The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-02
No Hysteria

'In the local option elections held un- der'the new laws there has been notable lack of hysteria which was so much in evidence when prohibitionists were stirring up turmoil" said a prominent democrat
 There was practically no excitement in Mobile when the saloon was voted back, and there was scarcely any ex- eitement in the Montgomery campaign. Colbert county, the first to vote back saloons. had very quiet campaign, and understand that the Russell county campaign. which gave large majority for saloons, was likewiseS free from ex- citement I think it will be that way in Jefferson county. Hysteria is a serious thing. It is sad enough in women and children, but there Is no excuse for it among grown-up men. In the Conner legislature men who were not statewide prohibitionists at heart caught the fanat- ical craze and allowed themselves to be swept off their feet-at least many of them did.
 Tn 1907 when this county voted on the liquor question, under the old local op- ttSh ietAog tiltIO ludN bdNO bcCh SOAhO hysteria on election day and a few days preceding, but as a rule most of the men who voted dry did so, not because they were hysterical. but because they thought the lowest element of the whisky trade had become too assertive In other words, it was the dive that determined hundreds of voters who were not prohibitionists, but who wished to rid the town of what was regarded by many business men to be a nuisance, not to use stronger term, to vote anti-saloon.
 '.I am one of those who voted dry, but will now vote for the open saloon. We will start fresh with our regulated liquor traffic. Those citizens who are now mak- Ing great outcry against the Smith reg ulation, law because of the 3O-room hotel clause lose sight altogether of the ex- else commission. They seem to assume that saloons will be opened near col leges, schools and in residence sections generally. Men of ordinary intelligence certainly must have some knowledge of the provisions of the law. They know very well that the excise commission will not allow saloons where saloons are not wanted, and that they are not going to allow this town to be infested with liquor dealers whose records make them obnox- ious.
 T read MT o. c. Phillips letter in The Age-Herald, in which that gentle man tells of the excellent conditions in St. Louis under an excise commission. I do not happen to know MT. Phillips per- sonally, but his discussion of the saloon question indicates a broad mind. MT. Leo K Steiner, who spent a day or two in St. Louis in July, tells me that the saloons there are strictly regulated, and that he had never seen more orderly city His favorable observations of the business district of St. Louis coincide with MT. Phillips account.
 'T lived in Washington, D. C., for several years, and was there as a visitor recently Washington is well supplied with saloons. and l never heard aught said against them. They are models in the way of strict regulation I have visited Norfolk and Richmond within the past few years, and have found that the police records of those two cities, where saloons are licensed, show very little crime. They are noted for their good order, and Richmond especially, with all it's liquor, is moral paradise compared with some dry cities.'