The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-26
ROBSON ATTRACTS
 IMMENSE CROWD
MaSterfuI Argument Made
 Against Liquor Traffic
USES STATISTICS FREELY
Believing This Not Proper Time To Submit Amendment He Never theless Thinks Fight Should
 Be Made For It.

masterful outburst of oratory, scin- tilating with brilliancy in every phase and without the slightest moment of monotony, was the address of Congress- man Richmond Pearson Hobson on pro- hibition before a crowd which filled the Hippodrome completely last night. Nine- tenths of the audience was composed of men, goodly sprinkling of whom were avowed anti-amendists, but who had att tended out of respect and for the pleas ure of listening to Alabamas magnetic statesman
 Captain Hobson touched but lightly upon the amendment, conhning his remarks on this particular subject to @ few words at the end of his speech. In opening his address he stated that 1t was with no little feeling of sorrow that he was talk ing part in this campaign because he saw bitterness arising among the people of Alabama, but that a great reforma- tion could not be expected to take place without some of this. He resented the imputation that men on the anti-amend- ment side were on it from ulterior mo- tives and also that men were lined up on the amendment side for improper reasons. He was afraid that the people were going into the matter with too much emotion; that the question was one Of state and one with which governments had been struggling for years.
 His subject was divided:
 'Is liquor an evil or is it not?"
 "If 1t is an evil what Is the proper treatment of that evil?"
 Docs the evil call for organic treat ment or not?'
 If it does call for organic treatment 1t not only requires statutory but con- stitutional law"
 Docs the constitution now need it?"
 Along these lines he discussed the evil of whisky drinking; how 1t brought on disease and insanity and deleteriously affected the progenity, quoting statistics and experiments to prove his arguments.
 "Only 20 per cent of the American men are total abstainers,' he said, "but, thank God, the women are almost all sober and 1t is to this fact that the Teutonic strain has been saved in a way We are fighting the battle for America and mankind, and this is but one of score or battles that must be fought"
 1 In reference to the amendment ques- tion he said: Temperate treatment Is not adequate. You cannot stop at stat utory prohibitions; you have got to have it in the constitution. They say it is l putting police regulation into the con stitutlon. Is that anything irregular? The constitution is full of police regulations They say 1t is putting liquor in the con stitution. The constitution says it can't be sold on election day, why can't 1t be this way every day? Liquor may be found in the constitution in IS places.
 I've are in the midst Of reaction. knew this would be so after legislative action, and it Is this reaction which 10 the reason for so many good men being on the opposing side. We find our ene- mics actually fighting under prohibition and local option. It means that we are in great danger unless we get busy. Friends of prohibition should have gone to the councils of war at Montgomery and protested that we were going too fast, but the fight is planned and this is the time we must fight. The br1ga- dier may possibly oppose the commander in-chief in the council of war, but IS this any reason why he should not carry out orders though they are other than the ones he wished? If this Is danger which confronts us then our help is need ed now and we must fight"
 Captain Hobson concluded his speech with the admonition If you don't care much for yourself, think of your wife and child, and vote with them"