The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, February 08, 1888, Image 7
I The Press and Banner.
Twelve Pages.
Wednesday, Feb. 8. 1888.
rmiTUTjri rimum nrmnnrr
ItrKAUIiS UttMl fijmn.
A FOMIDABLE ARRAY OF FACTS FOR
PROHIBITION.
A Strong Appeal to Onr Kinder Feel*
in);** and onr Better Natures, without
Giving; Cause for Offence to
Any Who May Differ in Opinion.
In the recent contest in the city of
Atlanta, Hon. H. W. Grady made
the following address, which is so full
of the milk of human kindness for all
I mankind, and which presents the
cause that he espouses with so much
force, that we feel sure that every
reader of the Press and Banner will
thank us for reproducing it in these
columns. The question is discussed
from so high a plane that even those
who may differ in opinion will respect
him for his earnestness, and
honor him for the fairness with which
he has presented his cause, which is
nniv ns nmfh our nansp as it wa9 his.
I when lie delivered the speech:
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I take it for granted that Atlanta is in
earnest to-nignt. 1 am informed that
there is a ten-cent circus, a dog show, a
drama, and two patent medicine shows
in the city, any one of which I would
rather he'attending than here listening to
myself, talk. [Loaughter.] Your presence
here convinces me that you have
determined to put aside pleasure to-night
for business. [Applause.] Will you
pardon me now, one word of personal
explanation ? I alone am responsible for
what I say here to-night. I. have Jnot
attended a prohibition meeting and I am
Inoi uuijuaiiucu wnu me uemns ux ujcuij
of a prohibition campaign. My yiews
on high license are woll understood.
They prevented me from an active paricipation
in the last campaign, and made
me slow to reach an opinion in this, but I
have reached that opinion in sincerity,
and you shall have it in frankness. [Applause.]
One word more. I have no
personal ambition. I have no -political
ambition, but were I consumed with it,
and did I live to see its swift and perfect
fruition, I should still despise myself if
I had put your generous enthusiasirf to
its use to-night, or had shirked my duiy
that I might further it.
I speak with but one object. More concerned
am I that, having always fought
with Atlanta united, I appear to-night to
Ioe witn tne taction. ijuc my neari is
whole for her and I speak in love of her
without enmity to one human being, as
far as I know, within her limits. [Applause.]
I utter a conviction so profound
and deliberate that to leave it unexpressed
were as cowardly as to deny it when
questioned on it.
Now, I shall speak in perfoct pood
humor, criticizing no man's action and
impugning no man's motive. Atlanta
has a serious problem to settle. If she
reaches its conclusion in rancor and bitterness
she will suffer, and this cause will I
I suffer, no matter which sido may triumph.
If she reaches it soberly, thoughtfully
and deliberately, her people, honest, intelligent
and reunited in her service, will
enforo your victory if you win it, and
mitigate the evils you fear if the opposition
should win. [Applause.] I have
two points to make to-night. I want to
make them with such coherence as I can
command, and beg your patience and
attention.
II believe tnat pronioiuon snouia oe
tried for two years longer.
Second, because this trial, imperfect
and brief as it bas been, is a demonstrable
success. [Applause.]
In discussing these two points I shall
not attempt to comprehend the general
principles of prohibition nor indeed to
commit myself to it. We are wisely left
under our local option law to settle this
question for ourselves. I speak to-night
about Atlanta to Atlantians, about an experiment
that is given us, it mav be of I
ri i. ,1 T n : C T I
I\JUU, W? ituvt 1 am nuio luat ji x tmi i
show you it has not had a fair trial and
that its imperfect trial has proved successful,
that even Mr. Jefferson Davis?
for ho knows that personal liberty and
%vhero public injury begins?even would
say, "let this trial be extended for the
good it has wrought among the people I
love." [Applause.] The basic principle
of government is, and has been since
the lowly Nazarine walked this earth,
"the greatest good to the greatest number."
Now, has prohibition had a fair trial in
Atlanta? Tf'rips of no. no.l It was nassed
I by a baro majority; it was two months
before that majority was legally declared,
there were licenses extending about ten
months?nearly one-half of its probation
there was organized resistance to its enforcement
; every step that was taken was
experimental; there was not a door closed
nor a fine entered and collected except by
slow process of law. Every defense was
exhausted and the cause had to fight with
new mashinery, with undisciplined
forces, and with half of its time consumed
with unexpired licenses. I have heard
many raon say?anti-prohibitionists? I
"I would give half I am worth if prohi- j
bitiou would really prohibit." Is there j
any fair-minded business man who would i
commit himself to a business venture in
1_.J ..,^.,1.3 I
IVOlVlUg JLltUi IIU ?U3 ?ui iu auu >v uuiu
abandon that venture at the close of such
a trail as prohibition has had, and say "it
won't work?" Is there any business
man who would do that in his own business
? Is there any business man who
hears mo to-nigbt who believes, in tho
full sense demanded bj- the importance
of the subject, that prohibition has had a
fail trial in Atlanta? Iain satisfied that
there is not one. It has barely begun its
work! has barely establihed the first
preraiso of the grand demonstration to
which I believe, in God's mercy, it is
committed. And yet you talk about
stopping it hore because it has been proved
that prohibition won't prohibit. If it
has not had a fair trial, ought wejnotto
Kivo it a longer trial? Was there ever
I a city charged with so tremendous a problem
as this? Whether or not it is better
for men in largo cities to livo under prohibition
: whether it is possible that men
in largo cities may reap tho undeniable
advantages ot tho prohibition of tho
liqur t radio, it is not too fcinuch to say
America waits on tho answer Atlanta
siia;l give uj this question. [Applause.]
