Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-05-05
STATEWIDE PROHIBITION.
Its Great Advantages, Morally and
Financially.

TO the Houston Post:
To the Editor
AS so much has been said by the oppo-
| nents of prohibition l wish to set forth
IN TINS paper the real facts and figures
on TINS question SO that your readers on
| poth sides may see for themselves lust
Where the truth it to be found on this
vital subject. Certainly no cause can be
| 1dstned by resorting to falsehood, slam
| der or Misrepresentation, and as | wish
To be entirely fair and just to all, | ask
| mat all the readers of this paper give
que consideration to the facts herein set
Ioftn, and carefully weigh these facts in
the balance of true reason and sober
COMMON sense and sound judgment:
| J. The antis claim that more liquor is
! sold and that there is more drunkenness
III prohibition territory than in wet states
and counties.
Now. l propose to show that these
| statements are absolutely untrue and
| without evidence. Take Oklahoma for
| instance. After my article came out in
| the News giving some important data on
this point, / received a letter from julius
| a; Kruger, Il leading lawyer in Snyder,
| Okla, confirming my statements which
snow, large decrease in crime and
Here is what Mr. Kruger SAYS iiT in part
| Now the ants down there say that pro-
hibttion makes more crimes than saloons.
! 10 this | will say that ii is a black, in
| ternal lie, and | can prove it. because |
nave seen open saloons here and three
and one-half wears of prohibition. Pro-
.
Because the old drunken sot of saloon
Keeper is so unnamed by the demon Ii
quor that he can no let GO So he or
tderS booze and goes to boot logging. and
| all booze fighters are in sympathy with
him. and if an officer Is In sympathy with
booze he will close one eye on the boot
logger but the average drinking man IL
not In favor of the violater of the law
and he gets weaned from the booze.
Prohibition is thousand times better
than open saloons here. There were four
1 SaiDDnS Of no nTinpingl
business block and on Saturdays espee-
tally they would hang around in front of
the saloons. Negroes, dirty Indians,
Mexicans and the scum of the white peo
pie, drunk, blear-eNed and cursng In the
presence of women and children and
blocking the passage SO that women
folks could not go by. and every lady
that passed was talked about and slight
ing remarks were made within her hear
ipg;. That's That, personal liberty! And how
are cleared of all this scum of humanity;
no drunks nor negroes hanging around,
| the old sot, ex-saloon man VIII take
alley, take them into closet and hand
them pint of rotgut for dollar. and
they sneak off in a wagon yard and drink
| the slush. No woman nor child or any
| decent person knows anything about this.
| Now which is better. the open saloon
prohibition? l say prohibition by one
| thousand times. The ants will say pro
hibition makes blind tigers Well, I
would rather fight blind tiger than one
| with both eyes wide open and glafing a
| me. Now, this is not all the proof
have that prohibition is better than sa-
looms. have figures and facts to prove
| 1t. | am In the court business here. and
| when L look back on the docket in the
| line of saloons l notice three. four and
| i've cases in day for drunkenness alone.
| let alone fights and quarrels resulting
from drunKenness. What is it today:
| drunkenness in six months. When sa-
looms We're open We had from two to six
in the calab9ose every day. Now we
| have. probably one person every six
| months. These are cold facts. Now.
| whore do the ants come in with their
| cry. prohibition increases crime?'
! people of Oklahoma would have voted
| saloons back again here last fall, but did
/ they do it? No, They voted by thou
sands stronger for it than they did before.
| Why? Because prohibition Is blessing
and the saloon Is curse on society and
| humanity"
Now the above extract from Mr. Kru-
| gers letter TO me dated April 1 1911
shows conelusiveiy that the assertions of
the ants about prohibition increasing
| crime hypocrisy and bootlegging are ut
| for a moment. In Birmingham in 1907
| there were 242S cases of drunkenness. In
1905 with prohibition. there were 40
| 1907 had 564 cases of drunkenness. In 1908
| they had As, decrease of 5l9 Anniston
! in 1907 had 1851 DRINKS; in 1908 they had
| ihSNehlccSst
| 1907 they had 207 DRINKS. In 1908 they had
| g. decrease of 1874. Decatur had in
1907 AL DRINKS; in 1908 they had there l23,
decrease of 54S. In 10 communities In
! Alabama there We're $3.50 cases of drunk
enness in 1907, In 1908 they had 1880, de-
| crease of 1884
We're 24,0i4. while in 1908 they numbered
1901 decrease of it,l37 Now we ask
| who can look at these cold, stubborn
| facts and say that there are more crimes
1
| states? How can men say such things
| and have any conscience? Now let us
look at Georgia and especially Atlanta
which has been so grossly misrepresent-
/ ed by the opponents of prohibition. In
| 1907 while it was wet Atlanta had s49S
cases of drunkenness. In 1908 it had 2650
and in 1868 there were $50 cases.
Here our readers can easily see that
| there were a great many more cases of
drunkenness while the saloons were open
| than there were under prohibition. Now,
! in the face of these strong. clear, unde-
| niab bic facts, taken from the year book of
! the Atlanta Saloon League, which facts
were gathered from the very highest Off
cial sources, ] ask what truthful man viii
| dare assert that prohibition is failure,
| or that ii Is better to have open saloons
| than to have prohibition? But it is boldly
asserted that prohibition produces crimes,
dishonesty. hypocrisy, Bookkeeping and
blind-tigers.
this point moment. Even II that We're
true, what does it show? Who are the
men who engage in bootlegging? 1t Is
your own crowd doing that kind of work.
We all know that the pros are not doing
it. Who, then, are the men who are run
ming the awful blind-tgers about which
you talk SO glibly? They are the ants,
beyond a doubt. for the pros would not
stoop to do such a lowdown, dirty thing
as that
You say that the laws can't be enforced.
ask why? Because the whisky men
themselves are the laWbreakers who are
determined to violate the laws and run
these blind-tigers and support the boot
leggers! In thus saying the laws cam
be enforced the ants are publishing their
own shame and proclaming to the world
their own lawlessness and disgrace. Now
shall the honest, truthful, sober, law
abiding men be controlled by political
demagogues, money-oving saloonists and
the hoodlums who are the hired tools of
the brewers nd others who are personally
interested in perpetuating these death
dealing saloons which are running so
many homes, wrecking so many boys and
breaking the hearts of many poor
wives and mothers in our land? Or shall
the noble, the good, the pure and brave
men who fighting for pure homes,
sobriety, peace. harmony and love rule
our glorious state, and thus bring about
the highest and best and most prosper