The Brinkley argus., 1916-09-15
LEAGUE
THAT SELF GOVERNMENT
 BURlESQUE.

letters and blank caruS dSkihe for signers and members in hls Self Government League" thru out Arkansas.
 MT. Griffin's chief and only occupation so far as is generally known now, is securing the repeal of the present State wide prohl- bition laws. The following IS a part of reply to Griffin's letter by Griffin Smith, the talented Paragould Editor.
 While considering your invita- tion to join the Self-Government League yesterday 1 took an auto mobile ride, stopping. for a few minutes, at the city cemetery. Here are buried men and women from whom, in a large measure, our present citizenship issued; and here, also, lie girls and boys, and little tots, who if they had lived might have blessed the world with useful deeds. But mingled with the graves of these good people were stones mark inp the last resting places of some from whom the flush of life and vigor faded before years of maturity had been reached. They were victims of the saloons production, while liquor has been legally sold in Paragould for a number of years, Little Rock, Helena, Fisher, Marked Tree, and other bulwarks of self government have contributed their share of poison to our homes. It will be difficult. in- deed. for you and your associates to persuade the mothers and fathers of these youths that Paragould has no right to inter- fere in the local affairs of such places. There are also buried here men who lived to ripe old ages in spite of the physical effects of liquor. yet their use- fulness was never appearant, and throughout a period of per- haps fifty or sixty years they were a curse to relatives and a burden upon society. Leaving the cemetery the drive carried us into a part of the city where the working men are rearing families, and we could not be- lieve that in this district mothers and sisters are yearning for evi- dences of the personal liberty you so strongly advocate. Oc- casionally would be seen the sad face of woman upon whose shoulders had fallen the care of a large family, and we knew the bread-winner had been too much of an associate with John Barley corn-too envious of his person. al liberties. I returned to the office to consider seriously the theory of local self lf-government you advocate, but intuitively re- called the sufferings of my own mother whose life was blighted and who, while yet young. saw that grey hairs were beginning to appear. as the direct result of that imperishable right of the bartender to sell liquor to any who might buy. It is not a pleasant memory for one who does not know the taste of in- toxicants to recall that the
 father who gave him life per mitted whiskey to wreck bril- liant career and bring sorrow upon others who were entitled to more consideration, yet l have these recollections, and, having them, I do not hesitate to speak frankly my reasons for refusing membership in your Self Govern ernment League. 1 do not doubt that if the good citizens of that section of Tennessee from which I came had enforced REAL self-government at the point of shot gun years ago, many high minded men who permitted their
 very hearts blood to become adulterated with peach brandy and corn liquor would today be useful individuals. beloved and respected by all"