I*, is noi tuo much to .say that if wo abandon
i* to-i.ighi, cowardly abandon it to -1
11I?t, there will not bo found an Amor
IM-.Ht city brave enought to take it up j
win-re wo leave o!i'. J>ut if wo carry it j
through two years longer and demon- |
blj'iiio its sucocss, think of the harvest j
tnatwill be reaped by American cities:
under AriKi ican customs, and whose j
hearts boat true to American institutions, j
J know there are cities where it is impruc
ticable, but I thank God Atlanta is not
ono of them. Chicago will lack seven
beads of being as much that way after
the 10th of this month. [Applause.] In
insisting that prohibition has not had a
fair trial, I do not mean to beg tho second
proposition 1 laid down, namely, that it
has been a demonstrable sucoss. If there
is a man here to-night who has not the
lairness and the unprejudiced mind that
will lead him to give ah important ques- l
tion a full trial?is there a man who will I
auanaon tnis experiment wnen is can ue
shown that working even imperfectly, it
has worked unspeakable good?
I commit myself to that word with
perfect fearlessness. I say "unspeakable
good." If I talk until my tongue loses its
power ot articulation, I could not give
you one-half of the instances of good
that have been put in my bands by kind
friends this evening. I will hastily class
a few, none of which will fail to prove
significant.
When you go to get the effectof a new
movement for good or evil, where do you
go ? Not to the rich and idle, because you
mav eu'pll nr diminish t.lif?ir incrimfl anrt
yet not change their habits, you simply
diminish their hidden surplus. Not to tlio
middle class, because when you diminish
their income they simply pinch themselves
and pinch so quietly that their
neighbors do not know it; or swell their
incomes?, aud they loosen out a little and
pass something up to surplus. You cannot
tell it there, but go to the poorer
classes; the men who labor for their daily
bread, and whose wages barely suffice to
give it to them, and there you' find the
first signs of a good or evil movemont
It is at once the. truth and reproach of
our civilization, that starvation follows
e/v AI/\o<a nn 1 olirv** fhof on Qvri 1 mnirnTYVOnf
OV VU'OO Vll l?WUi VUHV UU W t II UiVIVUiVUV
is detected in the hollow* cheeks of little
children and the haggard faces of womne
before it is made manifest to the higher
classes.
Let me show you some facts?ray facts
?they always come out, remember that
[laughter] they have been laughed at a
good deal, but they always get there.
(Applause.) When you want to discover
the effect on the city you all agree that
you must go to the poorer classes,because
to pinch them means distress, it means
outcry; and to help them means to still
the cry and soothe the distress.
Mr. George Adair rents houses to 1,300
tenents. lie states that he has issued in
the last year one distress warrant to
where he issued twenty-one, years ago.
(Applause.; j. ciairn to do an inieiiigeut
man with some courage of conviction,
but I pledge you my word, if that one
fact were established to my satisfaction
I would vote for this thing if I never
heard another word on this subject.
Have you thought what that means?a
distress warrant? It means eviction;
it means the very thing that is to-day
kinding the heart of this world for poor
Ireland. It means eviction! It means
turning women and her little children
out of home that cover them, and to
which they are entitled. I was astonished
at Colonel Adair's statement. Mr.
Tally, who rents six or eight hundred
houses, say: "I usfed to issue two or
three distress warrants?four or five?a
month. I have not issued a single one in
eighteen month." (Applause.) Now
both of thom are prohibitionists. Let
mo trv vnn with- TTarrv Krotisfl. H? was
an an it-prohibitionist. He said; "My
distress warrants averaged thirty-six to
the year, and I have not issued one in
twelve months. I said;
"Then, my friend, I don't carry your
conscience, out how can you be an antiprohibitionist."
He said: "I ain't. My knowledge of
the thing, day by day, among people I
used to pester and evict has changed my
convictions, and I am a red-hot prohibitionist."
I went down to Mr. Scott, who did not
vntft fnr nrnliihition and askeri him. H?
said: "I have issued as many as twentyfive
distress warrants in a month, and I
have issued six in the last eighteen
months, and five were to get people out
of houses because they were obnoxious
to the neighbors. I have not issued one
single distress warrant for failure to pay
rent."
