The Detroit times., 1914-10-09
ANTS READY
! FOR BIG FIGHT
!. AGAINST SALOON
Result in Virginia Gives Them
Heart for Great Battle Now
Under Way
CALIFORNIA CONCEDED
TO VETS; MAY GET OHIO
Woman Suffrage and Negro
Question Are Big Factors
Propose National Law

=
outer door and the bar and five whica
must 90 TO the polls shortly and say
yes. or "no"--this Ii the state OF
warfare which brought Joy TO all
anti-saloon leaguers throughout the
country And the 1eaguers,, buoyed
up by new hopes OF success. propose
to turn their big guns upon every
wet" entrenchment In the country
And we shall succeed" said w. IL
Anderson, superintendent OF the Anti
Saloon league In New York state.
The victory will be won over de-
accountable barrels OF all sorts OF
liquors. The big cities, even New
York. will soon surrender.
Anderson said the victory on
the broad fields OF Virginia was no
surprise to him. He had been super
/ Nntendent of the leagues troops in
the adjoining state tMaryland) and
from his trenches saw the Virginia
leaguers fighting the 'wets." He
has received q message from the Vir-
ginia forces stating that the majority
Will be nearly $4,000.
I'm view OF the fact that the num-
Der Of qualified voters was only about
10000" he said, 1.-THE Old Dominion
victory was practically two to one, or
almost as great in proportion as that
In West Virginia, which was the last
preceding state to 30 dry. and fur
4 nished the most sweeping rout OF the
Z liquor traffic In the history OF the
temperance movement. In West Vir-
ginia the dry vote was more than two
to one, the dry majority being some
: $1,000, because practically all the big
business men IN the STATE, the lumber
men. coal operators. iron and steel
mill owners lined up on the dry side
purely as q business matter.
The almost instantaneous improve
ment In West Virginia, where the new
law did not 20 into effect until July
/, 1914, was tremendous factor In
the Virginia campaign. The biggest
brewery Of Wheeling has been turned
into packing house, with additional
capital invested and the promised en-
ployment OF 20 times more people.
One city cancelled the order for an
y automobile police patrol wagon. find
ing that II was not needed. Two
cities have dropped some Of the po-
lice force.
For the first time since the cidl
q war Berkeley county has failed TO
Mall . grand jury. and the fall term
III the Court opens without single
criminal case on, the docket For the
irst three weeks OF September, that
3. ip to the time OF the Virginia cleo
Ion, l am informed that Blueneld, .
own OF $4,000 In the heart OF the
Pocahontas coal region. did not have
single arrest for any cause, while
he village OF Pocahontas In Virginia.
only IL miles from Blueheld, with 20
saloons. had In August, 1873 arrests
and two killings.
These concrete facts circulated
throughout Virginia simply over
whelmed the liquor arguments. Be-
sides, the demonstration which West
virginia has given through its new
Prohibition Enforcement commission
that o prohibitory law can be en-
forced as well as the law against lar
~ ceny. destroyed the favorite wet
argument, viz: That prohibition does
not prohibit
"A large proportion Of the state had
been made dry. large section Of the
public had been convinced and much
OF the political power Of the saloon
had been broken In advance under q
local option law
1T Is a noteworthy fact that except
for Oklahoma, which came into the
union dry. after fight won by the
AntiSaloon league first In congress
and then In the constitutional con-
vention, and later In the adoption OF
q new constitution to extend to the
whole state the protection originally
given by the federal government to
Indian territory, every state AT
has gone for prohibition recently has
reached Il by the local option method.
That Is. local option laws allowed
those communities that were already
prepared for prohibition to vote ard
become object lessons to the adjoin-
ins communities. These In turn
gradually voted out the saloons town
ship by township and county by
county until the trafIic was central
ized In q few cities. Finally II was
wiped out there I'm transportation over
the insolent lawlessness OF its efforts
| IA force liuuor into the rural sections
which had voted to prohibit its sale.
THE Anti-Saloon league method OF
| aehting on basis of strict non-
usrtisanship and majority rule com.
pels the liquor traffic 20 stand naked
on its merits before the people. In
addition TO the things already inli-
Gated several things have counted
more or less In the south.
] I'm the first place the Negro CUES
ton 10 Q factor to some degree. The
! lIauor- men have made II so by their
I, saies OF what they call Niger EYfi.'
the direct fnstfsation for many out.
raFes I'm tine suutt II surprises maHy
people, however. to know how many
~ the Negroes line up on the dry
aide wherever they vote generally.
The history Of Maryland Is that the
? counties with o large proportion of
Negro vote have voted dry. wnile
those with small Negro vote have
IN the main voted wet
sTf 70 also true thai the church has
more influence In the community In
the south than In the north. Most Of
fhe people OF the south are either
\ Methodists or Baptisfs and both are
! Aggressive temperance denominations.
! Then the south has very ANAL pro-
y norton OF the foreign element which
Il accustomed 20 the use OF liquor.
and the south also has fewer cities
and It's cities are smaller.
/ "For long years the three old origl
nal prohibition states, Maine. Kan
sss and North Dakota. were 30 lonc-
some a. TO be the butt Of ridicuIe-