Gainesville daily sun., 1909-07-01


ment. should the electors az the gener.
al election OF 1910 adopt the amend.
ment? IL is certainly clear that sec
ton 3 OF said amendment is In pari
n ateri OF the other portions of the
amendment. II is made part and
parcel OF the amendment and II one
art OF the amendment is submitted
unconstitutionally il would render
the entire amendment imperative
and void.
Now upon the other hand, should
il be held that the proposed amend.
ment Is constitutiOnally submitted
and that the electors at the general
election in 1910 shall by a majority
vote adopt the same, and that the
amendment shall become part OF the
constitution legally on the first day
Of July. 1911. then there will occur
this irregularity. Then said amend
ment does not provide any penalty for
violation OF the provisions OF said
amendment. but section = thereof
provides that the Legislature shall
enact suitable laws for the enforce
ment of the provisions of this article.
thereby rendering the said amend
ment imperative until the Legisla.
ture shall have prescribed laws for
the enforcement OF its provisions.
The amendment, according to its
own terms. will not become a part
OF the constitution until July |. 1911,
therefore the Legislature which con.
venes i'm the biennial session in 1911
will have adjourned prior to the time
the amendment becomes operative.
and therefore the Legislature Of 1871
in its regular session will have no
power to exact laws for the enforce.
ment of this article. for when a legis-
lative body acts under special
granted power. IL certainly cannot act
until such time when such grant of
power becomes operative.
Under the provisions of the constr.
tuition OF the State Of Florida IL il
provided that acts Of Legislature snail
become operative sixty davs after the
cnal adjournment Of said body. unless
they shall name a different time, un-
der which provision the Legislature
can provide that its acts shall take
effect Immediately upon their pass
age and approval il could not be
held that the Legislature could
enact suitable laws to enforce the
provisions of this article to become
effective sixty days after It's final ad-
journment and thereby be within the
time when this amendment shall be-
come effective. for the Legislature
must have power at the time II acts.
and cannot anticipate a future event.
and Il cannot act i'm this instance until
IL becomes a part of the constitution.
which will not be the case until az
ter the final adjournment of the
Legislature of 1911.
The result of this State of affairs
should the amendment be adopted. is
that after the first day of July. 1911,
the constitution will prohibit the
manufacture and sale, barter or ex.
change Of Intoxicating liquors or bev.
erages. but there will be no penalty
for a violation Of this provision, con.
sequently no prosecution could be
made for a violation thereof. The
amendment. however. would have su.
perseded the original article XIX, so
that there will be no law 20 control
the liquor traffic and every person
who desired to engage In IL could
do so without the payment OF any
license tax or without prosecution un-
til the convening OF the Legislature
in 1913. or when the Legislature shall
have prescribed suitable laws TO en-
force this article. And there will ne
cessarily be an hiatus in the laws
governing the liquor traffic from July
|. 1911. until the convening OF the
Legislature in 1913, period of
twenty-One months.
respectfully submit the foregoing
views upon this matter. for the con-
sideration OF the electors of the
State. believing that they should be
fully advised OF the legal effect OF
such amendment should IL no adopted