The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-11-15

that has gone to the wholesale liquor
houses and breweries of the north
would have remained to circulate at
home, or else. gone to buy something
useful
It IS conceded that the best farm
ing country in the state is around
Ocala. Yet 1t cannot be denied that
Ocala IN the last year has been no
better Of than the neighboring dry
towns Of Gainesville, Orlando, Palat-
ka and Lakeland
Our Neighbor Cities Thrive Without
Booze
Last week, the writer had an oppor-
tunity to inspect the naighboring city
of Gainesville. That town has been
dry for years. In its business center
and IN its residence section, is plainly
shows there is more money in circu-
lation than there is in Oeala.
! Its true that Gainesville has one
great advantage over Ocala. It has
the state university.
! But Gainesville would never have
had the state university if it hadn't
/ been a dry town. The people of Flor
ida would not have allowed their boys
/ to go to it to complete their education
If it had been supplied with saloons.
as 0cala is.
i Prohibition is Recommendation
/. Is it not plain to the weIl-inforned
among our people that dryness is a
business asset instead of disadvan-
Itage to town or county, Is it not
easy to see that the further business
and professional men can keep sa-
looms, not only from their schools but
/ from their factories and stores, the
better satisfied they will be?
Can Trust Us Only with Convicts
Ocala will never have any great
state institution as long as it is a wet
town. It's true, we have a convict
hospital, and a chance to have one of
the reform schools. But the state al
ways keeps convicts and reform
school scholars out of the saloons.
1t is true that Ocala and Marion
county want more people and more
business. But they want sober peo-
pie, for only sober people can proper
ly attend to other peoples affairs and
their own.
Nobody Wants the Booze Fighters
The Board of Trade would not en-
courage a drinking man to come here
and establish a business of his own.
4 Our manufactures would not import
mechanics who drink, and our stores
would not welcome clerks who drink.
IOur farmers do not want drinking
j men to come and settle among them.
Our business establishments dread
the patronage of drinking men.
Sober People Want to Live in Sober
Counties
On the other hand, all over the
!, United States the best class of emf
grants, the people who are turning
their faces to the South, the people
the South needs, are sober men and
women, and when they study the
maps and the literature of the coun-
try to which they desire to go, they
give the preference to the dry coun-
ties.
Do We Brag on Our Saloons
j Marion is one of the few wet coun-
ties in not only Florida but the
South. Is it any advantage to her
do we ever advertise it?
) The Marion County Board OF
Trade has put out a good deal Of
Literature in the last few years
. Search that literature from Alpha to
Omega, and see if anywhere in it
either in big display or nonparei
Roman, you can find the line:
"Ocala Has Seven Saloons"
4
When you are abroad, do you evel
brag, 1--WE have the only wet towr
between Tampa and Jacksonville"
Have you heard of any move to put
on the signboards of the Contra
Florida route of the Dixie Highway
"Ocala, Only Saloon Town Between
the Ohio River and Tampa Bay?
How does the saloon business hell
OcaIa?
Well, it is the liquor distributing
point for Alachua, Putnam, Lake
Orange, Sumter, fernando, Citrus
and Levy counties. 1t sends into those
counties considerable stuff that does
nobody any good and does many PEG
! lple a great deal of harm. 1t brings
) into Ocala a considerable amount o.