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IN THE
VOLUME ONE.
NO. THIRTY-THREE.
Like Oak Tloiida —5% Like City Without Saloons
ID it ever occur to you that about nine
tenths of our old adages and old say
ings are “petrified lies”? Well, such is
the case whether you ever thought it
out or not. Take, for instance, this one:
“All things come to him who waits.”
INo bigger “story” ever occupied space
on a printed page. The man who waits
instead of works, finds out that things
I
come—but they come to the other fellow. Right
along with this old 11 prevarication” stands that
other one, which you have all heard to this effect:
“The greatest growth is not possible in a community
where whiskey is not sold.” In other words, the
sale of whiskey is essential to the commercial up
building of a municipality. This is a lie which
has been told a million times, and notwithstanding
the great array of evidence to be had for the ask-
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THE LAW IN LIVE OAK. —Suwanee County Court House]
ing which brands it as an old, musty political
“o-ag” still there are those who call themselves
men who will continue to pass it on as a fact.
I come to offer one more illustration to be placed
alongside the thousands now in hand, that the sale
of intoxicants does not only not help to build up
a-municipality, but that it is detrimental to every
laudable enterprise of the community.
Fifteen Years Without Saloons.
For fifteen years the town of Live Oak, Florida,
has not been cursed with the licensed saloon or
dispensary. It has been a dry town in the common
acceptance of this term. Os course, it has not been
free from “blind tigers,” Peruna vendors and now
and then other conscienceless cowards who would
walk over grinning skeletons if they might only
get their hands on a dollar. But no penny of blood
money has gone into its coffers from the sale of
ATLANTA, OCTOBER 4, 1906.
strong drink. And yet the simple narration of
its growth and development along all lines of lau
dable enterprise and endeavor reads like the wild
est fiction.
Ten years ago there were less than twelve hun
dred inhabitants, no first-class residences or public
buildings to crown our beautiful knolls or adorn
one of our shaded streets. Only two railroads en
tered our gates and they had a monopoly on ren
dering poor service. There was not a single man
ufacturing plant of any importance, or other pub
lic enterprise worthy the name. We were simply
a country village with nothing to “brag on” at
that. But, you know things have changed mar
vellously these last ten years. Today Live Oak
is a city of eight thousand people, and growing more
rapidly than at any day in her past. She has five
railroads, and handles more freight than any inland
city of the state. She supports ten manufacturing
establishments, and furnishes the cheapest power
to be had in Florida. She has more than one hun
dred licensed places of business, and not one of
these is a saloon.
Fabulous Increase in Valuation.
A cut of her beautiful $50,000 court house ac
companies this article, and during the last two
years her citizens have spent about $250,000 in
building residences and beautifying her streets. A
$200,000 issue of bonds has been voted, and part
of them sold looking to a first-class sewerage sys
tem, new city hall and fire department, paved
streets and other modern improvements. During
the past twelve months the taxable valuation of
her property increased $1,150,000. She has what is
probably the best printing office in the state, which
prints four weekly papers each week, and one of
By C. A. RIDLEY.
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THE GOSPEL IN LIVE OAK—New Baptist Church.
the brightest dailies in “The Land of Flowers.”
Twenty-one new business firms and corporations
have been started this year with a capital stock of
$5,000,000. And so the story goes on.
Prosperous Churches.
In the realm of religion the following facts are
of interest: The Baptist church has built and
equipped a new house of worship during the first
two years, at a cost of about $15,000, during which
time it iias had 231 additions to her membership.
The Presbyterians are now building a house which
is to cost SIO,OOO. The Methodists and Episcopa
lians and Adventists have good church homes
and fine congregations. And all without saloons.
Certainly no city of saloons in Florida can show
such an unbroken record of progress for so long
a time! And yet, before this manuscript reaches
the press room, Hon. Nehemiah Numskull will re
lieve his inflated lungs with hot air, declaring that
if you vote whiskey out your commercial interests
will wither and die. The lie ought to blister his
throat.
A Beautiful Deed.
The people of Live Oak, Fla., are generous, if
anything. Their purse-strings are loose toward
every benevolent enterprise, and the needy and
sorrowing are never sent empty away. The picture
of a “Widows’ Home” was made by a kodak i.i
the hands of Miss Flossie Byrd, a bright little
maiden whose noble mother has taught her by the
power of example to love to “do good unto oth
ers,” by scattering sunshine into shadowed lives.
A worthy widow and her little children had been
left in Live Oak without a home, and some active
Christian women led a movement that culminated
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.
FIVE CENTS A COPY.