The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-18
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Chattanooga Mans Views
To the Editor of The Age-Herald


 | The other day I noticed in one of the
 tributed to the chief of police of Birming-
 ham that prohibition had reduced arrests.
 and consequently crime, in that com
 munity more than 50 per cent in one
 month. These figures are being used
 throughout the country by prohibition campaigners in an effort to prove that all
 that is needed to snatch great com
 munity like Birmingham as a brand from
 the burning is a prohibition law. So far as the figures themselves are con-
 cerned. I submit that they would not ap-
 peal to even a primary class in statis-
 ties Certainly they would not be accept ed as wholly conclusive. If we assume that they are correctly stated, the next question Is, what do they mean?
 Two months are brought into compari- son. one at which things were running at loose ends in regard to liquor selling and the other the first month following the
 passage of a statewide prohibition law.
 This law has been enforced with all the severity permitted under it's provisions by a prohibition chief and prohibition sher-
 III. t1nt dTtiClt Sldlcs bOth ti'o
 sheriff and police chief are prohibition ists, and I assume the correctness of the statement) That the second month, the
 one unuder prohibition, should show a sharp decrease in arrests for drunkenness is perfectly natural; but the fact by no means proves that there has been less drunkenness, or a reduction in consump- ton of alcoholic liquors In Birmingham. Under the prevailing conditions it is not possible that the sellers of liquor (and such there must be in face of so many arrests for public drunkenness) would risk allowing those who become drunk from their wares to wander at large. That course would mean inviting their own ar rest for selling.
 This is very common experience. Some years back in Philadelphia much boast was made of a marked reduction in the arrests for drunkenness on Sundays ow- ing to strict enforcement of Sunday clos ing. Soon. however, 1t was discovered that drunken persons by the score were to be found in so-called clubs" and other
 speak-easies who were taken care of on the premises until sober; the proprie tors using this safeguard against being raided. One maA almost take 1t for granted that simihr conditions exist in the larger cities of every prohibition state. The figures in question. therefore, need a great deal of corroboraton and exclamation before they can be conceived to have any meaning not to say be re- garded as conclusive proof. It follows that the entire statement is open to sus- picion
 There is plenty of evidence here in Chat tanooga that Birmingham is not the Sa- hara 1t is reported to be. Several mail order houses have doubled their floor space and increased their working forces here since Alabama decided, through it's legislature, to try prohibition the sec ond time for no other purpose than that of supplying the increased demand on their service Birmingham gets from Chattanooga every week enough liquor to cause more drunks than the police chief reports I assume that other cities are sharing in this interstate business with Alabama. If so, Birmingham is by no means an arid waste. Nor will it ever be. no matter how long the prohibition law remains on your statutes or how alert the police departments of your cities may be in enforcing the law. Such has been our experience in Tennessee and such will be yours.
 My observation and investigations have convinced me beyond the shadow of the doubt, however, that prohibition reduces everything except the cost of government. It reduces puDlc revenues, ueCTeaSeS real estate values, reduces state and communi- ty pride the moral quality of communities and everything else that is good. Likewise, believe that 1t reduces petty crime a lit- tie. but by no means enough to offset the loss in the other directions. I cannot be- lieve that great community like Bir- mingham cares much whether 100 or 200 people are arrested in month for going on a spree when they know that the ar rest columns in the police reports can be influenced by both outward and inward conditions The liquor sellers can influ- ence the report by hiding drunken men. and the police can make the returns heavy or light just as may suit their cause if they would play the political game Statistics ground out in that sort of a mill are not worth much. I guar antee that no committee of reputable statisticians would accept the report of your police department in this matter IS having any meaning whatever.
 Men who work in the heat of steel mills believe that they need stimuant, and they are going to have it. If conditions ever make 1t impossible for them to get what they want there they will go else where But you can count upon the cer- tainty of all the liquor your people de- mand being supplied from other states We have found it that way, and Chat as a relief from wildcat traf- flc. permits beer to be sold and consumed in restaurants as soft drink. This course has reduced the evils of prohibition some- what, but it has not cured them If you had beer saloons in Birmingham to- day the evils of prohibition would be re- duced.
 Birmingham, like Chattanooga. is being deprived of revenue that 1t needs in It's business by the prohibition law without any compensating benefit Our liquor sup ply is shipped in from Kentucky and H. lirois yours from Chattanooga and Jack sonville. Fla. In the place of the licensed ualsen. regulated by law. you have m