deadly shock until he
can be conveyed to a hospital, he is re-
mitted to the tender rmercies of the con-
sciousless blind-tiger, or the soulless
boot-legger, who will sell him a chem
ical compound beaded with BAN potash
and guaranteed to kill at forty yards.
HEARTLESS INEQUALITY.
And such heartless inequality is sane
| titled and glorif1ed in the name of de-
mocracy and temperance. Then a license
is issued for |'near beer" saloon, and
If the law is actually obeyed the dealer
| is required to have an imitation beer
only partially brewed that will tan the
mucous membrane of his stomach, pro-
duce nausea, sickness and death. Our
statute boasts of it's hypocrisy and gloats
over the discrimination and deception by,
requiring the decoction that is sold 10
be an imitation and an attempted sub
stitute. AS compared to the real prohibit
ton law that we had under local OPP
ton and the prohibition law we now
have. it can well be said that the Act
of 1907 is itself only an imitation and
substitute.
have never said that no prohibition
! law could be enforced. / have often
said. and I desire to repeat it now with
emphasis, that the so-called prohibition
law of Georgia is a farce. 1 favor the
! enforcement of every law upon the
statute books as long as it is a law.
But certainly 1 am entitled to a right
which canot be denied even the humblest
citizen of our state; the right to pro-
test agains an unjust law, and of NOV
| ing for its repeal. 1t is the duty of
every judge to enforce the law as it is
written, but no official position. no in
sigma Of office can rightfully deprive
the man and the citizen of his just
rights as such.
PRESENT LAW A FARCE.
L have invited a comparison between
the effect Of the prohibition law in force
prior to the Act of 1907. and the result
since the passage of Nthe General Pro-
hibiuon law. At the time the General
Prohibition Law was passed prohibit
ton prevailed in more than 120 coun-
ties, and in many of these counties the
law is wen enforced because there was
public sentiment behind it. 1t can
readily be seen, therefore,, that the only
possible reason for the passage of the
statewide prohibition law was to af-
feet those counties which had not
adopted prohibition under local option,
and if prohibition was what the 12O
counties needed they already had it.
What has been the result in the re-
naming counties? Instead of saloons
from which the state derived a revenue,
there has been multiplication of vari-
Gus devices by which Intoxicating liquor
can be sold, and the general effect of
this disregard of the law in the counties
in which there is not sufficient senti-
ment to support the prohibition law
has been to teach disregard of law and
contempt of law in counties in which
prior to the passage Of 1907 the prohibit
ton law was fairly well enforced. 1t
is not my purpose to aid in putting the
sale of liquor upon any county that does
not desire it to be sold, or upon any
county which had prohibition before the
passage of the Act of 1907, unless al
majority of its own voters so decide but
conceding that the law is effective and
effectual in all of these, more than 100
counties, what is the result of the pas
sage of the sacred Act of 1907?
AS see it, it is merely the transfer
Of the liquor business necessary to sup
ply the uses of the people OF this state
from the control Of our laws to the