The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-07
HON. s. H. DENT REPLIES TO
 ATTACKS FROM OUTSIDERS

ment in our own local courts and in
 our own domestic tribunals and that is
 me point of difference between my
 friend, Mir. Sanford. and myself.
 Every one within the sound of my
 voice IS bound to realize that if Con-
 gress should declare that 1t shall be
 unlawful for shipper to ship or e
 carrier to transport or for a consignee
 10 order or receive any alcohol into
 this State when intended for unlawful
 sale or traffac. that sort of law would
 not be worth the paper upon which 1t
 ts written. unless Congress should go
 a step further and provide some ma
 chtnery for ascertaining whether the
 article was transported with the in-
 tention of selling 1t unlawfully, or
 whether 1t was transported with the
 lawful purpose of personal use and
 consumption. A child can understand that proposition. If the Supreme Court
 has held as I have told you 1t has, and
 have cited the case to prove my dec-
 larations. if the Supreme Court of the
 United States has held that the indi-
 vidual can have shipped into the State by means of Interstate commerce for
 his own personal use. and if the Su-
 preme Court would hold that Congress
 would have the power to prohibit the
 importation if the purpose was to get
 the stun in here for unlawful sale. somebody somewhere has got to deter
 mine which was which. There has got to be provided some tribunal or some
 method by which it can be ascertained
 whether that whiskey was brought in- to the State for the lawful use of the individual in his own home, or wheth-
 CT 1t was brought into the State for
 the unlawful purpose of trafac and
 sale. Anybody can understand that proposition.
 Now. did you ever stop to think how | wk. fx 4fzak ~A iarn Did you ever stop to think how you
 are going to find the undisciosed pur- pose of the carrier who transports and the consignee who orders and receives,
 how are you going to determine it.
 I have considered 1t. and have reach-
 ed the conclusion that there are but two methods, and I have stated them all over the district and have never
 been able to find living soul to sug- gest others. One of these methods Is l for the State to appoint inspectors, spies, if you please, and line its bor-
 ders from Tennessee to the Gulf ana from Georgia to the Mississippi, cnarg" | ed with the authority and given power to stop every freight train, to hoid up every express car, to enter every | express ofice and depot and examine every package they may fnd In the l express car or freight train or express l ofice or depot. for the purpose or de- | termining whether or not the packsss contains whiskey, and then give that 1 oficiaY the pienary and autocratic pow I Or if he finds wfishey In any pack | age to determine whether that whis-
 kew was, brought into the state for - unlawful purpose | of sale, or whether wanted TOT l honest bona fide individual use. even
 tSonsh at the time you may have or- dered it to ameIlo.ate the suncrinss | If . sick child or to save dying | wife. to let him pass upon your un. | disclosed purpose and motive Are you willing to return to the tyranny | and the barbarian of several cen- | turies ago and give that power over
 your private property? Are you wii- l ing for them to examine into your private packages of whatever kind | YOU shIp into the State. Are you | willing for them to pass upon the | motive in your mind and let them de- | ternaine whether 1t was honest or In violation of the law2 Are you VIII l ing to create such officials with such 1 autocratic power in this land Of | fresdorn. Arc you willing for the man | who has little money to so up to
 the official and to run his hand into
 his pocket and slip coin into the hands of the official as he puts the | palm of his hand upwards behind his 1 back. when the poor man can not brlDe 1 him? Are you willing to return to | a system of that kind? l understand and I believe I know the sentiments of the people among whom I was born | and raised. believe that under | stand Alabamians, and do not be- | lisve Alabamians are yet willing to | return to such a system of tyranny as | that.
 | Suppose you were willing. how | many officials would 1t take to en- l force such a law in Alabama, stretch | ing from the Tennessee line down to | Florida on one side and from Tsn- | nessee down to the Gulf on the other, and stretching across the State from | Florida into the Mississippi over all | this immense territory. aow many of- | fcials would 1t take to execute this | law. It would be Incaleulaols, and | there is no State in this Union that | could bear the burden of taxation sufficient to support such an army and | such an array of public officials as
 would be required in order to enforce | such a law as this. It would bank 1 rupt any State n the Union. So that, my fellow citiz ms, this method ir my humble and honest Judgment, ard
 I am giving you my humble and hon est views, this h'etAdd Is aos Tnly
 tyrannical but It IS absolutely iIn- practicable.
 The second nSthod ty which such a law could probably be executed
 would be for Congress to declare it to be crime against the government
 of the United States for any shipper to ship. or any carrier to transport. or any consignee to order or to re- ceive any alcohol into this State when intended for unlawful sale Transfer it. the whole mach inery on the sub ject. to the Courts of the United States
 Tn other words. my fellow-citiZens, that would mean that in your purely domestic relations, In matters relating to your local affairs In matters re- lating to the affairs of your every day life you are not competent yourselves through your own courts and through your own grand and petit juries to pass upon this subject but we must transfer 1t to the government~>of the United States. Give United States marsha1s authority to arrest citizens of your own State and carry them be- fore United States Commissioners, carry them away from their wives and children with no one left behind to protect them before United States Courts. let a United States judge sit in your case, judge not elected from the body of the people, but one who owes his appointment to the central government at Washington, let him be prosecuted by United States Dis trlct Attorney not elected by the citi- zenship of the State, but who owes his appointment to the central govern ment at Washington, and let the un- disclosed mental status of that man, let his undsclosed purpose in ordering the shipment be passed upon by