I said, "You didn't vote for prohibition."
He said, "I did not believe it was practicable."
I asked, "What do you think now."
He said, "I am going to vote, and vote
for prohibition." [Applause.]
Mr. Roberts was a prohibitionist. Ho
is a square man and an intelligent man,
and is running for council, which is a
??ond sitrn. rijanchtpr and nnnlnnan 1
He says, "My testimony is the same. I
formerly issued two or three distress
warrants every month, and I have not issued
one in twelve months."
Gentlemen?and ladies, [laughter] especially
ladies: Is there any possible answer
to that ? Is there any industrial,
any social, any economical evolution that
has been worked since this world began
that would account for the diminution in
this most vicious and intolerable of legal
enactments? Have you thought about
what a distress warrant is?
Have you ever thought about a woman
being turnod out of her house?the little
cottage that covers her and her children ?
Can you picture?you who live in com
fortable homes filled with light and
warmth and books and joy?can you
think of theso people?human beings,
our brothers and sisters?the poor mother,
brave though her heart is breaking,
huddling her little children about hor?
and the father weak but loving, and loving
all the deeper because he knows his
weakness has brought them to this want
and degradation?and little children,
those of whom our Savior said, "Suffer
them to come unto me and forbid them
not," there asking; "Mamma, where will
we sleep to-night?'' Can you picture that
nnrl than fhpir fatinrr thomcnlvoo im or^A
tho woman putting her hand with undying
love ana faith in the hand of the man
she swore to follow through good and
evil report, and marching up and down
the street?this pitiable processionthrough
the unthinking streets, by laughing
children and shining windows, looking
for a hole where, like the foxes, they
may hide their poor heads?
My friends, they talk to you about
personal liberty; that a man should have
the right to go into a grog shop and see
this pitiful procession?now stopped?
Daradincr un and down nnr utroofo nrroin
They talk to you about tho shades of
Washington, Monroe and Jeiferson. I
would not give one happy, rosy little woman,
uplifted from that degradationhappy
again in her home, the cricket
chirping on her hearthstone and her children
about her knees, her husband redeemed
from drink at her side?I would
not give one of them for all tho shades of
all the men that over contonded since
Cataline conspired and Ceasar fought.
[At tho end of this sentence thero was
tremendous cheering. Men and women
waved thoir handkerchiefs, some of them
standing up.]
Mr. Grady proceeded:
Xovr, my friends, wo arc told in opposition
to what I havo said to you?and they
are facts, they are my lact.s, they always '
"get thero"?that's "tho variety T breed
now entirely. We are told in opposition
to that, and Mr. Adair will testily, and seo
Mr. Tally?I see him tonightoulthere(he
was crying .just now but ho is smiling
now) and 1 seo Mr. Koburts? their books
ai'c testimony. Go and look at them, it
moans simply this, that whoro Mr. Adair,
renting to all sorts of people, issued
twenty distress warrants a year ago, he
issues"one now; it means that out of every
twenty families evicted two years ago
there are nineteen happy in their homes
to-night. [Applause.] And yet we are
told we must vote to restore the old order
because it has reduced Governor Brown's
rental column 85,000 a year. [Applause.]
[At the end of this sentence the scene
was almost indescribable. Thousands of
handkerchiefs waved as before, men lield
their hats and walking sticks and whirled
them in the air. The cheering was al
uiuai> uoaicmu^.j
Mr. Grady resumed speaking.
My friends, I don't believe that statement,
to begin with. I do not believe
bis rent income is fairly and permanently
diminished five thousand dollars a year
?and if it is he is my friend, and I congratulate
both him and myself on the
fact that he is able to stand it. I say this
in no spirit of sarcasm or criticism, but I
do say if there is a law, if there is a govermental
theory, if there is, may it please
you, an untried experiment that will
shelter one honest woman and two unconscious
children in their homes, it is
our duty to vote that law and this government's
duty to enforce it, though it
should cut itdown 325,000. (Tremendous
applause.] And the reason for that it is
not based in communism, but in human
ity. If the government owes any duty
to the individual it is that every man, woman
and child that leads an honest life is
entitled to food and shelter; and there is
a difference to be found between diminishing
the luxury of the rich and protecting
the poor in their birthright; it is
manliness, and humanity, and good gov- i
ernnient to let the rich sutler. [Ap-1
plause.]
THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE.
I am going to stick to the home because
it is the type and center of our city, of our
civilization. Prosperous homes mean a
prosperous city; cheerless homes an unErosperous
town. From the comfortable
ome, with its ruddy windows and its
laughing children, streams the light that
illumes every department of trade or industry,
whether the light comes from the
cottaee or a nalace. From th? nhnArlfiss
and desolate' borne comes the chill that
paralyzes every interest worth preserving.
