The Lexington progress. (Lexington, Tenn.) 1884-current, 1921-09-30
LEXINGTON, TENNESSEE FRIDAY. .sEpTEMBER5 80 1921
BISHOP GAIL0R
PROHIBITION, ETC.


Bishop Thos. F. Gailor, Of the great
Episcopal Church, man so well adj
vertised before the public that it has
been said that a letter with his photo
pasted thereon will go straight to its
destination without other address, (as
is the case with w. L. Douglass, the
shoe mani has taken issue with the
government of the United States and
the separate commonwealths thereof,
by the action of which the 18th
amenment to the Federal constitu-
tion was. adopted Bishop Gailor
makes the statement that the passage
of constitutional prohibition was un-
pardonable and from that remark
proceeded to make others-which, if
he lives out his expectancy, he will
regret. For instance, the Bishop
claims that under the reign and bane-
full influence of prohibition whisky
drinking has tremendously increased.
This we flatly deny and will be will
ing to consider the whisky drinking
in any community to-day, under pro-
hibition, as compared with the drink
ing in the same community when
there were open saloons. Let us take
Lexington, for Instance why not
cite this community las well as any
other? Count the business, profess
sional and other men around town,
who are drinking themselves into
their graves; compare any First Mon
day with the same day and date when
we had three to five doggeries? How
many did you see drunk in Lexington
last Saturday afternoon? How many
would there have been with ONE
open, legalized saloon? What First
Monday do you now see that a de-
cent woman can not afford to walk
across the public square of Lexing-
ton ?-and do you remember the con-
ditions Of First Mondays in the days
of the doggeries down stairs and the
gambling hells above those that were
in two story houses? When the fight
was being made to put legalized sa-
looms out of Lexington, it was shown
that within given period FORTY
THOUSAND DOLLARS of whisky
money passed through the local banks
--and not a tenth of the sum is now
involved in the whisky traffic in the
same length of time.
Conditions are bad, we admit, but
back of the whisky traffic there is. an
other and greater evil-the love Of
money, the chase Of money which has
been and yet is leading this country
~ keI[ Il a geater rate Of speed than
any o<IIer one time IN history, not
even excepting the wild period of in
flation following the civil war of
1861-'65. The desire for money has
caused the bigger percentage of the
wildcat stills to come into existence
just as the same chase is causing
the thievery of all sorts which seems
to be epidemic in the land.
In behalf of Memphis, bad as that
city has been the Commercial Appeal
has denied accuracy of Bishop Gail
or's statements-nor do we know a
community in which the reverend
gentleman's estimation of conditions
under prohibition will not fail of veri-
fication.
j. M. Barron, who wrote an anti
prohibition article in the Memphis
Commercial Appeal of last Sunday,
has already thrown fits on the ques-
ton of prohibition and abolition of
the redlight district, so, in order to
preserve his future mental balance we
would advise him to watch his mind
and lead away from recurrence to
the facts that our national govern
ment put the ban on the manufacture
and sale of absinthe even before al
cohol without the wormwood was pro-
hibited, and that our State Legislature
some decades ago forbade the sale of
pistols in Tennessee.