Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1887 — ATLANTA GOES “WET." [ARTICLE]

ATLANTA GOES “WET."

The Antf-ProhlblrioiiUtH Carry the «ity by 1,200 Majority. J I i After the most heated contest on record'in the State of Georgia, Atlanta Saturday, .voted against prohibition. The fight has been a peculiarly hitter one. For over a month the citizens have been engaged in the contest. Meetings were held almost every night and* local speakers and foreign statesmen stumped the county from almost every curbstone in the city and every cross-roads in the county. Early in the campaign the Prohibitionists leased the largest warehouse in the city and fitted it up with tp seat; ing capacity for 8,000 people. Almost nightly that building has been filled,and such scenes of wild enthusiasm are rarely witnessed. Almost every minister in the city preached prohibition from his pulpit Sunday after Sunday. Both sides had full campaign funds, and managed their respective caucuses for all they were worth. The negro vote was the. bone of contention, and was the balance of power. Each side made the most strenuous endeavors to secure it in every way possible. The’ negroes were considerably divided on the subject.thougb the majority of them voted with the anti-prohibition’sts. One of the features of the contest has been the active part taken by many women of the city. Several of the churches organized committees from among their female members, who took an active part in the campaign. They organized the women of the colored churcheainto societies, and met with them and prayed with them day after day. The result of their work was shown by the appearance of large numbers of women at the polls with blue badges. They served hot eoffee and sandwiches at every polling place, and conducted prayer meetings and singing crusades in the open air. Fulton county, in which Atlanta is situated, voted, two years ago, on the same question, and went for prohibition by a rfiajority of 228 out of about 8,000 votes. The registration this time exceeded that of the last election by 2,000 votes. The principal fight made on prohibition during the campaign was that it did not prohibit, and that intoxicating drinks could be openly purchased in anumberof places throughout the city which paid taxes to the United States Government for the sale of whisky. Thousands of gallons have been sent in each month from cities around Atlanta, from which it was almost as easy to get a jug as it was at bars in the city. The antis claimed that prohibition injured the city, which was a- year for whisky licenses without decreasing in the slightest the amount of whisky sold in the city. The Prohibitionists, on the other hand, claimed that Atlanta has never had prohibition; that while it was so voted, two years ago, the licenses then existing did not expire, some of tEem, until almost a year ago, and that since that time the domestic wine clause in the local option bill allowed many places nF~the' city by which the ’aw could be easily evaded. This was, however remedied by the last Legislature, which put a license of SIO,OOO on all wine-rooms, which license will go into effect, after Jan. 1. The city has gone “wet” by probably 1.200 majority.