When you go into a home, what is the
first thing you look after? It is the
hearthstone, to see if there is a fire. The
hearthstone is the heart of the home, and
the fire glowingand sparkling, with the
little children gathered about it ruddy
faced and happy, is to the house what
sunshine is tc*God's flowers. It is about
the hearthstone that the family gathers.
There you find the wife, the helpmate of
the husband and his joy?who has shared
his sorrow and his trouble?you find the
mi 1 5 3 '? I
iimic uuosuuoiisutiu, luuoiu granamotner
in the corner, smiling and peaceful,
her last, best days blessed and softened
by filial love and care. [Applause.)
Think about the picture around the
hearthstone in an humble home. Did
you ever think about grandmother and a
little child ? Is there any love on earth
as sweet and pathetic ? See them, as they
sit about the hearthstone of the home.
How they cling to each other! How
the little one clambers about her knees
and looks into her face. How the old
heart is bathed afresh in the rapture of
the child, and how the old withered lips
are attuned and used to the childish prattle
! How closely they cling togetner!
and yet how diverse are their ways! The
old grandmother with the lengthening
shadows falling on her back as she walks
down the hill, her face turned towards
the skies beyond the pearly gates of
which she can almost hear the singing of
the hosts awaiting to bid her welcome;
the child turned with ardent face to tno
attractions and contentions of the world,
with the rising sun falling full on its
eyes. (Applause.)
At last the time for separation comes.
As each takes its God-given way, how
ready to go, and yet how loth to part!
How they turn as they drift away, looking
one to the other, while the parting
words grow fainter and fainter and fainter,
until they all fall by tho wayside and the
child's voice is lost in the rising clamor
of the world, and her voice melts away
in the kindling music of the skies. (Applause.)
There they sit about the hearthstone,
the grandmother and the child, and
between them the wife, holding in her
heart the double love that binds them together.
(Applause.)
Think of the mjftter of this housefather,
son and husband in one?as he
works at his bench or walks, whisthng
uirougn ine icy nignc, ail .'aappy in the
consciousness that his loved ones are warm
and snug, and happy in their home.
What would he tako for the consciousness
that instead of huddling comfortless
about a chill heartstono, the fire burns
brightly for them ? What would you take
to rob him of that consciousness ? Well,
now keep that picture in your mind
while I tell you what th9 coal dealers of
Atlanta say about their retail trade this
winter.
Hero is their testimony!
Do you remember how you used to see
the women with a quarter or fifty-cent
piece shivering at the coal yards, hurrying
to buy a handful of coal, that they
might get home where their little ones
were suffering? How you used to seo
men hurrying through the streets with a
basket coal of on their arm, knowing that
at Dome me Dreatn rrom tbeir lungs was
almost freezing on the children's lips?
And the little hand-carts that used to fill
your streots, carrying a handful of coal,
barely enough to give a child a taste of
fire ? And don't you know the numbei
of houses there were that in spite of all
this were cold and cheerless and without
relief?
Where are the poople who used to buy
a pinch of coal, aud the hand-carts that
used to haul it? They are.gone! Mr.
Wilson testifies: "There has been a remarkable
change in my business. Men
that used to buy fifty cents worth now
buy a ton. I used to have twenty little
hand-carts to deliver coal in ; now I use
but one, and I have doubled my twohorse
teams." (Applause.)
Mr, Bridger testifies that he scarcely
has a call lor coal on credit now. Mr.
D'Alvigny testifies that he cannot get
enough to supply the demand. Mr.
John Stocks says there is twice as much
sold as ever before.
Every coal dealer testifies that there
has boon a remarkable increase in his
business. Instead of buying it haphazard,
in little quantities, when tho twentylive
cents that bought it was chanced between
tho barkeeper and the coal dealer,
they testify without break, that the people
have laid in twice as much coal as
ever before in a single fall; that they buy
in lnr<rA nnnntitioe on,1
- .j.m.iwiwvo uiivi v/ii i;uau aiiuifflb |
entirely. Houses will bo warmed this |
winter, day and night, that scarcoly i
knew what lire was last winter. Ask the |
coal dealers, aud if their testimony eon-1
vinees you, ask if it isn't worth something
to accomplish this. |
Tako tlie item of furniture. Mr. .Snook [
says: '"i'liero is a great change in my
business. It has increased in a retail
way, especially among the poorer classes.
Thoy buy a bettor class of goods and pay
cash whore formerly they asked credit."
Mr. Xeal testifies thai ho has done a
three months' business oik- month in this
year in furniture, and for cash, soiling
bettor goods. Mr. Miller says be has sold |
I more than ever iu bis life, and of better j
class goods, and to cash buyers. He says
tlio poorer classes buy three times as
much as they ever bought, aud almost
entirely for cash.
Mr. Rhodes testifies?and, by the way,
he has one hundred thousand dollars iu
houses, and not one vacant, and he gets
more reut than ever before ont of them?
he says that the purchases the year are
almost three times as much as "he ever
sold before, and that he gets five times as
much casli from the classes he deals with.
