The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-07-31
STAUNTON WILL
REMAIN SAFE IN
THE DRY COLUMN

Continued from First Page
citizens Of the city TO keep the sa-
looms out.
Both Of the daily papers have de-
clared for a saloonless Staunton--th the
News Dispatch. whose status has been
puzziing heretofore. coming out this
morning with an appeal to the voters
Of the city To cast their ballots III
that way which would rebound most
to the upbuNding OF the manhood
and wemanhood OF stanton. The
Daily Leader. the afternoon news
paper has been as dry as bone
all through the fight and has won
hundreds Of friends by its course
Vets Have Plan.
The vets plan "A homb sheli which
they expect TO explode in the ranks
of the drys on Tuesday morning. They
will issue a statement setting forth
Their arguments. it Is understood. ar
y the fast minute, with the hope by
such stroke to stampede a sufficient
number of voters to turn the scales.
While the aggressors in this cam
paign forcing the elections. the vets
from the day OF filing Of their petit
ton to this present moment have
persistentiy refused To advance one
single argument publicly for voting
for the return Of the saloon. Staun
exploded all the stock arguments Of
The vets. The citys evident pros
perity has silenced the calamity howl
er, business is as good as Il ever
was
The amount involved in bankrupt
cies has been but a fourth the sum
they We're under the last two years
IF the wet regime. Arrests the last
Near nf the ssihasn period were three
h,,p ad a nd e3Ohfpan ntnRfy-
five the first year OF dry rule. Rents
of business properties have advanced
and values have Increased generally.
vacant stores are scarce. those for
meriy occupied by saloons being fill-
ed with clean business enterprises.
Ladies may with safety and propTiety
60 unattended upon any street of
the city. The tax rate which under
the license system grew in forty years
from so cents to s1.35 on the hun
dred. may now be safely reduced ae-
cording to the treasurer's recommen-
dation.
Give No Arguments.
Anxious to know upon what ground
the vets could base their arguments
for the return of the saloons. the
tirginian representative sought in
terviews with leading saloon advo-
Gates. but they absolutely declined to
talk Prohibition prohibits In Staun-
ton, violators OF the law are vigor-
onsly prosecuted and public sentiment
is strong against any attempt to cir
cumvent the laws.
The drys have not conducted a
spectacular campaign by any means
But they have done better--they have
surveyed every foot of the ground.
They know whore nearly every voter
stands. They are thoroughly organ
ICED, every minister in town is dry
and every one but one is actively in
the fight. The great majority of the
leading business men are dry.
The citizenship of the worthwhile
kind is earnestly, persistently. aggres-
sively dry. Results have been too po-
tent for even the irdiffrent to over
look them: one may so from one end
Of Main street Ia tire other tire
busiest hours of the day, and not
only see no drunken men, but not
even smell the odor of rum. The
cleanliness of the town is apparent,
the air of order and wholesomness is
such as cannot be found in a saloon
The ladies will conduct an all day
prayer meeting election day, begin
ming at sunrise and continuing until
sunset. In the Y. NJ. C. A. auditorium.
Wright Riddles Vets.
Seaborn Wright. famous as a tenn
perance crusader, electrified an inn
mense audience Saturday night at
Rodfey's auditorium In an address
which stripped the vets of the last
vestige of argument with which to
bolster up the cause of the saloon. Mr..
Wright devoted the major part OF his
address to the business view OF the
LIQUOR traffic. declaring 1t was a foe
to. prosperity and violative of the
very fundamentals of sound, economic
principles.
He declared that the South had
drained from its resources uncounted
millions. which had been made by
hard. earnest labor, and poured the
money into the lap Of the vastly
wealthy whiskey and brewing inter-
ests OF the North and West. He de-
clared that the little cities Of the