A Practical Illustration

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 25, 1909

A Practical Illustration

THE record of the operation of the prohibition law in the city of Atlanta, Ga., for the past year furnishes a practical demonstration of the vast gain to the people of a city, both financially and morally, by forbidding the liquor traffic. Concerning the conditions there under the temperance régime the Atlanta Constitution states that arrests by the Atlanta police were 8,810 less than during the previous year; the fines collected in the recorder’s court fell off by $34,350; and the fines worked out on the street were less than during the preceding year by $10,388. But these figures do not show the complete gain. It means something to a city to have the brand of the criminal kept off 8,810 of its citizens—to have the lives of that many less of its inhabitants unstained by prison records. It is a wonderful change in the family life to have the husband and father and the sons come home sober, bringing their earnings with them to purchase the necessaries and comforts of life. It means much to the growing children of a city to have the streets free from tottering inebriates, that their youthful ears may not be assailed by the vulgar mouthings of drunken wretches. No figures can adequately express the true gain to any city that has experienced such a change.