So of all the furniture dealers?ask them.
Walter Wood states that his Saturday
nignt s trade in selling stoves ana cooking
utensils, which used to be about ?10
or ?15, is now ?75. A. P. Stewart and
Ilnnnicutt it Bellingrath confirm this.
Ask them!
I could weary you with testimony like
that. I have a score of notes from prosperous
merchants, on this table, telling
how their trade has increased?showing
that in everything that makes homes
happy, that makes the women and children
comfortable?in everything that
profit the buyer and his friend, and the
community he lives in, that the trade has
increased, ana tnat this year's increase
over last is simply phenomenal, and that
is owing to prohibition. [Applause.]
Why, the East Tennessee road brought
nine million pounds of freight into Atlanta
in August, 1887, over August, 18ftf>.
This was one month. Nine million
pounds increase of freight brought to
Atlanta over the same month in 1886.
This is prosperity by the record.
See what the increase on tbe other ronds
has been. Here are the figures, as shown
by records in the Railroad Commission
office:
He was converted against his convictions.
Mr. Grady turned and caught sight of
Judge Hillyer, whose face was beaming,
and having occasion to ask the judge a
question, said:
"By the way, doesn't the judge look
happy to-night!" whereat the audience
cheered heartily, and the judge laughed
and looked happier than before.
Mr. Grady continued: ,
Mr. Riordan was an anti-prohibitionist
in the last race. He came into Colonel
Maddox's office?by the way, Colonel
Maddox's office seems to be a sort of a
place for them to come. Mr. Riordan
jsays: "I was an anti-prohibitionist on
| principle." A personal liberty man, I
suppose?"but I work from 60 to 100
men, and I have seen a change that, as an
honest man, loving my fellow man, I
dare not disregard, and I am for prohibition."
Ladies and gentlemen, how can you
answer such as that? I am not a profound
lawyer. I don't know how much
fersonal tho liborty I have got; sometimes
wish I had more [looking with a smile at
. Mrs. Grady, who sat in the audience,]
that is purely a personal matter to which
wo need not allude further?1 don't want
any profound knowledge of law that
clouds ray brain and judgment when
such facts appeal to mo.
Colonel Maddox did not vote in the last
election until the last moment. He be
lieved prohibition was impracticable and
visionary. Ho might baye had the personal
liberty touch.. He was not going to
vote, and his wife said?and the wife is
noarly always the best half of the two,
and is in this case. His wife said: "My
dear, you vote to-day; we have a boy."
He voted under protest, he did not believe
in it?it was new langled. Six
months afterwards he was sorry he voted
for it; looked like the town had gone to
ruin; but to-day he is a wise and intelligent
man, and he has looked about him
and heard what people say, and seen tho
town prosper and thrill with a growth
grander than she ever felt before, and he
is a dyed-in-the-wood prohibitionist.
Mr. Rucker was the same way, and is
ready to work night and day for prohibition.
Do you know J. C._Allen ? Those who
do not are behind. He was an anti-prohibitionist;
he was so strong an-antiproliibitionist
that he would not let bis
boother-in-law?not his mother-in-lawtalk
to him on the subject. He did not
want to discuss it. He had a little dry
goods store next to a saloon. Prohibition
was voted in, and he has prospered
since in spite of himself, which reminds
mo of a distinguished Frenchman who
was kicked upstairs. The saloon was vacated
owing to ciroumstances over which
the owner had no control. It did not
look well vacant, and Mr. Allen rented
it; and where the old red-eye used to
stand, he put up calico, and to-day he is
doing a splendid business, and people
who used to go there to buy their body's
injury and their soul's damnation, go
there*to buy ribbons and dresses for their
wives and little ones, as good men ought
to do.
"Seeine all this." I said, "how can vou
be an anti ?" and he says:
"I ain't; I have changed, and I am dryas
a powder horn.".
On Decatur street* there were twentythreo
bar-rooms where there are now four
wincrooms in what you might call the
last extremities. All except one are occupied
by grocers, drygoous stores, boot
and shoes shops, or by some sort of business
that builas up a man in place of a
traffic that tears nim down. Where is
the paralysis of business? Four saloons
and nineteen stores doing business in
place of twenty-three barrooms.
I have told you in getting evidence of
improvement or deterioration in a city that
vou must go to the working classes.
w -!?n x?- ?< a xi ? A - i
jiisjjouiuny is i-uis irut) ui .ivuauta, uecause
this is the third city in the United States
in the proportion of workers to population.
Lawrence, Mas., leads with 51 per
cent, of her population wage earners,
Lowell follows with 49 per cent., and
Atlanta and Fall River tie for third place
with 47 per cent.
Now here is a class of people representing
in the workers of number foryseven
per cent, of the entire population.
