The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-19
SENATE WANTS ID
 HELP DRY STATES
Seeks to Prevent Shipments
 from Wet Territory
IDEAS ARE CONFLICTING
Constitutional Problems Stand in the Way of Easy Sailng-Convicts Must Work or Go
 Mad.

Washington, April 1S.-(Special) )-The United States Senate is all torn up with divergent and conflicting views as to the best methods of restricting the ship ment of liquor from a wet" state into one that is wholly dry Not to speak Of those who oppose all such attempts, the differences among those in accord on the general proposition are too wide and too numerous to describe.
 There were five members of the sub committee of the committee on the ju- dietary that tackled this knotty problem, and each of the five solved method, ershrned in bill, warranted to provide the needed remedy. The sub-commit- tee consisted of Senators Knox of Penn sylvania, Fulton of Oregon, Nelson Of Minnesota, Bacon of Georgia and Rayner of Maryand. It has managed to report a measure which provides simply that there shall be no more shipments of liquor to fictitious eonsignees in dry states.
 This is expected to stop the practice of transforming every express office into a rumshop. Under the old plan the in- genious liquor dealer sent ain assortment of packages of various sizes and contents to John Doe" Richard Doe and other gentlemen, better known in legal fiction than anywhere else. Then, when some citizen Of the neighborhood suffered from a thirst, all he had to do was to go 70 the express office, claim an original package" pay the charges, carry 1t home and then proceed to satisfy his longings.
 The antidote for this, which has been reported through the subcommittee to the full committee and thence to the Senate, was devised by Senator Knox and concurred in, though only that some thing might be accomplished, by Senators Fulton and Rayner. Senators Nelson and Bacon refused to have anything to do with it. Moreover, each member of the subcommittee was allowed the privilege of reporting his own views, so that when the time rolls around there will be lively doings.
 Senator knoxs Idea.
 Senator Knox starts his proposition by enactng that any officer agent or em- ploye of any railroad company express company or other common carrier, who shall knowingly deliver or cause to be delivered intoxicants shipped from any country, to any person other than the per- son to whom they have been consigned, or to any fictitious name, or any carrier that collects the purchase price or any part of it of intoxicants, or acts as agent or buyer or seller or aids in completing a sale shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, penalty $500 fine or two years imprison- ment, or both
 Some irritation is likely to be felt ;n spots on both sides of the Senate cham Der when the debate on the fine consti- tutional question comes on No lack of respect for the sanctity of the consti- tuition may be found in the Senate, far be it from there, but the pinpoints of the constitution that are thought likely -tfo Int f11a fisa al enforcement of state prohibition may cause a stir. It is the argument of the senators from the dry and near dry states that the freedom of interstate traffic in liquor makes prohibitory state laws of little effect. It takes only few months to establish a complete system of irriga- tion for dry states from the outside where the damp is unconfined.
 All the senators are agreeable to the proposal of protecting the prohibition states in their restrictions The only trouble is in knowing how to do it con stitutionally.
 Convcts Must Work
 Whats to become of the convicts if they aren't to be allowed to work?
 They'll go crazy, and then the state will have them on it's hands as life charges.
 That is the reply which experts in prison management nave Deeu nfdhluS DelOTt the House commerce committee to the proposal that convict labor shall not be allowed to make articles that may be transported in interstate commerce.
 Representative Kustermann of Wiscon- sin, with many years servicce as a mem Der of the state board of control in that state, told the committee that it was absolutely wrong to attempt to keep prisoners idle. It caused misery, wretch edness, insanity, the most awful forms of degradation; it was wasteful; it did not give real protection to the free work man, because obviously if the convict is not allowed to do something toward sup porting himself, society must do it for him, and the free workman must make his contribution to it.
 Edwin Boyle, a prison worker in Illi- nois, gave the committee a distressing picture of conditions in that state during the years when the law did not allow convicts to be employed at all The law was modified because it became absolute ly necessary to save prisons from being transformed into mad houses. The com mittee it is stated, will turn down all such legislation as that proposed. The Humanitarian motive, as well as the social one. will dictate this course w. s.