The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-11-14
AMENDERS RESORT ID DESPERATE MEANS Another Big Canard Is Ex-
 pected This Week REVIEW OF THE SITUATION Famous St. Louis Story and Cover nor's Pronunciation Have Been Features of Amender Campaign
 During Past Week.
REVIEW OF THE SITUATION
BY HUGH w. ROBERTS.

BY HUGH w. ROBERTS.
 Absolutely confident of the result, the
 leaders in the fight for sanctity and for
 the home entered upon another week of
 this the bitterest campaign in the recent
 political history of Alabama
 The amenders-those of them who are
 in touch with the situation-see their
 defeat as if it were written on the wall.
 They realize, too. the necessity of doing
 something out of the usual. That some
 thing" it is probable, will be sprung this
 week.
 Twice have the amenders resorted to
 the desperate
 The first move, considered in advance
 their trump card but which netted them
 naught but teers and laughter, was that tremendous fake newspaper story bearing
 @ St. Louis dateline-being an effort to
 deceive the people into believing that the
 brewers of the country are preparing to
 buy them, body and soul. me G1ONeFnOFS h6nunCIdliOHs The second was the renunciation of Governor Comer-that statement to the effect that his administration has been
 great and should be vindicated, but that he himself is in no manner connected
 with the proposed amendment. The Gov
 ernor, too. expressed himself as having a sacred regard for the law which pre- Cor
 ate within a period of one year after the expiration of his term of office, but he did not state that in case of his elec- tion to the Senate in a special session in 1912 he would decline to serve his anxious country. And he did not state positively
 that he would not call special session
 of the legislature next year. But he
 did say that he would not call a special
 session for the purpose of passing other
 prohibition laws.
 Neither of the moves netted profit for the amenders. The fake has been the
 laughing stock of the state for week. Governor Corners lengthy defense of his administration, which he claims is not an
 issue in this campaign, was considered
 signal of distress, and as such sent
 many of those who were seated on the fence into the band wagon which was
 passing under the tape Governor Corners Admissions. In the governors card of last week he
 made the statement that the prohibition
 laws of Alabama are effective and are
 adequate.
 +bof oto fav, opf ha QH m cd 1 one of the arguments of the defenders of the constitution-the uselessness of l the first section of the proposed amend | ment
 He admitted the charge, too, that in endeavoring to burden the constitution
 with amendments they are anxious to tack on a ruffle which is not only un- necessary but which might do untold in- jury.
 The governor did not discuss the sec
 ond section of the amendment that which
 would give the legislators the power to
 proclaim that no man shall keep intoxi- eating drink of any nature within the
 sacred portals of his home. He did not even tell the people to trust the legislature in this particular-trust
 the legislature with the sanctity of the
 home-though he did intimate in his dis
 cussion that he could not trust that body to keep inviolate the stupendous prohi- bition laws with which this state is pos sessed
 Some Proof Here. .But those homes which have been en- tered" the organ of the Lawrence Weak- ley-Comer partnership is wont to say,
 ''were not sacred homes" Officers of the law entered the home of
 the Nelson family in Mobile. went into the rooms of the young ladies of that family, went through their clothing and found nothing. They excused themselves by stating that the father of these ladies was. on more than one occasion, before the magistrate of the police court. They
 do not bring a breath of scandal against the family of this father. Officers of the law in Birmingham en- tered the Schmuck home. The father was away. But the wife with her babe was at home. They searched this place from top to bottom and found nothing.
 From this residence they entered. by means of a ladder, the homo of l. Graft on. and Wn1le Indl ldility SASPs AAHNS = search, finding nothing. At Bessemer Friday night officers en- tered the home of Joe Bell, entered the room where was his sick wife, made thorough sarch, and found nothing. So indignant are the people of Bessemer as result of this outrage that there will probably be another chapter. The chief of police in the meantime, is suspended. All this in the name of the law The people shudder when they consider what
 might follow the adoption of the pro-
 posed amendment.
 An Example Sought. Can the leaders of the amenders name a. single state wherein constitutional pro- hibition has put an end to the agitation of the whisky question, where it has worked to the progress of the people or for their moral welfare? Constitutional prohibition has been tried in several states-South and North Da-
 kota, Maine, Kansas, Vermont, Massa- chusetts, Iowa and number of oth- ers-
 Has constitutional prohibition ever solved the problem?
 Judge Weakley. with his great knowl- edge of the subject, has not answered.