Add the women and children who do not
work, and we see this class represents
sixty or seventy per cent, of our population.
If I have shown that this class is
benefitted in an unspeakable manner by
the untried experiment of prohibition, is
it not our duty to continue this experiment
that the greatest good may come to
the greatest number.
" Ono minute further," said Mr. Grady,
looking at his watch. [Cries of go on, go
nn.1 "Thflro is inst on? thine flirf.hor
What harm has it done? If it has dono
harm, let us see what. They said we
were going to be ruined, that bats and
owls would fly in and out, and the real
estate men have the renting of nine out
of ten houses that are rented. They testify
without a break, absolutely without
a break, that they have fewer houses on
their lists than thcv have ever had since
they have been in business. Two of tbem
have advertised iu the last few days for
one hundred houses, aud to-day j\lr. Tally
told me that ho actually left his oliico
because ho was borod by pooplo who
wanted to get somewhere to live in this
town.
Mr. .Scott told mo that he could put
tenants in '>')'< houaes iu thirty days from
tn-irinrrn\v Tlir.v foil in wn i..at in
population. Thero arc jus!. as many
houses in Atlanta to-day, anil more, and !
they aro all liil!. Well, il tlio population
has decreased, wlio (ills them? I'orhaps ]
they arc occupied by shados of Lincoln ]
and Jell'crson and -Monroe!
A distinguished friend of initio?and
f
I
he is my friend, and worthy of your confidence
always?printed yesterday some
figures to show that there were fewer
street taxes this year than last. Ho was
correct as far as he went, but he did not
get ta the forks of the creek.
Ho took his figures from the tax assessor's
books. Now, the men who give in
their taxes are rich men, careful men,
like Judge Ilillycr and Mayor Campbell
Wallace?not like me and a few fellows
around me. This is important, because
those figures looked like something. He
showed that the number of persons who
oaid street tax in 1885 was 3 814. Ho
showed that the number who paid their
tax at the assessor's office in 1S85 was
3,500. That shows an apparent decrease
of 214 peoplo. Well, I am seeking after
truth, and that sorter staggered mo. "Is
that a fact? I asked. "Is that the end of
it? I asked Judge Hillyer, and he has
been stuffing mo anyhow. "Nc. In addition
to the men who gave in at the tax
assesor's office in 1885, there were -1,180
who were looked up"?made to pay with
a little addition. That made a total of
7,994. Next year there were 3,900 peoplo
who gave in, or 214 less than the year before,
but they found out among the hedges
and byways 8,490, one of whom I have
no doubt I was with. That makes a total
of 12,(N)4 total taxes'paid last year, against
7,994 the year before, showing a gain in
this good old city of 4,070 poll taxes.
The tiguros for this year have not been
furnished. To bo perfectly frank, they j
nave 1101 goi me yci. jl ininit iney win
show an increase of three or four "thousands
poll taxes in this city, two-thirds of
which, in ray honest conviction, are due
to prohibition. These arc the figures.
They came though .Judge Hillyer to me,
and I give them to you without change.
There are 829 more children in attendance
at tho schools this year than hist. How
do you account for that? (Laughter.) It
has beeh two years since prohibition was
adopted, and there are 820 more children
in tne schools. That means one of two
things, and you can take either horn of
the uilemma, either there are more people
here or there are more people able to
send to school. Take the fact of owninc
houses, Artemus Ward says:
"A man may die for his home, but who
ever heard of a man dying for his boarding
house?" I say to you here, it is tho
poor man's home, and the poor man's
home alone that has stood time and again
between Jay Gould and Vanderbilt and
the enraged mob of American workingmen.
It is the conservatism of the homeowning
wage-worker that has kept socialism
out of the admirable labor organization.
In the last two years there have
been 678 citizens who have become home
owners, against 153 in the two years preious.
Owing no man send owning no
mau, as master, wearing the collar of no
jitutiuii, irou uoru amencan citizens, not
quibbling about personal liberty, but
standing with wife and little ones, honest
and independent, above penury and degradation.
(Applause.)
There are a great many things about
prohibition that people do not like. I
think it was an outrage to arrest those
two young fellows on Marietta street, and
I don't hesitate to say so in this company.
But if you judgejevery cause by a single
incident, what cause will hold itself
blameless? If you judge prohibition by
every act done by one of its adherents,
where will you find anti-prohibition.?
(Great applause.)
When I find an objection I turn to look
for a good. If it is more serious in my
opinjon than the good, I simply stand
back, but if the good outweighs the oblonfinn
fhoi*o ia oimnlw /tAtiMA
man who has got honest convictions?
that is to waive the objection.
