The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-13

The Saloon system the Issue
 MT. Moore was a leader of the prom
 bltonists in 1907. He was honest then
 and he is honest now, but if he will take
 the trouble to refresh his memory he will recall that prohibition was estao- Ilished in Jefferson county because the
 saloons had sinned away their day Of grace He will recall that the legislatl e had adopted an early closing hour, and that the city council had thrown around Ithe system more rigid provisions for regu- lation than can be found in the Smith Bill today. He will recall that We had a high license and a restricted area, and
 he will recall that in one saloon in this
 city Il murders were committed in q
 few years, If he will study the saloon
 system a little more clearly he will find that it never has been reformed and never can be. The old saying
 When the devil was sick, the devil a
 saint would be.
 But when the devil got well, the devil a
 saint was he,"
 applies with peculiar force to the saloon system, which is satans chief representa- tive on this earth
 I thoroughly agree with Chairman Moore, and have uniformity so stated. that I believe it has been demonstrated that prohibition is not suited to a county of this size and that it ought to be aboi- ished, and l repeat what have heretofore stated, that I intend to vote for the legal ized sale of liquors in this county, but to the honest, conservative and fair minded business men of this county, to which class MT. Moore justly belongs, I want to utter a word of warning: If the saloon system is put back upon the people it will be but a question of time, and that d very short time, when the unfortunate l a gi ub cfaf which unsettled and demoralized business and set back the true cause of temper ance will be renewed The so-called legu- lations of the Smith Bill. if they were not neutralized by affirmative provisions of that measure, which render 1t vicious and lindefensible, would be found but a paper protection against the evils that are n- herent in and fundamental to that sys- tenn
 Blind Tigers
 Driven from every other contention against the dispensary system, it is said without rhyme or reason that because the dispensary closes at o'clock in
 the evening and does not open until 6
 in the morning that blind tigers will | flourish during the night. It is further
 stated that the great part of the drink
 ing is at night and that saloons must be
 open in order to accommodate the press | ing demands of the public.
 | Great solcitude is felt for the working man, lest peradVenture his thirst might
 be unsatified for one evening: But the | 6 o'clock closing hour has been the rule | in all dispensaries, and it is this pro- | vision more than any other single fea- | ture which has made the dispensary | a success as a temperance measure. It is admitted that neither morals nor tenn
 perance can be driven into man by leg | islative enactment, but the removal of | temptation is one of the petitions in the Lords prayer. Temperance and morality
 must largely come the result of edu- cation and not of compulsion, but any measure which will carry the drinking system further from the steps of the citizen will promote true temperance and diminish the drinking evil. The best friend of the working man. as of every other citizen, for there is no difference in them in this regard, is he who would throw as many obstacles as possible In the way of night drinking, which is the most dangerous fea-
 ture of that evil. If the demand for some form of alcoholic stimulant is as | great as it seems to be, let it be provided
 for by law, but let the encouragement
 to the general use of it be tolerated as little as possible
 The Negro In the Wood Pile
 The dispensary is one of the alternatives |
 der which this election is held It is
 bitterly opposed by the allied liquor in- terests, notwithstanding 1t is provided for by the very statutes whose passage they
 promoted, for the single reason that it
 is well known and established that the
 dispensary reduces the amount of drink ing and to that extent curtails their | business. This Is the African in the
 woodpile, which causes their furious on-
 slaught on the dispensary system pro- vided for in the very system of statutes which they assisted in passing. What 1 cares the whisky trust, whose head
 quarters are in Peoria. Ill.,, and the brew | cry trust scattered all over the country, | for any difference in the manner of | sale of their products? What they are | interested in is the volume of business. | The advocates of the dispensary favor | that system because it decreases the volume of business and thereby pro-
 notes the cause of temperance. The all lied liquor interests favor the saloon sys- | tenn because it increases the volume of
 their business and enhances their profits. Revenues
 Based upon the result In other coun- ties in this state which have given the system a fair trial, it has been con serVatively estimated that the annual profits from a dspensary in Birming- hahn alone would amount to g. million dollars per annum. Of this sum S650,0OO would go into the city treasury to help | in the establishment of system of parks for all the people, to extend and | improve our educational system and to furnish better police and lire protec- | ton, and last but not least to lift in part the burden of special taxation
 which presses with heavy and unequal
 hand upon the business interests of this | community. Two hundred and fifty
 thousand per annum would go to
 strengthen the rural schools of the
 county and to building a better road
 system, together with an additional 1 pension to Confederate soldiers. One hundred thousand per annum would go | to the state to help meet in part the heavy deficit which threatens the state | treasury. If the net amount realized
 be only one-half of these sums it will | give great and needed relief to mu-
 nicipal, county and state treasuries. | If the saloons are established this l large sum of money, and much more, | for their profits are not limited by law, will go into the pockets of private in | dividuals to build up and perpetuate the most dangerous business ever prose- | cuted or tolerated by mankind. The l question for the voters in Jefferson | county to determine is which disposi- | ton of the money from the profits of | the business do they prefer?
 | SYDNEY J. BOWIE
 Birmingham, August 12, 1911.
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