Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-04-21
WOMEN CHEER SPEAKERS
IN BATTLE FOR OPTION

HARRISBURG. April 2l-LlQuor men
and their representatives stormed Capt
tol Hin today. bringing all possible pres
sure to bear upon the legislators against
tho Williams local option bill From
every section of the state they arrived
on the early trains, and long before time
for the debate 10 begin the House was
ovcrcrnwdcd Many of the wet" forces
were in their places Immediately after
the doors were opened.
Few. however came from Philadelphia,
much to the disappointment of the lead
ers against the bill. The Philadelphia
Retail Liquor Dealers Association ran n
special train from the Quaker city. and
1t was hoped by the ants that there
would he large representation. but there
were exactly -. most of them saloon
keepers, 1t had been the hope of the
liquor men that many of the politicians
would come up to bring pressure to bear
upon the Philadelphia representatives
The supporters of Governor Brumbaugh
also were on hand. but aside from a
few leaders, only few came from Phila-
delphia,
WOMEN IN DRY ARMY.
Most of the dry" workers came from
the country sections. Among them were
many women and few small children.
The leaders of the local option movement
contended that II was useless to make any
further demonstration in favor of the bill
after the big hearing on April g. They
asserted that that wonderful demonstra-
ton and the petitions signed by hundreds
of thousands OF voters and citizens was
sufficient evidence of the sentiment
Late last night, and before the opening
of debate today the 'wets" interviewed
Representatives from their districts and
held conference after conference with
them. But there was no demonstration
OF any sort outside the Assembly hall
LIQUOR MEN CHEER DEBATERS.
When tho speaking began tho "wets"
went into action and every point made
by their speakers brought forth up
roarIous applause. Speakers for the
measure got much less support of this
kind. Only few women showed approval
of the wet" speakers.
Delaware County liquor men were out
in strong force, as some of them feared
that their representatives. although listed
among the opponents of the Williams bill,
would be won by Governor BrumbauShs
appeals. Many representatives of the
liquor interests of Montgomery County
were present.
OPTIONTsTS DO LITTLE WORK.
Leaders of the local option army did
practically no work among the lawmakers
today. They were present to applaud
however Prominent among these were
DR.. r. j. Moore, State superintendent Of
the Anti-Saloon League DR.. II. NJ Chal-
fant, PENNSYLVANIA Editor for the Ameri-
can Issue; Or. f. f, Holsopple, District
for Harrisburg and vicn-
ity; the Rev, C. H. Brandt, Superntend-
ent of the Altoona District; Horace
Geiger Chairman of the Local option
League of Philadelphia, and Dennis
O'Neul. Of pittsbuprgh.
n Clarence GihhOny, of Philadelphia,
VINO ravorg compensation for saloon
Keepers and liquor men il their privilege
to sell ntoxicants is taken away, was
on hand to oppose the passage of the
local option measure He was busy here
last night and today.
b. f. P. Prugh, of Westmoreland
County, State Chairman of the Prohibl-
tion Party, was working against local
option