I doubt if our women?God bless all? i
can do their best work in the public
turmoil of this campaign. I wish it was
so we could take hold of it with such
manliness that every woman could go
back home and rely on her prayers and
our efforts the carry it throajr. Woman's i
best work is gentleness. She should
come as the dew comes, not in the garish
sunshine or the rushing strom, but when
the earth is wrapped in night's sober hush
falling like a soft distillation of the stars
on the! Bleeping flowers. (Tremendous
applause.) Better work there, but I honor
ner when she comes to the front in an
emergency like this, bringing her scarred
heart and tender nature and shining eyes
to our aid.
Tf uDU X 1 cau ill tuo nCLlLULIU /L tuo iO"
port of Mr. W. A. Pledger's speech, last
night, in which he said: "Don't be misled
by women and preachers; listen to
mel'"-Bill Pledger. "Don't let Hawthorne,
or Barnet, or Mr. Gaines, mislead
you; listen to me!"?Bill Pledger.
"Don't let the good women of the city?
the salt of the earth, wearing heroism as
a garment?don't let them mislead you ;
listen to me !" When, he said, talking
about the women in this campaign, the
mothers in Israel and the wives of the
best men in this town, when they left
their homes and put away their womanly
nature they forfeited their right to ,
Oman's homage, and this sentiment met ]
with applause at the hands of that audience.
(Hissesand cries of shame.)
]Sro matttor what my opinion may be,
I will never cast my vote with a people
that applaud tbat sentiment.
(Tremendous cheering and cries of
"Amen!" "That's right!" and "Goon;
we will stay all night.")
Mr. Grady?I want to catch the last '
street car. '
A voice: "We will hire a carriage for
you."
Continuing, Mr. Grady said: (
' My friend, Mr. Hooper Alexander,
has sent me a note in which ho says:
"I see you are on statistics. If it is
worth noticing, I can add a few. I examined
the city court criminal docket (
this afternoon, and it shows a marked
and steady increase in misdemeanors <
from 1881 to 1885, a falling off of twenty 1
ner cent, ill ISSfi; the record of 1887 t
shows 313 indictments against 765 in 1885 s
and 440 in 1886." Mark that. An increase
in 1885, and in 1886 there was a decrease
from 675 cases to 440. That was
with the experiment only half tried.
The present docket extends from 1S81 to
1887. Crime in 1887 less than half that of
85 and loss than any year of the docket.
There was scarcely a case of vagrancy for
a year past.
I assume to keep no man's conscience;
I assume to judge for no man ; 1 do not
assume that I am better than any man,
but that I am weaker, but I say this to a
you, I have a boy as dear to me as the i
ruaav arops tnai gainer aoouc ms neart. c
I find my hopes already centering in his a
little body, and I look to him to-night to s
take to himself the work that, strive as I c
may, must fall unfinished at last from c
my hands. Now, I know they say it is s
!)ropcr to educate a boy at home ; that if d
je is taught right at homo ho will not go v
wrony. That is a lie to begin with, but
that don't matter. I havo aeon sons of
some as good people as oyer lived turn
out badly. T accept my responsibility as
a father. That boy may fall from the (!
right path a:3 things now exist. If he "
does, I shall benr that sorrow with such S
resignation r.s f may, but I toll you, if I 1
were to vote to recall barrooms to this I o
city, when i know that H !ius prospered i(
in their absence, nnd that boy should fall
throughtho'u-:tgcn<y, I tell you?ami this
conviction lias coino to :no in the still i,
watches of tho niylit?I ooiiUl not, wear- '
inj? thcHTowning s:>rrov.'of his dlsgraco V
rind looking into tho eyes nf her whoso ?
Iicart ho iirwl broken-F < ouKl not, il'I i?
bad voted to recall these barrcoms, had it
answer for my conscience or support for
remorse. (Applause.) I don't know
how any other father feels, but this is the
way I feel, if God, permits me to utter
the truth. .
Now for a last word, my friends. I
never spoke to you from deeper conviction
than I speak to-night. I beg of you,
in the interest of peace and fairness, to
give this experiment a fair trial. Note
what it has clone in a year of imperfect
trial. Give it two years more that it may
demonstrate what it can do. Then if it
fails it will fall, if it is good it will stand.
ir you are in aouot aoout wnat you
should do give us the benefit of the
doubt. Give tho doubt to the churches
of the city that stand unbroken in the
cause. Give the doubt to the 20,000
prajvsrs that aseend nightly for this cause
from the women and children in Atlanta,
prayers uttered so silently that you
cannot catch their whispered utterance,
but so sincerely that they speed their
soft entreaty through tho singing hosts
of beaven into the heart of the living
God. If you are in doubt as to what
your duty is, turn for this once, to your
old mother whose gray hairs shall plead
with you as nothing else should?remember
how she has loved you all her life
and how her old heart yearns for you
now. Take her old band in yours, look
into her eyes fearlessly as you did when
von wnra a barefoot hov_ and sav "T
liavo run my politics all my life, and today
I am going to give one vote for you.
