The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-01
Safety Y H and i. M AMERICAN TRUST & SAVINGS BANK
 1st Ave. and 20th St.
 Birmingham, Ala.
 STATE DEPOSITARY
 Resources $3,500,00O.OO
1st Ave. and 20th St. Birmingham, Ala.
" interest paid on Savings &
 Time deposits

pressed with the futility and bad results of the law. Arrayed with the prohbi- tionists were the illicit liquor sellers. who preferred the unrestricted sale under pro- hibition to regulated trade under n- cense.
 On four separate occasions during the campaign the voters of the state showed their disapproval of prohibition-ln tho caucuses, in the legislature. in the elec- ton when they voted on the question dl- voted on license. March 8. 1903. seven towns-all in the state of any sze- declared for license.
 New Hampshire adopted statutory pro- hlbition in 1S55 For thrty-four years every effort was made to enforce it, with results so far from satisfactory and so in- furious that a popular election for the adoption of a prohibitory amendment to the state constitution, held April 12, 1889. the amendment was defeated by an enor- nous majority. Two coutnies only in the entire state gave it majorties.
 On March IS, 1903. the lower house of the legislature passed q license bill by a vote of 214 to 107. A few days later the bill passed the senate by a vote of three to one, and on March 2 received executive approval and license became the law of the state. The cities of the state stood overwhelmingly for license. their vote in the legislature being 121 to 8 In It's favor. More noteworthy is the fact that the rural members, taken separately, voted for license In the proportion of 97 to 76 Representatives of both political parties were also in a majority in favor of license
 Massachusetts tried prohibition from 1855 tn GhA thn 1ota In In furious and, upon the testimony of her governors and best citizens, fatally hurt ful to the cause of temperance. After fifteen years of earnest trial she also re- pudiated the law, and when in April. lSS9. a strenuous effort was made to again engraft prohibition upon the constitution of the state 1t failed. The farming popu- latlon threw it's weight with that of tho cities against the amendment. One town only In the commonwealth gave it ma jority.
 The campaign was one of exceptional in- terest. The terms and time of the fight were dictated by the prohlbitionists. They were ably led and their cause was adyo- cated by hundreds of speakers They de- luged the state with literature and brought into action an army of workers remarkable for its numbers. No method known to the politician was left untried in the efforts to carry prohibition.
 
 to make 1t appear that all morality was on their side, all immortality opposed to them. This assumption failed of it's pur- pose
 The influential journals of the state al- most to unit against the amendment. ex- posed the fallacy and threw their infu- ence in behalf of license. Profitng by past experience they fought with vigor born of conviction. The religious papers joined hands with the powerful dailies. ana. making conscience of the fight, the Christian Union, the Congregationalist and the Christian Register hurled thelr thunder against the adoption of the amendment
 Nor was the press unsupported by tho church. Many score of the most eminent clergymen of the Commonwealth, compris- ing the brains, the dignity and the worth of the ministry of the state. united in remonstrance against the adoption of prohibition. Among the ministers so demonstrating were such men as Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks, Rev. Dr. Savage, Rev. Dr. Brooks Hereford. Rev Dr. Cyrus Bartol Rev. pr. Peabody and the hev Father Couaty, the presi- dent of the Catholic National Total Ab- stinence society of America. and many others of celebrlty-men reyered for char acter and purity of motive Many of these great dlvines preached from their pulpits against the fanatieism. United with them in the cruNde against pro- hibition were h9e of the seven colleges of the state. President Eliot of liar ward. in open letter condemned the effort to make men good by law.
 The opposition to the amendment was none the less remarkable among the law yers. either in vgor or In character of those opposed. A protest signed by nearly 300 of the ablest members of the bar. including such names of national repu- tatlon as F. R. Hoar, ex-Governor Rus sell, Charles Theodore Russell. ex-Goy- ernor Gardiner, ex-Governor Rice. Patrick Collins, and others equally known. sent broadcast throughout the common wealth.
 Following the protest of the lawyers came one of the physicians, headed by Oliver Wendell Holmes and subscribed to by nearly all the eminent doctors of tho state.
 The merchants and business men. appre- ciating the disaster that would follow pro- hbition. also united in remonstrance to which were appended nearly 1000 names.
 Labor united with capital in hostility to prohibition The labor leaders, declaring 1t their belief that the adoption of the amendment would seriously affect the ----~---~>-~~------~~-~>-~>-->->
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