Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-09-13
Organized Opposition Be
Offered to Adoption of
Amendment No. 2.
STATE PROGRESSES
UNDER PROHIBITION
Mayor Charles Il. Taylor of Little
Rock Submits Figures to Show How
Capital Has Pr0spered Since
Saloon Abolished.

Little Rock. Sept. i2.-One of the
features of the all-day rally held by
the Prohibition forces of the state at
the First Methodist church today
was an address by Mayor Chas. f.
Taylor of Little Rock, in which he
came out squarely and emphatically
in favor of the statewide prohibition
law now in force, and cited many
proofs of it's salutary influence in thh
state.
He concluded by declaring that it
will remain law, and said:
81 believe that the experience of
citizens with law which has been
enforced from the beginning, and
which has made such material re-
duction in the number of crimes, is
such as to justify the prediction that
the voters by large majority will
endorse at the polls the prohibition
law as it now stands"
Mayor Taylor says that after eight
months of trial he can make the
positive statement that the law has
been enforced in the cities of the
state, and nowhere more effectively
than in Little Rock, the states capt.
tai and largest city, and also in Fort
Smith, Pine Bluff, Hot Springs, Ar
genta and Helena.
Mayor Offers Testimony.
Below is given some of the testi-
mony offered by the mayor of the
beneficial influences of the prohibit
tory law: ---t. ..-.
In eight months of 1915 there were
1857 cases in the Little Rock munich
pal court, and the corresponding six
months this year, there were only
1892
The Pulaski country grand jury re-
ported that "it returned fewer indict-
ments and incurred less expense than
any preceding for many years"
The first eight months of 1915
there were 795 colored and 431 white
prisoners in the county Jail, and for
the same months this year there
were 4O4 colored, and 204 whites.
The Fort Smith records for the first
twelve months when there were no
saloons show total of 1926 arrests,
for all offenses, against 5,697 for the
preceding twelve months.
The first six months of this year
there were 554 arrests in Argenta,
against 1864 for the same period last
year.
Per Capita Consumption Less.
1t is estimated that $50 packages
Of liquor are received daily in Little
Rock and so in Argenta. averaging
four quarts to the package. This
gives an average annual consumption
per capita under the present law OF
four quarts, compared with an aver
age annual consumption for the whole
country, according to United States
revenue statistics, of 80 quarts.
There has been an increase of 10
per cent in the number of real es-
tate transfers.
There has been an increase Of 456
telephone in use in Little Rock.
Merchants in all lines Of business
consulted by the mayor testify that
collections have been much better
and that sales show steady in
crease.
There was gain of 2,702 car loads
of freight received over the various
railroads, and of 3,949 car loads in
outward bound shipments.
More People Have More Money.
The postal receipts at the Little
Rock postoffice. for the twelve
months ending June 30, show an in
crease of $3.50, 543.63.
The bank deposits for eight months
show an increase of $3,500,O0O anG
the bank clearings gain of 1,00O,.
600.
There are savings accounts in Lit.
tie Rock banks aggregating more
than one and half million dollars
mostly in small amounts.
There is an increase of 25 per cent
! in the number of patrons of the
building and loan association.
The city library reports an in
crease of 1O,206 in the number Of
volumes read.
"Why should any citizen of this
great state" asked the mayor, enc
/ matter what his personal and private
| views are concerning the liquor bust
ness, desire to have placed again or
the statute books law that will
nearly double the number of arrests
in cities and towns, law that will
indirectly bring to innocent persons
unnecessary suffering "a law that will
handicap the growth Of cities, and re-
tard the moral growth and develop
ment Of our peOple?"
| The mayor said, further, that III
the charge is true that Little Rock
is in bad way financially because