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/aA "■*^®SS re * VOLUME SIX NUMBER FIVE PIPE'S TEARLESS ISJHT Heroic Cartersbille Jurist Hakes 'Kinging Speech at Francis Willard Memorial Meeting / Were On the "Bench in Atlanta or Sahanndh I Would Kun Them Out or They Would K ' O <V m Out. ” By WILLIAM D. UPSHAW. W' F MADE the blood tingle—and it is tingling yet! It was one of those rare moments which nobody plans, and everybody forever re members. The Cartersville, Ga., Chapter of the Woman’s Christian Temper ance Union of which Mrs. W. J. Neel is the wide-awake, resourceful v* 7 president, had planned a Francis Willard Me morial meeting* on the birthday anniversary of the great ‘White Ribbon” leader. The place was the Sam Jones Memorial Methodist Church, and the stirring soloist of the occasion was Mrs. Annie Jones Cunyers, daughter of the beloved and lamented Joe Jones and niece of the famous and likewise beloved Sam Jones. Into an atmosphere thus electrical with tem perance and prohibition suggestiveness, Wil liam D. Upshaw, editor of The Golden Age and somewhat of a “booze-fighter” himself, was invited to come as the “speaker from a dis tance.” Said speaker had spoken the best he could under the circumstances on “The Un finished Work of the W. C. T. U.,” sitting down with the conviction that the occasion needed a climax. It got it. The pastor of the church, Rev. Dunlap, who was the mas terful master of ceremonies, arose and put the necessary “finishing touches” on this edi tor’s speech. Dunlap knew just how to do the thing. Things “Caught on Fire.” By this time things were catching on fire, when suddenly a “burst of flame” leaped forth and a “huge conflagration” swept the crowd. Judge W. C. Fite, whose heroic, effective work as Presiding Judge of the Cherokee Cir cuit has made him a worthy addition to Car tersville’s “coronet of celebrities,” was the cause of this “conflagration.” Fie sprang to his feet, at the “psychic moment” and made an impassioned speech for MANHOOD IN CIT IZENS AND OFFICERS that fairly electri fied the crowd. Judge Fite’s unexpected speech was one of those impromptu utterances that cannot be reproduced—because the occasion —the atmosphere cannot be put on paper. The Judges Ought to Have Been There. But we would that every hesitating judge, solicitor, juryman, voter and Governor in Pro hibition territory could have been there. We believe he would have quaffed a spinal tonic and a judicial vision that would have' wrought wonders in a clime where MEN and WON DERS are vastly needed. “NORTH CAROLINA CLEANING UP”-Page Four ATLANTA, GA. MARCH 23, 1911. Declaring every place to be a nuisance that is engaged in the flagrant violation of law, and indicting every “near-beer” saloon and “near beer”brewery to be guilty of known violation of the State prohibition law, he said it was the duty of every Superior Court Judge to close up these defiant nuisances in his circuit, “on the spot.” And still again, amid enthusiastic ap plause, he declared that the Governor of a state should remove from office any judge or solicitor flagrantly guilty of violating his oath to uphold the law of his State. “Knock down evidence” that Judge Fite was not indulging simply in fiery phillipic and empty oratory is * | t JUDGE A. W. FITE. t • i found in the glorious fact that there is not a “near-beer” saloon or brewery in all the bounds of the Cherokee Circuit, including Rome, a city of nearly twenty thousand people. He Routed “Uncle Sam.” It was under Judge Fite’s jurisdiction that the famous Cureton Distillery Case occurred. That dare-devil institution proposed to make liquor under a United States revenue license, but the loyal, fearless Judge said: “It is against the law in Georgia to manufacture intoxicating liquors. You go to jail or stop.” He went to jail and stopped. And Judge Fite was sus tained. Os course, it is just as much against the law to manufacture malt liquors in brew- ejies as it is to make corn or rye or vinous liquors in distilleries—and we call on every Judge in Georgia, and all other Prohibition Territory, to catch hope from Judge’s Fite’s victorious heroism and “go and do likewise.” Come—Join the “Roll of Honor.” Doubtless there are many other Judges and Solicitors in “dry” territory who ought to go on the “roll of honor” with Judge Fite and The Golden Age hereby invites every one whose eyes fall on this story to let our readers know who you are and where you are, giving any suggestion or any experience that you count helpful in our fight— the fight of all true citizens —for the enforcement of our laws and the consequent building of manhood, civic ideals and regnant citizenship. We append here a brief synopsis of Judge lute’s speech at Cartersville—but only a synop sis, minus the magic of the stirring hour: Our Laws Better Than Our Officers. “()ur prohibition laws are all right as far as they go, and they go about far enough. What we need most is an honest, faithful and vigorous enforcement of the laws which we now. have. However, there should be a law making the possession of a United States liquor license prima facie evidence of guilt. Such a law would greatly facilitate the en forcement of our present prohibition laws; and blind tigers, near-beer saloon t s and breweries would soon be a thing of the past in Georgia. “When one says that he is opposed to our prohibition laws because they don’t prohibit, he says what is not true; what he knows is not true and what the people know is not true. 1 he truth is, if he is opposed to them at all it is because they do prohibit, at least to some extent; and the more they prohibit the strong er he is opposed to them. To say that we can not enforce these laws is a reflection upon our manhood, and an insult to our Americanism, and stamps us as incapable of self-government. I admit that these laws are not enforced as they should be, but the fault is not in the laws, but in the administration of them. The one man most responsible for the non-enforcement of the law of a state is the Governor, and next to him are the Judges, and then come the Solicitors General, the Sheriff, and the Jurors in the order named. Every criminal law should be enforced, and can be if those charged with the duty of enforcing them are honest, faith ful and efficient. Every official whose duty (Continued on Page 2.) #1.50 a YEAH. IIVE CENTS A COPY.