How shall I cast it?" Watch the tears *
start from ber shining eyes, feel the lump
rising in your throat, and tell me if that
is not better than "personal liberty." If
you are in doubt ask your -wife?ask
hor who years ago put her little hand in
yours, and, adoring and trusting, left the
old home nest and went out with
ycu into the unknown world?remember
how she has stood by you when all else
lorsooK?now .sue nas uvea only in your
life, and carried your sorrows as her own,
and ask her how you shall vote. I do
not believe that women shoald counsel
men in politics, but this question is deeper
than politics. Your wife need not tell
you how to vote on tariff, or on candidates
or on any political issue, but this
is her election as well as yours. On this
jeopardy is staked the home you builded
together, the happiness you nave had together,
and the welfare of the little
children In whose veins your blood and
hers runs commingled. Her stake and
fhaira nn this AlAntinn la crraafar tV?o?
yours. Then ask her, if you have any
doubt how you shall vdte on that day.
Now, a word to the good women here.
You can do great work quietly and gently
in your homes for this cause and for
the good of your city. You can do this
work in the home circle, where no man
can say you nay.
Mothers, go to your son on election
morning, call him back to the time when
he learned God's name at your knees,
and wake when he would in the night,
he would find your soft eyes above him
and your loving arms about him, and
say: *'My son, find your way this morning
in memory to those days when nothing
stood between us, and when these
kind hands sheltered and protected you."
Wives, go to your husbands that morning.
Not in pique or criticism, but with
a love and tenderness that shall break
through his pride and indifference, lay
his hand lovingly on the heads of the little
ones, the pride of his life and yours?
oh, you who went down into the very
jaws of death that you might give them ,
to him !?and say: "My husband, whatever
you do to-day, do it for these little
ones and me!" ("Applause.]
Now, my friends, I have done. What ?
I have spoken to you to-night I have
M An In onV\/\? AAMn it>
in ouuui caiuosiucm auu m ulu.
If what I have said has impressed you,
I beg of you to let the impression deepen,
rather than pass away, for I know and
you know that this issue goes deeper
than words can go. It involves thousands
of hearts now rejoicing that late
were breaking; it involves the happiness
of women and children, the most sacred
charges vouchsafed to our care, it involves
the fate of this tremendous experiment
that Atlanta must settle for the
American people. Against it there is
nothing but the whim of personal liberty.
Your city has prospered before. If
you are a merchant or manufacturer,
your books will tell you this. You
know that you have prospered this
year in your business, ask your
neighbor of his business. Look abroad
about yon on these bustling streets, and
on these busy stores; on these shops and
factories, in which the fires scarcely ever
die, and then vote in the light of reason
and of conscience, and however you vote,
may God bless you, and the city you love
so well. [Tremendous applause.]
Then looking over the vast audience,
stilled to hear the voice of the speaker,
Mr. Grady said with great earnestness
and eloquence:
"The best reforms of this earth come
through waste and storai and doubt .and
suspicion ; the sun itself when it rises on
3ach day wastes the radiance of the moon
ind blots the starlight from the skies, but
Dnly to ifnlock the earth from the clasp
jf night and plant the stars anew in the
opening tlowers. Behind that sun, as
behind this movement, we may be sure
there stands the Lord God Almighty,
master and maker of the universe, from
ivhose hand the spheres are rolled to
their orbits, and whose voice has been
the harmony of this world since the
morning stars sang together. (Tremenious,
loud and long-continued applause.)
Card from Mr. Grady.
Mr. Grady on the morning after the
;lection printed the following card:
When ever> thing else I have said or
lone is forgetten, I want the words I
iave spoken for prohibition in Atlanta,
;o be remembered. I am prouder of my
share in the campaign that has ended, iu
ts defeat, than of my share in all other
sampaigns that have ended in victory.
[ espoused its cause deliberately, and I
lave worked for its success, night and
lay, to the best of my ability. My only
firrppt is that, mv fthilitv wan not crftatAr.
Q > ?/ J * . O
[ am firm in the conviction?and from
his conviction I shall never be shaken?
hat Atlanta has prospered under her
wo years of prohibition, as she never
prospered before, and that the experinent
of "prohibition in a large city"
lucceeded in Atlanta as no experiment
inder like obstructions ever. succeeded
jefore. I write these words in behalf of
i cause that enlisted my heart and reaiou
and conscience as no other cause
lid, and from which they can neve* be
stranged. It is to the honor and
trength of that cause that its defeat but
leepens the devotion and loyalty of those
i*ho have fought and sutFered with it.
Henry W. Gkapv.
}>o man has a right to destroy liis
\vn life, and he, therefore, can not
ielegate the power to destroy it to a
overnment or community of men.
teviewing the events of late years, in
tlier countries, and in our own and
joking upon what is now passing
round us, we are strengthened in the
elief that all war, all destruction of
mman life, under whatever plea of
olicy or necessity, and with whatever
bjcct, is utterly opposed to (lie relig>11
of Christ and tiic* true welfare of
mukiud.