Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1922-05-18
EDITORIAL
LIQUOR AND BUSINESS.

FREQUENTLY the question Doos
up, despite the fact that prohioi-
ton appears to be firmly entrenched'
rs prohibition here to stay" we
have never had any serious doubts
about the matter since the enactment
of the 18th amendment. However,
MANY others apparently have had such
doubts. There has just come to our
desk one of the most interesting and
Illuminating documents on the SUD-
iect ever seen, which appears to an
swer the question definitely
The Manufacturers Record recent
" asked about 1900 manufacturers
and other leading business men and
university officials, their views on
the value of prohibition. All of the
reulies received up TO the date of go
ing to press have been published IN
an "a page pamphlet entitled THE
Prohibition Question Viewed from the
Economic and Moral Standpoint
Of these replies 98.5 per cent favor
prohibition in one form or another,
and not a single advocate of the sa-
loon is found in the list About 80
per cent are Overwhelmingly in IA
vor of the present laws and then
rigid enforcement, while few
though favoring prohibition in gen
eral either prefer some modification
of the laws because they think pres
ent laws cannot be enforced, or else
they want the use of wine and beer.
In addition to the letters from the
manufacturers there are large num-
Der of letters of similar tenor from
leading educators, university and col
lege presidents and professors, law
yers, physicians, and others, over
whelmingly in favor of prohibition.
Judge Gary of the United States
Steel corporation, writes:
Results have fully justified the
prohibition legislation;" and ne adds,
81 endorse the admirable expressions
of President Harding on this ques-
ton"
President Harding's expression as
quoted is as follows:
''In every community men and wo-
men have had an opportunity now to
know what prohibition means. They
know that debts are more promptly
paid, that men take home the wages
that once were wasted in saloons;
that families are better clothed and
fed, and more money finds its way
into the savings banks. The liquor
traffic was destructive of much that
was most precious in American life.
In the face of so much evidence on
Ethat point what conscientious man
1 would want to let his own selfish de-
/. sires influence him to vote to bring
I it. back? In another generation |
believe that liquor will have disap-
peared not merely from our politics,
bnt from our memories"
J. E. Edgerton, president of the
Lebanon Wooden Mills, Lebanon,
Tenn, who is also president of Ma
,ional Association of Manufacturers,
writes:
81 am thoroughly convinced of the
diabolical character of the whisky
traffic as evidenced by the disregard
for law and decency which has char
acterized its struggle for life. In the
smaller cities and towns and in the
country districts thousands of homes
have been built which would not have
oeen built, and millions of women
and children have been provided with
food and clothes who would have suf-
fered for these necessities if there
were no 18th amendment. To me it
is unthinkable that good American
should contemplate or wish for the
repeal or modification of any of the
laws intendtG to curb this cursed
business"
Warren s. Stone, Grand Chief of
the Brotherhood of Locomotive En-
gineers, writes:
The longer l live and the more
/ see of it, the more bitterly | am
opposed to the whole question of the
manufacture and sale of liquor, be-
cause | look upon it as the basis and
foundation of ninety per cent of the
crime and criminals we have in the
country today. / find marked inn
provement in the number of men who
are saving their money and who own
their homes, and find decided i'm