The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-12-12
A Word About Whiskey Dealers.

WORD ABOUT "HlShs4
The general manager of a lumber company
operating in a Southwest Virginia town has re-
ceived an application from former whiskey
dealer of Nashville for a position The man
has been in the whiskey business for tho past
five years but before going to Nashville he was
connected with a lumber concern. and now de-
sires to return to that work. But ii Is evident
that the Southwest Virginia lumberman is not
disposed to give the application favorable con-
sideraton. for in n communication to Nashville
newspaper he says:
while We admire this mans honesty in stat
ing his present occupation, yet the first question
that comes to us is, can man follow the whis-
key business, a conducted in your city for the
past few years. and still not be lawhreaker {?
the second question is, man handle liquor
that long and still he abstainer or II sober
man? There very few positions open to a
law violator. a crook or an imbtber, so that
brings us face to face with the present eco
nomic question, what shall become of these ex-
employees? If your people In and around Nash
VILE who running honest business opera
tons cannot these men, living there with
them and knowing them, how do you expect
us. at distance to give them employment"
1t is evident that Criminal Judge Neils eff
forts to suppress whiskey lawlessness In Nash
Vile bearing fruit. The whiskey dealers of
that city would not be casting about for po-
stions If they did not realize that their present
occupation is gone or is going 1t is TO be
hoped that they will find profitable employment
at some other vocation In Nashville or else
where.
Persons or concerns to whom Nashville whis-
key dealers may make applications for posi-
tons should remember that these men not
directly responsible for the lawless conditions
that have existed in that city. They are not
blameless to be sure hut the greater weight o.
responsibility rests upon higher up. The
whiskey dealers have merely practiced what
certain newspapers and certain political leaders
have preached, and preached so earnestly and
inslsently that whiskey lawlessness came to be
hooked upon more less respectable until
Judge Nell took hand No doubt IL Is due
largely To the attitude and activities of these
highcr-ups that number OF Nashville whisk ey
dealers are now defying Judge Nell.
AS to the lumbermans question whether a
man can handle liquor several years and still
be an abstainer sober man. 1t can be an
swered in the affirmative. Few saloon pro-
prietors indulge in drink employ mon who
drink They realize that 1t Is impossible for
drunken men to conduct n whskey business
successfully 1t is for drunken men TO con-
duct any other business successfully. There are
saloonists and bartenders who scarcely know the
taste of whiskey. and there are probably as few
drinking men in the whisltey business as in
any other business.
The who are being driven out OF the
whiskey business In Nashville should be able ia
find employment in that city, which boasts that
I II offers opportunity Nevertheless If there
are those who make application for positions
elsewhere, the persons firms to whom they
apply should not consider alone the fact thai
they have been whiskey dealers in Nashville
Bristol Herald Courier