The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-24
Bijou Theatre Tonight, Nat M. Wills Phone I771 for seats,
A CURIOUS SITUATION.
Sheriey of Kentucky Declined Place on
 Judiciary Committee.

sherley of Kentucky Declined Place on Judiciary Committee.
 Washington Special to New York Even- ing Post
 The refusal of Representative Sher- ley of Kentucky to accept the place on
 the House Judiciary Committee offered
 him by Speaker Cannon has brought into the open one of the most curious
 political and legislative phases of the work of the present Congress There
 was a vacancy in the Judiciary Com
 nittee among the Democratic minority and 1t was necessary to appoint Dem- ocrat to fill it. The committee has un- der consideration the Hepburn bill which provides that intoxicating liquor
 sent from one State to another shall he subject to the police laws of the
 State into which it is shipped.
 l For some reason which 1t is hard to determine accurately, most or the Re-
 publican leaders of the House are op-
 posed to the measure, while the Dem- ocrats are overwhelmingly In favor Of it's passage Mir. Sherley of Kentucky,
 however. is one of the few Democrats opposed to the bill, and presumably 1t was because of his opposition that { S eaker Cannon offered him the vacant place in the committee which has the bill before 1t for consideration. John er who Is in favor of the passage of the lte'Uurh olIl, recommended Iepresent- ative Webb of North Carolina to Mir Cannon for the vacant seat in the com InltLGe. I Ht SpGhktT refused to aD- point MT. Webb, and named Mir. Sher- ley. who rather than offend Mir Will Hams and his Democratic brethren. de- cIined the place.
 House has had the bill under consider alton for over year. The liquor and brewery interests of the country have fought the measure from it's very in- ception. while the advocates of tenn per ance have advocated it. There fig not one chance in ten, seemingly that the committee will send 1t to the House with a favorable report unless strong pressure in the form of letters from the people he brought to, bear to quicken to action the temperance con- science of the Republican members.
 The South Is in ravor of the passage of this bill introduced by a Northern Republican Congressman. The South ern members say that If the bill can be passed. to great degree the prob lem of rural crime in the South will be solved. Whole sections of the South are prohibition, and yet, under present laws, liquor can be shipped in pack ages, and unless it is offered for sale the police authorities of the commit nifty are powerless. The Southern Sen ators and Representatives say that a large percentage of the criminal acts perpetrated by negroes can be. traced to liquor, which Is sent into prohibition districts fl om places outside the State Of receipt.
 Kentucky, in the popular mind is conceived tN De the nome or WUlSkey From statements made by Kentucky's 8 Democrats in the hearings before the Committee, It has become known that there are a large number of counties fin Kentucky in which the sale of any kind of intoxtcatinC liquor is prohib- ited. Liquor Is now sent into these prohibition counties, not from other parts of the State. but from other states, and it is consumed hv the poo- ulace without let or hindrance. In fact the local laws are to consider able extont vittated
 Tennessee Democrats who have ap- peared before the committee have giv- en the somewhat astonishing informal tion that there are 1ess than dozen towns in Tennessee In which Honor le- paIlN can be bought. The Tennessee law forbids the sale of intoxicating drinks at any plare within four miles of a church or a schoolhouse except in frcornora tod towns or ctttes having wore than nnn or 5.nn0 inhahitants. The Ternesseoans In ConVress to man
 are in favor of tNc pasaPn of the meas vro ,vhInb comes from the nrohthit'on stote of IouSa They s7v that. ff the porrhlIcan laadors will withdrew fhe'r ornosttton to the hi'1 that much ot the nagro crirne in Tennessee wtIl ne storrred out Virgini7. Tevas, Miss,s- .;r,,t ond AIahpr0a are in favor or the m seaee or tbts laH to make real pro- hlhition possible.