The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-27
.,,ack upon hims,.ls threush

attack upon himssH through ms friends.
 The effect of strons drink upon the human system wss the leading vein throughout the entire speech. Atten- tion was called to fal1Acies that have for centuries been believed to be truths regarding the value of stroug drink ss . medicine and have hut late iy been scientifically proved to De fal- lacies.
 The claim was made that many thous sands of people die every year in America from the effects of alcohol- ism and that many thousands more should be added to the list who die from the effects of diseases that do more deadly extcution on those at- tackled because of a physiaue wesken- ed by the excessive indulgence Tn strong drink.
 Stress was laid upon the loss to the nation at large through cost of crim- inal prosecution which. the speaker
 claimed to be due to whiskey and Its
 use. and here was emphasized another loss which the speaker claimed the nation to be suffering through de- crease of productiveness of the popu- lation.
 Exhaustive experiments were de. tailed to the audience regarding the
 effect upon the brain from the use of alcoholic beverages and the claim
 was made that the nation lost every
 year 2i l-2 per cent. of what 1t should
 produce through this cause. The ae-
 tual amount of the loss was given at
 six billions of dollars. This was set
 out as a reason for business men to
 avoid agreeing with the argument
 that prohibition hurt business. MT Hobson claims that men seek
 the stimulating effect of intoxicants
 as naturally as they seek home at the
 close of the days labor because 1t temporarily acts as bouyarit to the
 nervous system and takes the place
 of certain fluids in the blood that or
 dinarily fill that function for the nu-
 man system and that for this and oth- CT reasons set out In his speech the i liquor question is tundamental one
 and should therefore of necessity be placed in the fundamenrsI or organic law. @
 1 Experiments made upon dogs and
 other animals and even upon man
 himself were given at length to prove
 that alcoholism destroys those brain
 cells that have reached the latest and highest point in evolutionary devel- opment and that therefore Its use
 should be prohibited.
 |
 the cause of the very downfall of
 every nation in the history of the world and harked back to the fall of Rome for his proof of the assertion. The eloquence of the speaker at this | point was perhaps tho most effective Of | the evening. He said that the human race had not advanced one jot in mem | tality from the day of Plato. Socrates. l Them ostocles or their contemporaries. WA any man born since and maintained
 the reason to be that from the dawn of history men have used tntoxtcants ana evolution retarded thereby.
 The race question was injected into
 the speech through the statement that use of liquor by black men destroys the comparatively thin veneer Of civil.
 ization of the negro through evolution. ary forces since it Is, by the speakers
 statement. that the latest developed
 brain cells are those first attacked and the effects of such attack are perma- nent and the brain cannot rebuild them. The speaker declared the prohibition movement to be tho result ot the teachings in the schools and that 1t is
 a wave that must eventually sweep tne entire country and that Alabama has been chosen by Providence to bear the brunt of the first attack upon the en- emy.
 The danger of invasion of the home was derIded and attention was called | to the fact that the Federal govern ! ment prohibits the home manufactnre | of liquors containing alcohol. yet no | woman has ever been arrested, said ne. l because she made blackberry cordial al home or made scuppernong wine | He claimed that search and seizure | laws already embodied In the code to | be as mark edly drastic as those pro' posed or now incorporated in the Full | Ter law, yet no man complains of their ! drastic nature except the vieletor oi
 the law. said nc.
 A section from the code of Aiabana was read which the speaker claimed was enacted at the request Of the brewers and distiliera The section re. | ferred to search and seizure act gtv- ing the right to enter any place 10 se- cure bar room parapherualA. stolen
 and uniawfuIiy stored in. the place l sought to be seized.
 The adoption of the constitutions l amendment was urged as necessary
 since then if 1t Is ever sought to rid ' the statute books of the anti-liquof l laws, an appeal must bo made to the
 people and the speaker charged that II | the amendment Is beaten the next Leg 1 islature will repeal all anu.prohiottion
 laws and pass laws allowing the sale | OI HQUOF III cNCES $oousJ VI eesS Ss~~O' | He claimed the question 10 pc iiquer l or no liquor and said that nothing olse could be rightfully claimed or asserted
 to be at issue.
 In defending the amendment he said: The proposed amendment to the State ! Constitution does not give the Legis-
 lature one jot of power not already 1 possessed"
 He said that many men fall into er- TOT by adopting the fallacious argu. ment that they should be In favor ot
 prohibition that would prohibit Al this point pr. H. T. Johnson. Of the Dexter Avenue Methodist Church. who sat near, said that such men lied. MT Hobson replied that he resented such q statement and refuted 1t for his friends on the opposing side of the question. many of whom he knew to be thor" oughly honest In making such an as- sertion. pr. Johnson replied that MT
 Hobson's friends were possibly honest. but his own. he knew. lied. Then said
 Mr. Hobson;
 "We are told that men are not rs-
 sponsibie for their kinsmen but I must say that all men are responsible TOT the friends they have"
 Both men were nettled and the per" sonalities were driven home with VlEor but the audience enjoyed good laugh at the expense of pr. Johnson and Sooo nature was restored between the men The final plea for the adoption Of the amendment was that if IL fails of adop- lion the people of the State Will never have a chance to vote on the iiqaor question again since tN LegtsiatuFs.