The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-18

of these extreme regulations and that
the proposed constitutional amendment
Is intended to confer upon this legisla-
ture or some subsequent legislature the
power to re-enact 1t and the power to
adopt other regulations even more ex-
IRENE.
In this article shall conlne my atten-
ton to a consideration of the meaning
of section of the proposed constitutional
amendment, which Is as follows:
Nothing In the constitution of Alabama
shall be construed to prevent the legis-
lature, under the police power, from
designating places where such liquors
may not be stored or kept"
Under the Fuller bill now in force, as
already shown, every possible difficulty
Is thrown In the way of the citizen in
securing and keeping the prohibited arti-
Gle in his home oven for personal or
family use. Notwithstanding the de-
cision of our highest court which de-
clares sthat his right to do so is protected
by the constitution of this state. To
illustrate: A reputable citizen of my town
received by freight a case of beer. He
consulted the recorder of the city and
the sheriff of the county as to how he
could get 1t delivered at his home, stat
ing to each of them that he was a law
abiding citizen, as he was, and did not
want to commit any infraction of the
| to employ drayman to deliver the
freight at his home. He was Informed,
as l am advised, that he could not do So
since such q proceeding would subject
/ the drayman to arrest and prosecution.
Thereupon, Notwithstanding the indignity
which the provisions of the law inflicted
upon him, as construed by our city and
state officials, heAsecured wheelbarrow
and made the delivery himselfl
1t is common knowledge and IL was
openly declared at the time the extra
session of tho legislature was called that
one Of the purposes for which 1t was
called was to meet, by additional legisla-
ton, the decision of our supreme court,
which upheld the right of the 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 prem
ises he chose, and that he was not sub
Ject to prosecution or conviction unfess
he sold or disposed of the prohibited
article contrary to law. In other words,
the supreme court merely declared what
We would have supposed every one in
advance of decision would have accept
ed as good law, and that is, that the
mere possession Of whisky In your home
or elsewhere Ia not an evidence that you
are lawbreaker or criminal
The article in question IS declared by
our court to be property and the right
where is protected by the constitution
just as much as any other property which
q citizen may own.
1t is now proposed by the leaders of
this movement. In order to meet this
decision, that the people shall surrender
this right and an amendment to the con-
stitution is prepared and recommended
for adoption which not only surrenders
this right, but surrenders the personal
liberty OF the citizen and brealts down
all the barriers which the wisdom of our
fathers erected for the protection OF the
sanctity of the homel
You do not need lawyer to tell you
that section of the amendment, IL
adopted, will authorize the present legis-
lature or any subsequent legislature to
prevent the keeping of liquor in the home
of the citizen for any purpose Any mali
who can read and understand the Eng
lish language Is capable of seeing that
the second section of the amendment will
authorize the legislature to make 1t I'M
lawful 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 1 answer If you
were striking at the clubs and soft drink
stands, why did you not mention clubs
and soft dFink stands in your amend
ment? 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 Ian
guage which in general terms would cover
every place except the home why did
you not add at the end of section a pro-
viso, which could have been framed in a
few words. providing that nothing here
in shall be construed as authorizing the
invasion of the home OF the citizeni
Reading the amendment In connection
with the difficulties created by the Same
legislature in the Fuller bill, making 1t
difficult, If not well nigh impossible for
citizen to get liquor to his home, 1t is
impossible to doubt that the original pur-
pose OF the amendment was to prevent
the storage or keeping of liquor in the
home or anywhere else within the borders
of the state! But such a storm of pro-
test has been raised against such rad
ical procedure as that its advocates now
say to the people. If you will voluntarily
surrender the constitutional guarantees
for the protection of your right of prop
erty and for the protection of the sanctity
of your home against invasion, we will
assure you that the present legislature
and that no future legislature will abuse
your confidence or trample upon your
rights
While asking you to surrender your
liberties as citizen, including, too, ono
of the most valuable rights of q citizen
for the protection of the sanctlty of his
home. they might as we'll include a sur
render of the rest of his property and
accompany 1t with the same assurance
that the confidence thus imposed will not
be abused. but will be used only for
his good.
1t may be observed in passing that how
ever conscientious these advisers, the
principal OF whom are candidates for Of
fee, may be In advising the people to sur
render their liberties or their rights of
property to the tender mercies of the
present legislature or of some subsequent
legislature, the prudent citizens ought
not to lose sight of the fact that a con-
tinEcncy might arise under which these
gentlemen now making these assurances
might not be able to make good their
promises, and although 1t has been very
correctly remarked with reference to the
officeholder that few die and none resign.
yet We know In the nature Of things that
even an officsholder or an officeseeker
cannot live forever and his executors
might not be so careful or so solicitous
for the protection of your interests!
Again, these gentlemen say that even
though you surrender your right to pro-
lection under your own constitution, you
will be protected by the interstate COM
merce law and by the federal constitu-'
ton as to shipments which constitute in
terstate commerce. If this be conceded,
we might well doubt the wisdom of adj
visors who counsel us to give UP all pro-
lection under our own constitution and
fly to some other constitution for the pro-