The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-25
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Legal Aspect of Amendment

| which appeared in the Moohe heslster recently. and which has been reproduced in the Birmingham News and possibly other papers. MT. Faith is a lawyer of shrewdness and ability, and no doubt makes the best possible presentation of the case from his standpoint With all due respect to him, however. I must en- ter my dissent, both to the premises and
 to the conclusions which he seeks to draw
 The first error which he makes is thar he gives us no definition of .'manufae- ture." but ne undertakes to give us some definitions of manufacturer. which may be a totally different thing To manu- facture is to make by hand or machinery, and this is the word used in section 1 of the constitutional amendment Manufae- turer may mean different things. accord ing to the connection in which the word fs used It generally means the business of manufacturing, which may include more than a single act, at all times to be determined by the connection in which 1t is used But the meaning of the term manufacture is too well settled, both by the decisions and by the lexicograph- CTS to be any longer open to contesta-
 
 out in the very authority MT Faith cites
 -19 A. and E. Enc of Law. 922.
 In 26 Cyc. 519, the word manufacture is defined as follows:
 T. The process Of making anything by art, or reducing materials into form fit for use by hand or by machinery. "2. Anything made or manufactured by hand or manual dexterity or by machin 1 cry"
 As verb the word is defined as mean { ing ito form by manufacturing or work manship by the hand or machinery; to make by art and labor"
 All the dictionaries are agreed on the | definition. In Bouvier's Law Dictionary ! it is defined as follows: Anything made 1 from raw material by hand or by ma | chinery or by art" A similar definition 1 is given by Webster and Worcester, as 1 well by Abbott's Law Dictionary. If there was any doubt about the meaning 1 of the word 1t would be concluded by the | decision of the supreme court of Ala bama. Chief Justice Stone in the case of Beggs vs. Edison Electrical Illuminat- ing company, 96 Ala, 295-99 defines it as follows:
 "The word manufacture means the making of anything by hand or artifice.- L. 6 N. R. Go. vs. Fulgham, 9l Ala 555. Mir Worcester's dictionary defines manu- facture as the process of making any thing by art or of reducing materials into form fit for use by hand or by machin- cry The definition that the word Is given by the Century dictionary is as follows: The production of articles for use from raw or prepared materials, by giving these materials new forms, qualities, proper ties or combinations, whether by hand labor or machinery
 The making of wine from grapes or | blackberries Is clearly within every known definition of the word, and Judge Weak | ley in his speech at Huntsville accepted it as true. The manuracture of vinous ! liquors is much within the prohibition of section 1 of the amendment as alco- | holic or malt liquors, as 1t is necessarily included under the term ''other intoxicat- ing beverages In fact, it has been held as matter of law that wine Is an intox- | icating beverage. If there was any doubt | about the meaning 1t would be excluded | by the terms of the proviso which per mits the sale of alcohol for medical pur- 1 poses and wine for sacramental purposes under such regulations as the legisla- l ture has prescribed or may hereafter pre- scribe" There is no need for this proviso | if the preceding clause had not included wine. If there were any doubt about the meaning of the word used it would be cleared up by section 3 of the Fuller bill, adopted upon the same day with the | amendment, and which begins with theso worlds Whereas, it is the public policy l of the state to discourage the use and | consumption of prohibited liquors and beverages" like provision Is found in section of the Carmichael bill This l does not relate to the sale, but to the 1 use and consumption of prohibited | liquors"
 | But the amendment itself, standing alone, is totally ineffective. It is only when carried into effect by statute or statutes that it can have any force or ta1t tfxF hal limo o1n Is without any penalties and unless tied to or enforced by a statutory system It l would be as dead and impotent as the | anti-pass provision of the constitution of | 1875. To give the amendment any vital 1 ity at all to make it worth anybodys while to consider 1t, 1t must be taken in connection with the statutes adopted at the same time for the express purpose of carrying out the same policy. If there were, which I insist there is not, any | doubt as to the meaning of the word manufacture" in section one of the amendment, there is, and can be no doubt whatsoever, arising upon the construc- tion to be placed upon the Carmichael bill and the Fuller bill, both of which were written by the same pen, at the same time, and to accomplish the same end. Let us examine the question in the light of the statutes which are in | force today, whether the amendment is adopted or not.
 1 Section l of the Carmichael bill, among other things, provides as follows:
 That the term prohibited liquors and beverages shall include and be doomed to i embrace the following: CD Alcohol, alco- holic liquors, : @ vinous liquors and beverages, (3) malt, etc.
 Section 3 provides
 That it shall be unlawful for any per l son, firm or corporation or association. in this state, to manufacture, sell, or offer for sale, keep or have in possession i for sale barter exchange, give away, furnishing at public places, Or elsewhere, or otherwise disposing of prohibited 1 liquors and beverages described in section I 1 of this act, or any of them in any Quan- | tity; but this inhibition does not include, | and nothing in this act shall affect the social serving of such liquors or bever- ages in private residences in ordinary so- clal intercourse"
 By the concluding clause of this sec tion the violation of this prohibition is punishable by heavy fine and imprison- ment. Not only Is the manufacturing prohibited, but having it in possession is prohibited, giving it away is prohibited, | furnishing it at public places or elsewhere is prohibited. The solitary exception re- latas not to the manufacture or making of these liquors, but to their social serv- ing in private residences. But even this exception is materially modified. if not emasculated by section of the Fuller bill, w g follows:
 That any person who conceals him. sel -4 etny house, room, booth, enclosure, i or other place, and manufactures, sells,