To state it differently, his figures are based upon returns from fifty-five counties which the unwary reader is adroitly led to believe legalized the sale of liquor before prohibition was enacted. Unfortunately, Mr. Blue has not stated the whole truth. Wheeling, the largest city in West Virginia, and Parkersburg, a place of considerable magnitude, are not included in Commissioner Blue's tabulation. It is immaterial for what reason these omissions were made; but the fact arouses a certain suspicion. It is enough for our purpose to note that out of fifty-five places lauded by Mr. Blue for the changes wrought in them by prohibition, forty-one were already "dry," and many of them had been so for years. Yet he points triumphantly to fifty-five places that have been transformed into habitations of remarkable virtue as a result of State-wide prohibition.

Is it accidental or intentional that Mr. Blue suppresses these essential explanations in regard to his figures? If it is accidental, the gentleman brands himself as utterly incompetent to handle statistics. If he intended to mislead, which I submit that he did, no comment is needed. I submit that the intention of the figures was to mislead for the reason that Commissioner Blue is a very intelligent and resourceful politician. He knows better, but being a politician and not a statistician by profession, he has given politics the benefit of his intelligence and force and padded the returns to suit his purpose. Therefore, prohibition is a success; Governor Hatfield is a success; State Auditor Darst is a success; Prohibition Commissioner Blue is a prophet! This is the political Dreibund in West Virginia. If prohibition fails to accomplish what its prophets claimed for it in West Virginia, the combination is discredited. Politicians know that the road from discredit to defeat is short and downhil!. Commissioner Blue did not originate the idea; it is as old as prohibition itself.

SOME OBSERVATIONS IN CONCLUSION

Charleston, West Virginia, is a provincial town of 25,000 population. Conditions in Charleston as to crime completely refute Commissioner Blue and convict him of suppressing facts in his reports. He says that the prohibition law is enforced to the point that buť little liquor is received in the State. During one week in Charles

ton sixty-nine "drunks" were punished in the police court. During the same week a patrol driver clubbed a woman into unconsciousness because she was drunk and disorderly. Two days later a policeman smashed a frail woman's face for resisting arrest while she was drunk. Two additional policemen, according to the Charleston Gazette, have been added to the local force this year. The police budget is larger for 1915-16 than it was for the preceding year if records are to be believed. Forty per cent of the time of the justice courts of Charleston is taken up trying cases of violation of the liquor laws. Liquor comes in by railroad, by automobile, by river and by every conceivable means. And Charleston is the "dryest" town in the State!

Wheeling, Parkersburg and Huntington on the Ohio river side of the State get all of the liquor they want by crossing to the other side or having it brought over. "Speak-easies" and "blind tigers" are raided upon occasion, but when one of these places is put out of business another soon takes its place. Along the eastern boundary of the commonwealth, the supply flows in from Maryland, or is manufactured on the premises. The average mountaineer of West Virginia can make "fair" liquor while you wait. They serve it in various and sundry brands, "Old Hen's Tooth" and "Hatfield's Special" being favorites in the feud country. You can get it "warm from the still," and whole barrels of it are secreted in rafts and floated down the Kanawha to Charleston and way stations.

The effects of the law are plainly visible in the cities of the State. Popular resentment is not in the least veiled. Good men will tell you that their State is bankrupt and that prosperity in the cities has been struck a heavy blow by prohibition. Vacant business houses are numerous and a consequent decline in rentals is admitted. Labor was but poorly employed before the law went into effect, and the several thousand men thrown out of employment by the Yost Law added to the distress among the working classes. A large number of former saloon keepers converted their places into restaurants, but they soon went out of business because of a lack of

custom.

While these conditions are engaging the attention of the people of the cities, the State is, borrowing money to meet expenses. The entire sum of about $650,000 will have to be borrowed before

the end of the fiscal year. This is the amount of the loss in revenue from prohibition alone. It is being secured from time to time as needed from banks and will be paid back when returns are in from the new tax law. No man seems to know how much the State owes; nor is the governor himself sure that the tax law will produce enough revenue to allow him to square the books at the end of the year.

ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF PROHIBITION IN TENNESSEE

Tennessee has had an experience with prohibition that is typical of the experiences of all other Southern States that have tried it. The Tennessee law went into operation July 1, 1909. It was enacted in a time of high passion, when the State was inflamed by a great tragedy enacted on the streets of Nashville. The people had, but a few weeks previously, repudiated it at the polls in the election of a governor. It got through the State senate by a majority of one vote, and was passed over the veto of the Governor by the same slender margin. A fusion party, flying neither the flag of Democracy nor the ensign of Republicanism, was organized to protect it. This political organization broke down both of the old parties, and to this day there is not a Democratic party, or a Republican party, in the State worthy the name. The dominating force in the politics of the State is a hybrid party, electing a Republican one year and a Democrat next, to parcel out the offices among the faithful. This organization has rolled in extravagance until the official records show that it costs just twice as much to govern the State now as it did before prohibition was enacted.

But, let the records speak for themselves. Property to the value of more than $6,000,000 was immediately destroyed by the prohibition law. Ten thousand laborers, at the lowest estimate, were thrown out of employment, and eighty per cent of them are unemployed to-day. The State treasury was rendered bankrupt by the loss of revenue following the passage of the law. The bonded debt of the State has been increased to repair the loss to the treasury. Fifteen years ago, the State of Tennessee had a bonded debt of $16,000,000. Conditions were then looking up in the State, and a Legislature, under wise leadership, resolved that the debt should be gradually reduced. In consequence, a funding law was passed, providing that thereafter 10 per cent of the gross revenues of the State should be paid annually on the bonded debt. In eight years, following the passage of this law, the bonded debt was reduced to