The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-17

stitutional amendment?' he was asked. "Of course replied Mir. Herbert, "ev- erything is of interest to me that ef- fects the welfare of Alabama"
 Some nave suggested that your friends generally would like to know your opinion about this amendment" he was told. They trusted you in the past whenever you were before them for their suffrages. Now you are no longer eligible for office at their hands, and. therefore. you can speak from . disinterested standpoint. The canvass here has become so hot that almost everybody who takes an active part. pro or con, is charged with political aspirations. You can have none, and we should be glad to neaver you views"
 If this were an ordinary eontro- versy about local policies" he replied. q should keep quiet. because have warm friends on both sides. but I look upon the question as one which is so profoundly to affect the future welfare of Alabama, that feel that my friends are entitled to nay views fully, now ever little they may be worth.
 Passion Depiorable.
 'In the first place the neat and pas sion that have come into the canvass are deplorable. Preachers and Chris tians have right to take part in the controversy and urge that the amend men should be adopted or rejected for moral reasons. and on Christian grounds. In point Of fact these have been at work. to my certain knowledge, for fifty years, and they have done good. Science has been coming to their aid, year by year. pr. Eliot. the re- tiring president of, Harvard University. recently declared. that he had been very moderate and. uuiv occasional drtnlxersfar years. hat tbas, science had eonvinced him that 1iQhor was intu, Hrious even In small quantities, and that hereafter he would totally abstain. The great worlds Medical Convention at London recently recommended that physicians should hereafter prescribe alcoholic stirnulants much less fre- duently than heretofore. And my ob- servatton has brought me to the col- ciusion that there has been for years a steady and marked decrease in the consumption of liquors. have attend ed numerous banduets and dinners where wines were spread. The number of total abstainers Is constantly in- cerasing and in the last seventeen years I have not seen a single man get drunk at a dinner. It has gone out of fashion and would now be disgrace full Morality, science and Christian ity working hand in hand. have done much.
 Moderation Asked For.
 But while moral and economic and Christian reasons for or against the amendment cannot be too strongly urged, those whose duty it Is to minis ter in holy affairs should keep in mind, (which I fear they are not all doing). St. Paul's admonition to be moderate in all things" If in any church in Ala bama. in country or city. there is an effort being made. as it Is charged, to bring to bear the power of the church as an organization to control the act ion of individual members. and to take away from them the right to vote free Iy in a. case like this where good men are divided, then that particular church and that preacher are destroying their usefulness in the future. That was what paved the way for the Reforma- tion in the time of Luther. The Cath ollie Church of that day was tyrant. It sought to muzzle free speech and to suppress individual liberty. Exen then, in the twilight of tine dark ages, men would not continue to submit the deprivation of individual liberty and the revolt and the Reformation came. Certainly now free-born Americans will revolt against any church that denies them their rights and the sin- ner whom such churches ought to win. will turn It's back upon them and either consort always with sinners or seek communion elsewhere. But that re- lates only to the manner in which It is said this canvass is being conducted in places.
 My objections to the amendment it. self are in part as follows:
 " Such a provision is out or place m a state constitution. An American state constitution Is intended to pre- acrtbe the framework of a govern ment which shall guarantee to the peo- ple of the State the right of selt-gov- ernment, subject to very general nml- tations: that is to say, they ought 10 enact such laws as may seem good 10 them and to repeal or modify these laws from time to time as experience may dictate. To secure this rignt she war of the Revolution was fought The |. recent Legislature had the right to mass its prohibition Legislation because this is. f-governing community. 1T the State of Alabama Is to continue 10 be A self-governing commonwealth any future Legislature will have the rlSht' after it shall have before It, the lessons of experienee, to continue or to modiIy or to reneal these laws But in evil danf denial of this proposition those u,ho wish tol Inject a mere police regu- ,s.ton m1 into the Alabama Constitution. ,maNing an argument which resolves it. asIf % into this. viz. they are wiser now than we will be when we come 10 eleet ths Legislature two years rom this; ~. one avsn than those will be who shall be voters hence s.a,a-v,da- nrohihi- and what we fear is that at some future tT election the people who are then voting may be silly sSo~ga tSeU sbou1d tG tans elsnt s'1t s-isIature that will modify these iaw% Therefore we will take advan- tAMs ow of the machinery or the con- stit1tion sts ion to tie our own hands. so that we win not have. and those who come after shall not have the power 10 cor -act a mistake if we are making one. AZ this notnt, however, many of the advocates, perhaps. will say. But you need not fear that we are making any