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Tennessee Leads the South in Temperance Legislation.
During the recent session of the Tennessee Legis
lature, now taking a recess, the most important
action taken was that in regard to the temperance
situation in that state. The course pursued was
diplomatic in the extreme, and so effectual and
far-reaching in its results that it deserves special
commendation as well as special consideration. The
present conditions, however, were not brought about
in a single session of the legislature, nor is it the
result of spasmodic efforts toward reform, for the
whole history of the attitude of the people of
Tennessee toward the prohibition movement is one
of extreme interest and a review of the situation
in that state for the past decade or more has been
written for The Golden Age by one who is thor
oughly familiar with the entire question, and whose
story, therefore, is absolutely authoritative, as well
as deeply significant.
Tennessee’s Temperance Story.
As success so frequently reveals the shallow
ness of human souls, so accession to power and
might frequently proves the undoing of individuals
as well as interests seemingly intrenched in most
impregnable positions. The very gloating in the
power of might, the indiscreet use of it, weakens
and makes vulnerable the very source of strength,
and the most carefully constructed amalgam disin
tegrates and is precipitated into an irreparable
ruin.
All of which is intended to convey some im
pression of the fact that the temperance wave
which has swept over Tennessee owes its being, not
alone to an inherent temperance sentiment, but that
that sentiment was leavened and hastened to its
full fruition by the abuse of a power held by those
who so long fostered it.
Past Prohibition.
Twenty years ago, the state of Tennessee voted
overwhelmingly against a prohibition amendment
to the Constitution. The vast majority of the peo
ple at that time were satisfied with the four-mile
law, which had been sustained by the Supreme
Court, and which, for many years, they hesitated
to attempt to amend for fear that in some way
it might become invalidated.
The ‘ ‘ Four-Mile Law. ’ ’
This four-mile law prohibited the sale of liquor
within four miles of any school-house, except with
in incorporated towns. This of course confined the
sale of whiskey to the towns and cities where sa
loons were under police inspection and municipal
regulations, and so the rural districts were not
active sufferers from the sale of whiskey. All
states are, more or less, at some time in their his
tory, dominated in their legislative affairs by cor
porate or incorporate influences that have interests
so great as to make it profitable for them to main
tain organization for their own protection, and, at
the same time, fighting or discouraging measures
which are primarily in the interest of the public
at large as distinguished from their own inter
ests.
The Railroads and the Whiskey Interests.
The railroads, for many years in Tennessee, fought
shoulder to shoulder with the whiskey interests,
and while antagonistic legislation affecting the rail
roads was often proposed, the lack of interest in
the temperance movement made all progress in
temperance legislation very slow, and, in fact, tem
perance bills were few and far between.
The Liquor “King.”
But the two interests, the railroads and the li
quor interests, both had much at stake, and for
years they maintained a powerful and influen
tial organization, represented by one man to whom
the contributions from the saloons and from the
railroads were turned over without question as
to their use or ultimate destination. This man was
known 'as the “King,” and was smilingly and jok
ingly referred to as an “honorary member of the
Senate.” For, in the Senate, where there were
fewer members, it was necessary to contra! fewer
men, and it was there that antagonistic legislation
The Golden Age for February 28. 1907.
was always defeated. This man, with unlimited
means and political power and influence, reflected
upon him because of his being the representative
of the stated interests, became drunk upon his
pow’er, and just to exhibit his influence, or to oblige
a friend, or turn an “honest” dollar, frequently
interfered with meritorious local legislation when
properly approached by those who opposed it. He
remembered and clubbed into submission those who
opposed him. Naturally he made enemies, slowly,
but surely, and in the course of time the situation
changed. Where once he walked down Capitol
Hill with a half dozen servile tools cackling at his
jokes and crowding one the other to be nearest to
him in anticipation of the refreshments and dinner
to be found at the foot of the hill, the time even
tually came when a distinguished member of the
legislature found it necessary to explain in a pub
lished card how it was that he was seen entering
a public dining-room of a leading hotel alongside
the “King” who was once so popular. Having
so long represented the interests of the railroad,
the action of the “King” in interfering with local
measures and other interests in which he had no
personal interest, led to the people laying the re
sponsibility for all his ulterior acts at the feet of
the railroads, and they were the first to suffer.
The time came in 1897 when the combined influences
were no longer sufficient to defeat even antagonistic
railroad legislation, and in that year a Railroad
Commission was created in Tennessee.
The Separation of Railroad and Liquor Interests.
This being the one measure in which the rail
roads were most interested, and which they had
so long fought, they soon decided to pursue dif
ferent methods in the legislature, and discontinued
their contribution to the lobby fund, and relied
upon the legitimate arguments that their attorneys
thereafter presented before the committees. The
telephone interests, which had about this time
formed an alliance with the lobby, soon saw that
they could secure better results by pursuing the
railroad’s newly-adopted plan, and so the whiskey
interests stood alone without an ally to aid in their
self-preservation.
