SUBSTANTIAL VICTORY IN A GOOD CAUSE.
In 1890 Mr. J. B. Watkins built the St. Louis Watkins and Gulf Railway from Lake Charles, La., to Alexandria, one hundred miles, purchasing and incorporating all the town sites along the line. But in all the deeds for lots sold was incorporated the following stipulation:— That the said purchaser, his heirs or assigns, shall not at any time manufacture or sell intoxicating liquors upon said premises, except for medicinal, mechanical, or scientific purposes; and should this condition be broken, this deed shall immediately and ipso facto be and become null and void, and the title shall immediately and ipso facto revert to and vest in said vendor, and said vendor shall not be under any obligations to return any part of the purchase price. During the thirteen years since that proviso began to be inserted in deeds to land along this railroad there is said to have been but one violation, or breach of contract. The penalty was greater than property-holders cared to risk. One, however, did take the risk, and he has lost his holding without recourse. The appellate court of Louisiana decided, on February 26, that the stipulation is legal; that property-holders whose deeds contain that provision can not sell liquor on their premises without forfeiting their title to that property. Concerning this case Mr. Watkins says, in a personal letter to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES: “This is the only violation of the anti-liquor clause in the thirteen years, and there will not be another. This is real prohibition, and the only railway in the world along which liquor can not be sold.” If every railroad in the country would follow the example set by this one, what a vast amount of sorrow, want, misery, and crime of every kind would cease for want of that food on which they thrive. Mr. Watkins’ anti-liquor railroad is “the only one of its kind;” and much as we would like to see the country covered with them, we are forced to believe that this road will long enjoy the distinction of being “the only one of its kind.” The great world is money mad, and railroads (with this one splendid exception) are making money out of the liquor they sell both on their trains and in their eating houses and on premises which they own. They could be a mighty power for temperance if they would, as this one example has proved. Mr. Watkins deserves the thanks of the race for the example set, whether others choose to follow or choose to continue in partnership with the crime-fostering drink.