Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-11-25
CITY OF ANNAPOLIS
WILL NOT RETURN
TO WET CONDITION
DR.. Burgan, Pastor First M. E.
Church, Demonstrated Return
To License Most Unlikely
ANOTHER FULL YEAR
UNDER DANIELS ORDER
And Then Bone Dry" Law And
Constitutional Amendment
Will Care For Future

I
Hopes of former saloon keepers of
Annapolis to reopen six months after
the signing of the armistice, November
III. were dashed by the announcement
made by DR. H. Wilson Durgan, pastor
of the First Methodist Episcopal
Church of this city. during sermon
delivered last night, that Secretary
Daniels has made the definite state
ment that his order inhibiting the sale
of intoxicants in the city or the bring
ing of them into its limits, was eff
fective until six months after the ar
ticles of peace are signed.
This means that the dry status of
Annapolis will remain until long after
July 1, 1919, when the whole country
becomes dry by virtue of the legisla-
ton just signed by the President. This.
in turn, lasts until the rehabilitation
of the last man OF our emergency
army an event which no one supposes
will take place within two years.
The final step in the complete dem
onstration of the improbability of An
napolis ever going back to the license
system, was the status of the consti-
tutional amendment by which the
manufacture, importation or sale of
intoxicants is forbidden forever in the
United States. Fourteen of the State
legislatures, of the thirty-six neces-
sary for its adoption, have already ap-
proved it. and it is conceded that at
least twenty-five of the twenty-four
which will meet the early part of next
year will do the same. Thus, the
demonstration was complete that by
all human reasoning, Annapolis will
always be dry.
This was, perhaps the most import
ant and interesting phase of the SER
mon preached by DR.. Burgan on THE
Position of Annapolis in Regard to
Prohibition" However, he contro-
verted most strongly the claim that
prohibition had not helped Annapolis.
He claimed, first, that the business had
not been hurt, but benefited. In this
connection, he referred to the state
ments of the four banks as to their
unprecedented volume of business. He
further cited the unanimous testimony
of business men of all kinds that busi-
ness was better than before, and final
ly quoted statements made by nearby
farmers as to the improved influence
of Annapolis upon its surrounding ter
ritory. He said that dozens of bust
ness men had told him that people who
never before had bought sufficiently to
care for their families were buying
food and clothing, and that conditions
had vastly improved.
Dr. Burgan said that he was willing
to admit that the war might have had
some effect upon conditions, but he
called attention to the fact that never
theless, prohibition had helped busi-
ness, in every place it had been tried,
whether the war was going on or not.
Attention was then given to the
argument that prohibition could not be
enforced. He claimed that the law had
been as well enforced as any other
law in the community, prior to the
coming of the Influenza, and he cited
the strongest kind of statements from
such eminent authorities as the boards
of health of New York and Chicago
warning against the use of spirits for
this purpose, and warning that they
were dangerous and of no pissible
value. Finally, he read letter di-
rectly from the Surgeon General of the
United States, in which that officer de-
nies absolutely that whiskey was taken
to camps as a preventative against the
influenza or to be used in treatment
This silly story was used by the
whiskey had a preventive effect on
The law, DR.. Burgan said, was not
carried out as it should have been
after the influenza touched Annapolis
He said that many petty officials
throughout the country undertook tc
, let down the bars on the pretense that
whiskey had a preventative effect or
the influenza, and this was the case
J here. Enforcement became very lax
but is improving, but has not reached
/ the point where it was before the epi-
demic. He said that there were Off
cials in the city who were trying tc
, do their duty. and he called upon al
Christians and good citizens generally
. to support those who were trying tt
enforce the laws against gambling
which is crying evil in this city. and
Ito carry out the laws in relation tt
bringing intoxicants to the city.
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