Extension of the “Four-Mile Law.”
The succeeding legislature took the first step
which has resulted in the great reform wave that
has almost wiped saloons off the map so far as
Tennessee is concerned. This step was an amend
ment to the “Four-Mile Law,” and simply extend
ed the provisions of that “Four-Mile Law” to
towns of 2,000 inhabitants, “which may be here
after incorporated.” Following the enacting of
this law, there was a flood of bills to repeal the
charters of towns under 2,000, and with the char
ter repealed the towns were simply re-incorporated
and rendered immune from the legal sale of whiskey
within their limits. The passage of this bill brought
before the next legislature not only a powerful
lobby, but one well supplied with funds for enter
tainment and other purposes, and after a most
protracted fight a bill to extend the “Four-Mile
Law” to towns of five thousand inhabitants was
eventually defeated. ,
Work of Tennessee Anti-Saloon League.
This success of the liquor interests, however, was
not discouraging to the advocates of temperance
as represented by the Anti-Saloon League, and for
the next two years, under Rev. John Royal Hanis,
and, later, under Rev. E. E. Folk, there was or
ganization day and night. There was separation
of the sheep and the goats, and when the succeed
ing legislature met the members were piling all
over each other at every opportunity for getting
on record in favor, not only of the bill extending
the “Four-Mile Law” to towns of five thousand
people, but for bringing about the opportunity.
Senator Pendleton’s Bill.
When the present legislature met, with but a
dozen exceptions, every municipality in the state
had rid itself of the saloons. Senator Pendle
ton, of Davidson county, early in the session, in-
troduced a bill extending the “Four-Mile Law”
to towns of 150,000 inhabitants by the census of
1900, or any subsequent census which, of course,
includes every city in the state. There was a brisk
fight from a hopeless and helpless opposition, but
the bill passed through both bodies and has been
signed by the governor. Already the charters of
Columbia, Mt. Pleasant, Lynchburg and Winchester
have been abolished, and after given dates the sa
loons in those towns will cease to exist. The people
of Clarksville will soon hold a special election to
decide whether or not that city shall be re-incor
porated and get rid of the saloons. An election
has also been ordered in the city of Knoxville, and
the people there will vote upon the proposition to
abolish the charter of Knoxville and re-incorporate,
which is simply a formality which will place that
city in the position of being newly incorporated,
and this action following the passage of the Pen
dleton Bill, will wipe the saloons out of Knoxville.
As the Pendleton Bill now stands, the legislature
could abolish the charter of any and every city
in the state, and by re-incoiporating them, wipe
out the saloons. But a measure is pending which,
in its provisions, gives the people of each city the
right to vote upon the proposition before any legis
lation as to abolishing the charter and re-incorpor
ating is enacted.
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Senator Holladay’s Bill.
Senator Holladay introduced a bill which provid
ed that no jug or other package of liquor should be
shipped into any dry territory, but this measure
met defeat because of the argument that it would
simply drive business from Tennessee to Kentucky,
Alabama and other adjacent states. Until there is
Federal legislation which will prevent inter-state
commerce in whiskey where given localities oppose
its shipment, any state law’ preventing such ship
ments would only prevent intra-state shipments
and not inter-state shipments.
High Liquor Taxes.
The Senate of Tennessee has passed a measure
which is now pending in the House which makes
the state tax on selling whiskey $1,500, and on
beer, $750. This bill provides that one-half the
amount shall be used in improving public roads
through the state, and the other half of the tax
shall be equally divided between the county and
the city and the state. There is also in Tennessee
a sentiment strongly favoring the segregation of
saloons to a given territory in order that they may
not, where allowed to exist at all, be a disturbing
element in the residence neighborhoods. The city
of Nashville already has such a law’, and the sa
loons there are now confined practically to the up
town business portion of the city.
W. R. Hamilton, now 7 President of the Anti-
Saloon League, has returned to his home at Bristol,
to remain during the legislative recess and assist
in the campaign against saloons in his home town.
In an interview he expresses the opinion that
Bristol, Clarksville and Knoxville will all vote
against the saloon. He admits, however, that the
time has not yet come for the temperance sentiment
to prevail in Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga and
Jackson.
When the legislature meets again two years
hence, however ?
Punishment of Indolence.
One of the saddest sights in the world is that of
a soul which has been starved by indolence, an un
developed, stunted man, who has never sufficiently
exerted himself to unfold his goldlike power, to
cultivate his finer sentiments and faculties.
It is not necessary for a man to be actively bad,
in order to make a failure of life; simple inaction
will accomplish it. Nature has everywhere written
her protest against idleness; everything wffiich ceases
to struggle, which remains inactive, rapidly dete
riorates. It is the struggle toward an ideal, the
constant effort to get higher and further, which
develops manhood and character.—Ex.