The Mt. Sterling Advocate

In Favor Of
To the Editor of the
I read with interest your edito-
rial on the Georgia prohibi-
and was much impressed with its
tenor. I have just read in to-
day's issue your correspon-
dent's
letter from Richmond, Ky., and it
appears to me that he hardly sees
the whole question. He refers to
the negro in Georgia, and doubts
that it may do him any good, and
suggests that in lieu of getting his
'toddy' over the open bar that he
would resort to other methods and
use other things that are more de-
trimental than whisky, naming
cocaine, red pepper and other things
that he will use. Judging from
my observation, these very things
are used very largely here in Ken-
tucky and in towns where beer
and whisky are supposed 'to flow
like water' witness your own town
and note the efforts that your
officers are making to stop the sale
of cocaine. I believe that it is the
common experience of to-day to
find just as much illicit and injuri-
ous drinking where saloons exist
as where they are barred, and that
whisky and all of its allied de-
coctions go hand in hand in the de-
struction not only of the negro,
but of the white as well, whether
it is sold openly or secretly.

A few years ago it was my good
fortune to be in Georgia at differ-
ent places and times, and I was in
a position to note the effect that
prohibition had upon the working
class. I remember that in one
town where local option prevailed
I was struck with the thrift and
well being of the negro population
and that on Saturday afternoon,
when the town square was literally
crowded with plantation negroes,
a friend and I went among them
to see if we could detect any drink-
ing or signs of drinking.
After carefully going among
them we failed to find the slightest
signs. They were the best and
cleanest dressed large body of ne-
groes that I had ever seen, and I
never saw a better natured crowd
anywhere. The stores were full
of them, buying and selling, and
one and all seemed happy and con-
tented. In another town of that
State, where open saloons abound-
ed, I found the negro quarters of
the town a 'rotten stench' to the
right thinking man: the negroes
were the dirtiest, unkempt speci-
mens of civilized beings that I ever
saw, totally unfit for manual labor, when at that time there
was work in plenty for all that
wanted work and at good wages,
but the saloons as usual had first
call and after they had their way
for awhile the negro did not want
to work, but he must live, and
that meant pilfering or crimes that
were worse. Now by all means let
Georgians alone and let all good
people help hold up their hands in
the mighty work of correcting the
evils that have been foisted upon
them, and which will work out to
be the untold benefit of both white
and black.

Our Richmond neighbor says in
his letter that mistakes are not
easily corrected in our country.
This is too true, and we who are
trying to correct the mistakes
caused by whisky are never free
of the awful sense of that truth.
for wherever we go the mistake a-
bounds, filling our jails, penitenti-
aries, poor houses and asylums full
of its awful product. And now
while our neighbor is in the pangs
of the loss of saloons in his
town, I want to suggest that if the
cry that is now being magnified
by whiskyites that the town can-
not run without the saloon money,
if the butcher, baker, grocer and
all kinds of merchants will wake up
and pay for the running of the
town like men, in any form that
the council may designate, that in
less than in a year's time they will
have increased their business more
than enough to pay all their taxes
and save another goodly sum from
bad debts that are caused by the
buyers having spent their money
for whisky in the place of paying
their honest debts. Besides this,
the moral atmosphere of a right-
eous people that shall live in peace
plenty and happiness.

Then let all good people hold up
both Georgia's and Richmond's
hands in the warfare for their
whole people as against the strongly
entrenched parties who would sink
them for personal gain. I remain
a daily reader.

'Gmoit.'
Winchester, Ky. August 24, 1907.