The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-18
lt s an Open and Potent Attack Upon the Rights and
 Liberties of the People.

|. aroused by the situation from one end of the State to the other.
 It would not be practicable within the limits of an article like this to ex- anime all the provisions of the Fuller bill and other bills passed at the extra session of the Legislature. including the Constitutional Amendment in ques- ton. I shall, therefore, confine myself to a brief consideration of the effect of this legisiation and the constitu- tfonal Amendment referred to, upon the rights of the citizen to keep liquor in his home and the effect of surrender ing the constitutional guarantees for the protection of the sanctity of the home.
 The Proposed Constitutional Amend. ment.
 If, under the Fuller bill, the leaders of this movement did not intend to in- terfere with the right of the citizen te keep liquor In his home, why, it may be asked. did they prepare and secure the enactment of laws rendering 1t SC dimcult. if not impossible. for the citi. zen to get the prohibited article trans. ported to his homer Under tfe pro. visions of this bill deliveries of the pro. htbited article have been made practi- call yimpossible, unless the delivery he made by express or unless transported thence by the owner In person, and by far the greater number of our citizens are beyond the reach of deliveries by express. If you have @ sick neighboi you cannot furnish him with whiskey as needed stimulant without violat. ing the law, and if your family is Il your nearest neighbor cannot come tc your relief without committing like fnfraction of the law. It has been sug- gested that even the framers of the Fuller bill doubt the constitutionality of these extreme regulations and that the proposed constitutional amendment is intended to confer upon this Legis- lature or some subsequent Legislature the power to re-enact it and the power to Adopt other regulations even more extreme.
 In this article shall confine my at tention to a consideration of the mean ing of Section of the proposed con stitutional amendment, which is as fol lows:
 Nothing ip the Constitution of Ala bama shall bA construed to prevent the Legislature. under the police power from designating places where such liquors may not be stored or kept"
 Under the Fuller bill now enforced as already shown, every possible diffi- culty Is thrown in the way of the citi-
  hibited article in his home even for personal or family use. notwithstand- ing the decision of our highest court which declares that his right to do so is protected by the constitution of his State. To illustrate: A reputable citi- zen of my own town received by freight case of beer. He consulted the Re- corder of the city and the Sheriff of the County as to how he could get it de- uk Sx hAr akA Nz 0lH .f them that he was law-abiding citi- zen. as he was. and did not want to commit any infraction of the law. He asked if he would be permitted to em- ploy a drayman to deliver the freight at his home. He was informed, as am advised, that he could not do so since such proceeding would subject the drawnlan to arrest and prosecution Thereupon. notwithstanding the indig- nifty which the provisions of this law inflicted upon him, as construed by our city and State officials. he secured a wheel-barrow and made the delivery himself.
 It Is common knowledge and 1t was openly declared at the time the extra session of the Legislature was called that one of the purposes for which fl was called was to meet, by additional legislation. the decision of our Supreme SouEL WAtCn uPAC4Q khO AA6tat OA tAS citizen to store and keep the prohibited article in his home, In his store. in his soft drink stand or upon whatever part Of his premises he chose, and that hs was not subject to prosecution or con viction unless he sold or disposed of the prohibited article contrary to law. Tn other words the Supreme Court merely declared what we would have supposed every one in advance of a decision A. Ia yu n d that is, that the mere possession oi whiskey in your home or elsewhere fi not an evidence that you are a law breaker or a criminal.
 The article in question is declared by our court to be property and the righi to keep or store 1t in your home or elsewhere is protected by the constitu- ton just as much as any other proper ty which a citizen may own.
 It is now proposed by the leaders oi this movement, in order to meet this decision, that the people shall surren' der this right and an amendment tc the constitution Is prepared and recom' mended for adoption which not only surrenders this right, but surrenders the personal liberty of the citizen and breaks down all the barriers which the wisdom of our fathers erected for the protection of the sanctity of the home You do not need lawyer to tell you that Section 3 of the amendment, ii adopted. will authorize the present Legislature or any subsequent Legis- lature to prevent the keeping of liquor in the home of the citizen for any pur- pose. Any man who can read and un- derstand the English language Is cap able of seeing that the second section of the amendment will authorize the I.egislature to make 1t unlawful for a citizen to store or keep the prohibited article In his home for any purpose.
 But the advocates of this amendment even those who framed 1t, say we did not mean to include the home of the citizen: we were striking at the clubs and soft drink stands. To this an- swer: If you were striking at the clubs and soft drink stands. why did you not mention clubs and soft drink stands in your amendment? If you did not mean to include the home of the citizen, why did you use language which necessarily includes the home, and if you wanted to use language which, in general terms, would cover every place except end of Section a proviso, which could have been framed in a few words. pro- viding that nothing herein shall be construed as authorizing the invasion of the home of the citizen?
 Reading the amendment in connec- ton with the difficulties created by the same Legislature In the Fuller bill making it difficult, if not well nigh i'm possible for citizen to get liquor to his home, it Is impossible to doubt that the