The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-08-17

grocers and AGA bankers to whom let
/ ters were sent, and OF these SIS per
cent filled and returned the circular
blanks. which were sent them as any
other circular.
Ninety-one Per Cent Favorable.
OF the All banking and wholesale
grocery firms that replied 81 per cent
expressed themselves as being whole
hcartedly In favor of proIipition and
as earnestly desiring It's continuance.
Further they expressed themselves as
4 being convinced that 1t had not hurt
/ their business. that their business had
J been helped, that their taxes had not
I been raised. that there is less liquor
drunk in their towns than before pro-
hibition went Into effect, that all classes
of citizens are benefited by the oper-
alton of the law, and that more people
/ favor Statewide prohibition now than
at the enactment % the law The
tabulation Of these figures is given in
! full in another column of this paper.
| and constitutes an array Of evidence
] from the leading men Of the State in
/ the most substantial walks OF business
/ life that will convince any reasonable
man Of the wholehearted endorsement
/ OF the law by the people of North Caro-
/ lima.
The Evening Journal devoted itself to
one town and to few business men
of that town. The replies to Mr Tay-
lors inquiries come from l72 towns
and cities of the State, including every
city of any Importance. and all the
towns of any size whatever. The
letters thus received and tabulated
constitute the most absolute endorse
ment OF the contentious made In be
half OF prohibition that any man could
desire.
To date Mr.. Taylor has tabulated
! only the replies received from whole
saiers and bankers. He has on hand
now, but not tahuIated. great num-
Der OF replies to similar series OF
questions which were secured IN SINH
lar manner from retail grocers Owing
to press of business these latter ma-
swers have not been put in tahuiated
form, but as soon as this Is done Mr..
Taylor expects to publish the result
In pamphlet form.
Among the Letters
Among the letters received that cv-
press themselves most strongly are the
following. The first is written by the
cashier OF the Wachovia Bans and
Trust company. or Asheville, the lprs-
est concern of It's Kind In North caro-.
lima,
Asheville y G., April 90. 1914
Mr. II r. Taylor Jr..
Is South Fourteenth street.
Richmond, Va.
Dear Sir:
our circular letter received I have
misplaced the blank YOU sent and
can only answer you In general Way.
personally as n matter IF principal
| have always opposed Statewide pro
hlhftion, as I have never thought II
was the best way to handle the pro-
h. s. i 5s-
our town for about Ave years and
am forced To admit that il has been
beneficial in many ways and I would
rot, fer moment. Eo back To the
old open-bar room system Oar city
has grown rapidly IN tha raSt few
years and the increase in real estate
values has been great; tbs is the
case, though, ali over the country.
Yours respectfulls
(Signedl W h. WILLIAMSON.
Mr.. Leake s covington, cashier of
the Farmers Bank OF Rockingham.
wrote as follows.
Rockingham. n. c. April %. 1914
Mr.. r. =. Taylor. Jr.
Richmond. Va.
Dear Sir:
have answered your questions
with pleasure ] am Interested ~
Hamlet, n G. At the latter place
there were several large dtstitierjes
and about a half dozen bar rooris.
We had four bars here The Bank
OF Hamlet and this hank had several
accounts Of the manufacturers and
they carried large balances. The ac-
counts Of both banks Of tho saloon
keepers were good ones, Since they
have legislated the wh,skey out az
North Carolina, our deposits have In
creased and the groeers and ether
merchants accounts have Increased
and more than covered the whiSksy
accounts that we lost. am most
heartily IN favor q prohibition and I
believe that North Carolina As.
State has been greatly benefited and
II Virginia could he kept out II our
State with its whiskey We would &c
farther forward
Very truly yours,
fsisned1 LEAKE s. CONVICTION.
Cashier
Increase In Deposits.
From Salisbury, y g. came the
following letter.
Salisbury, n c, March SO, 1914.
Mr. II, p. TAYLOR, Jra
Richmond. Va,
Dear Sir:
There are many statistical facts
and figures which we could give YOU
TO support the answers which We
have given TO the questions wh!ch
vcu - We asked on the enclosed. bHt
we will only state one fact ON May
IA. 1908, Just twelve days before we
held our election on the question Of
Statewide prohibition. the total de-
posts in all the banks Of the CITY OF
Salisbury. according 10 the sworn
statement OF the cashiers, WAS 1915
4e25s The most recent sworn state
ment OF these cashiers. which was on
March 4. 1914. showed that our cit
liens have in deposit an aggregate OF
You will note that this is a gain
Of about b5 per cent, and we hNd a
heavy slump to overcome Immediately
after prohibition went into effect on
January l. 1909 as this city probably
had the largest liquor traffic of any
In the State, and many of the firms
here engaged In II carried large bank
balances. Quite a good many of these, (
as you probably know. went to Rich
mond to enter the Same traffic and, OF
course, took their money with them,
II we can serve you any further we
shall be glad 10 do 50.
Yours truly,
SIMPSON PEACOCK co.
Csigned) 7. n. PEACOCK. Treas.
(This Is a wholesale grocery frm.)
Liquor In Wilmington.
,.