The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-09-16

Of intoxicants. and rights which they
themselves have recognized are to be
denied the citizens under the sweeping
provisions OF this amendment
you oppose this amendment. be-
cause 1t Is based upon an absolute want
of confidence in the capacity OF the
people to govern themselves, and would
deny them the right to change or re-
wise laws now In force. however UNI
| wise, vicious or detrimental TO the
State, or to the the cause OF true tenn
perance. subsequent experiences might
show.
| Instrument Of Arbitrary Power.
MY countrymen, declare to you at
ter careful study. after weighing its
manifest meaning and intent that the
proposed amendment, IL adopted, would
prove to be the worst instrument OF
j arbitrary power, more destructive OF
| Individual liberty and fundamental
principles of law than any provision
ever incorporated in the organic law
of the most arbitrary ana despouc
government. Alabama is not only 70
be placed alongside Of Maine ana
Kansas, whose records even the most
intolerant bigot will admit IL q record
of intefnperance, perjury, hypocrisy
graft, dishonesty and false pretenses'
but In position more intolerable than
that to which free and intelligent
| people were ever subjected by arbitra-
ry power. or unlimited authority. You
oppose this amendment because you
| repel with Indignation the fntimations
\ of the Governor. that II was necessary
to prevent the Legislature from being
fixed or the votes Of the people
bought by the brewers. You have 700
ligence, and the virtue Of our people
to believe that all the money OF all the
| brewers that ever brewed. could innu-
ence the votes of the free-porn citizen
OF Alabama. No faint or disnohesly
has ever yet besmirched the name OF
single member of the AiapaIna .sa,
| lature since the days of reconstructlon,
ana we cannot accept the opinion OF
4 the Governor, that the picked ana chos-
| an men of each county, selected TO rep
resent them in the Legislature OF Ae
state. will ever Yield their honest con
victions to the purchase price OF 'h'
| bribe-g fver. ,,,o,,
strange times in Alabama. the axi-
omatic principles of free govern,
| ment are scoffe:i at ana derioeu' Az
ravoIut,onary doctrines, abhorrent 10
Democracy are boldly proclaimeo 40
the gospel of the new dispehsss as an
The speaker OF the house mas a
nounced that the church. not throuen
re membership. but the church as a
| r.,,1tous organization must ASSUME
central OF the political destiny OF TUG
Stata The ringing declaration OF the
hll of rights that there must Dc nv
religious test for public once, noe
been openly repudiated. puliu,nG
dedicated to the worship or our noiS
religion have been used on the oao
natb day as assemblies for the discus
sion nv political leaders of politicai
issues. A great religious Organize
tion. assembled to deliberate upon the
government of the church ana tne
spread of our holy religion. mas auop
ed resolutions endorsing the pont,cal
policies of political Ieaoer' pn.tre
| him the united support OF It's ehtire
| membership. II 10 no answer 10 say
| that prohibition whether statutory OF
constitutional, Is a moral issue. NJ
great political issue, but is to some
extent a moral issue. AS well migh'
YOU say that the tariff. which RODS tne
many for the benefit OF the rev Is
great moral Issue. that gigantic trusts
| which crush individual effort and Gre
ates an industrial slavery is moral
| issue. Was not local option moral
issue when in 1906 it was endorsed by
the anti saloon league and proclaimed
as the only solution of the liquor
problem? The liquor problem Is az
once a moral, an economic, poliucai
and In its last analysis, purely person
al problem It is even now triumph
antiv proclaimed that this question
4 of constitutional law. is to be settled
not in the forum of reason, logic and
debate. that its adoption Is not TO
be sought by discussion, argument. ana
appeals to the intelligent judgment OF
1.-THE people, but by a campaign OF freh-
4 zy and delirium. led by political par
sons. fertilized by religious fanaticism.
| lob u-tIl h.
scure the real issue, and which by
grossly misrepresenting the purposes
and sincere convictions of the oppo-
nents of this amendment, will need to
control the weak and Vacillating, and
present an honest expression of the
popular will.
Not Allies OF Liquor.
We are not the allies or friends OF
the liquor interests, but the advocates
of temperance and sobriety, determin-
ed at any cost to preserve unimpaired
as the heritage of every citizen OF
Alabama. the entire code of civil and
religious liberty we inherited from
our fathers. We will not seek In
| struction as to our duty from Sunday
School children. from the paid advo-
Gates of the anti-saloon league, or
from feeble minded men however sin
cere. and the campaign of misrepre-
i sentation. vituperation and abuse
which our opponents may seek to in
augurate, will not check the rising
tide of popular indignation or save
from ignominious defeat this assault
upon our fundamental law.
We will not be deferred or influence
ed In the discharge OF our duty to the
State, as God has given us to see the
right, by all the power of all the
tainted money that Rockefeller has
poured into the Golfers of the anti-sa-
loon league to corrupt or debauch our
suffrage
The Governor says that the amend
ment is simply fence to prevent any
breaking into the prohibition crop
planted by the last Legislature. Pro-
hibition was but a small part of the
crop planted by the last Legislature
But whatever may have been the crop
which has been planted. the harvest
which has been garnered is party
pledges openly violated, constitution
al guarantees ruthlessly struck down,
a bankrupt treasury, increase of fees
and salaries and the burthen of tax
alton and the treasury of every coun-
ty open to raids by petty officers of
the law. Yes the harvest they have
Earnered has made Alabama the
laughing stock of the nation and has
brought more wreck and ruin to our
State through vicious and unwise laws
than any Legislature since the days
when kinky headed negroes sat in
legislative halls.
Prohibits Use OF Liquor.
The chief purpose of the proposed