The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-10

regime be allowed 10 aRain prevail I'll DIT mingham? is the question on top now. Every citizen with an ounce of public spirit Is interesting himself in this bus
 ness The movement set afoot by J. w Mcqueen, vice president of the Sloss- Sheffield Steel and Iron company, for the establishment of a citizens committee to back up the excise commission in the en- forcement of law, is meeting with unan- imous approval.
 For the excise commission to be ef- fective," said a leading business man, it must certainly have the backing of the people of Birmingham as whole.
 For anything, indeed, 10 have perma- nent meaning the people who benefit high or low, must individually desire 1t, and individually work for it. Savonorolla did not save the Florentines, greatly as he swayed them, for the F1orentines fidnt want to be saved from their degenerating mxuries and indulgence. The excise com mission will be futile. one armed. impo- tent, without the support and cooperation of all of the people of Birmingham. The dark visions now before the eyes of tho pfODlOfLlO0lSlS HlhN pilltIlS unless there Is prompt action in the form alton of this proposed committee.
 The question is hands off, only 10 those men and women of Birmingham who are without the feeling of citizenship, of civic responsibility or of desire for public welfare and progress.
 Probably at no time in this clty's his- tory has feeling run so high as it has done in this conflict between the prohibi- tion and the locaa option forces-just closed in victory for local option. Never so concerned as now in city business. This is as healthy sign for the good of 3r- minghafn as a whole as one could ask for It forecasts the coming of civic spirit here. Folks really care some, it seems They actually care! Here Is a so- biological problem they are facing-one and all.
 Neither Soldier Nor Sailor, But a
 Marine"
 The fellow who sits on the fence and shuts his eyes while the fight goes on Is the sort who had best leave Birning- ham.
 Now that the battle is done and over with does not by any manner of means prepare for the burial of the hatchet and the smoking of the pipe of peace. Nor should it. Simply the scene of operations is shifted to another quarter of the field that is all. And the opponents are now more clearly defined than ever they were as prohibitionists and "antis.' For now it simply and plainly resolves itself Into battle between the moral and the iin- moral forces of the city, and the issue is the forcing of the regulation law. in which the better element of the local option forces is equally concerned with the pro hibitionists.
 While the business activity of Birming ham Is conceded to be born anew by the result of the local option victory, there is no binding the fact that very grave ap- prehension is being felt lest the return of the saloons shall bring with it it's train of attendant evils, which in former days were slowly and surely making Birming ham into a degenerate town.
 Said one of the local judges: "If were to Nenumerate all of the crimes and rice, that grew out of the saloon business a it used to be run in Birmingham, it would take me a long time to finish. The old saloons were dives, you know-nothing more nor less. In many of them screens or fiimsy partitions only separated whites from negroes. They were located wher- ever the saloonist chose. Tn all of them gambling-and worse-went on without check or hindrance
 Human Life in Jeopardy
 The lives of citizens were never cafe. Scarcely a woman could pass on .he streets in front of a saloon without fear of being subjected to insult in one form or another. No young boy was safe from temptation. If he could not go openly into a saloon there was always a speak easy to which he was covertly directed.
 If the Birmingham citizens will allow ff thae1 only a matter of time before the saloon will be doomed. Decent folks simply won't stand for it-thats all
 Tn the old days here the license fee was nothing to speak of-and what reve- nue there was certainly did not go into the city treasury. otherwise the sent deficit would not have been so. large, Reg ulation and supervision were of the loosest possible character. The saloon was head quarters for a certain class of politi ,ians and practically controlled the city; and whenever the saloon swings the politics of a town we all know what follows. Look at Philadelphia. Proper and sane regu-i lation should not be and is not impossible. Baltimore has tolerable conditions with the saloon. So have certain other cities.''
 Another attorney-a local option man said' That is exactly what the local op- ton forces are working for. What do you take them for? They want saloons back, but they want them regulated. If the sa- loon Is not regulated it will have pretty short life, l can tell you that. If ever the liquor business was on trial. it is now about to be on trial in Birmingham. If the saloonists have not learned their les son from their mistakes in the past Then the local option people will join forces with the prohibtionists, and four years thA aIA rxvSll .o business, and next time, go for keeps No right minded citizen will stand for conditions as they used to be, and not . single local option man is asking them to-
 Simply this. Here are the facts: bir- under prohibition, was getting to be dead town. Business interests here were being killed wholesale. Prohibition can't and won't work here. But why shouldn't the saloons be regulated today in Birmingham?
 A Revolution in City Affairs
 Conditions have greatly changed We have now a city commission composed cf responsible business men and lawyers We are not village any more you know. Prohibition may be all right for the small town. but what city of any size stands for it? Birmingham has outgrown the provincial-in some things"
 The woman physician of Birmingham, pr. Annie NJ. Robinson, who is count ed one Of the strong constructive factors here. is grave over the outlook-in the event that old conditions return
 They were unspeakable," she said criminally dangerous to both women ana men, boys and girls In the saloon days never dared go out day or night without a pistol Often at night return ing late from a patient 1t was dangerous to pass any corner where saloons were