The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-09-12
1sNEAL ANSWERS
 C0MER IN SPEECH
tCo.ti.sea from Pass oae.)

tt1oou TUT iHuuCln8 the Caii. All cA- traordinary session of the Legislature means that q session of the Legislas ture is called to meet some special and caiamitous situation. But the people of Alabama read the Governors proc iamation in vain for any extraordinary occasion. af There were sixty-seven items in the call. With the exception of the three amendments all of the Items were Of ordinary moment Two of the amend ments were to resubmit amendments already voted upon and lost but few short months before. They were for biennial sessions and new counties.
 T submit to you people of Fillmore County that the e-submlssion of these two amendments was useless. and was not an extraordinary situation de- manding a special session. Then there remains the prohibition amendment to carry the burden of being the extraor- dfnary occasion.
 Now, we already had the most sumptuary statutory laws on the sub- feet on the books. There was no ques- ton about the Legislature having the power to regulate the sale or dispo- sition of liquor. There remained for them to write regulation in the Con- stitution.
 Did any extraordinary occasion existf At the time of the Assembly of the ex-
  most drastic prohibition law, 1t ab- solutely prohibited the sale of liquor When 1t went into effect on January its supporters confidently predicted the dawn of better days. Every sa- loon would be closed. Yet before the law had been given fair trial tho Legislature was convened, and the re- cords of Maine and Kansas ransacked to discover the most radical sumptuary laws which fanaticism had decreed. The Carmichael. Fuller and other bills re- suited.
 Was not the calling of the extra session by the Governor grave abuse of a high executive function? To Furnish an Issue.
 His purpose was to gratify personal ambition and furnish an issue for g. political campaign: to put the people of Alabama bound hand and foot in the Constitution for the Governors am- bition; to put the State in bankruptcy and make Brooks Lawrence the trus- tee of the assets,
 T am reminded of the story of iit- tie boy in Holland. There was hole In one of the dykes. If allowed to trickle on. the hole would have en- rarged, the dyke given away and the country flooded. Now I appear to yop men of Elmore County to stop the leak, and to save the people of Alabams from fanaticism.
 For gentlemen the governor has himself given the reason for calling the extra session and for permitting this amendment. He says: I heard man was hired by the brewers to go through the state to fix the next state convention. that local option plank be put in the party platform to fix the next legislature to repeal the law. I saw my duty to i&or it. would have been a coward had not included the amendment in my call
 Think of it gentlemen, is not this the most remarkable declaration that ever fell from the lips of governor of a great state? He has so little con- fidenee in the virtue the honesty, the Intelligence of the manhood of the peo- pie of Alabama public to declare that he believes their votes can be pur- chased.
 "He admits that he thinks you can he bought and sold like cattle, that we have sunk so low in the scale of morality and virtue. and that too with all his boas.ed advance in education al and moral lines that a corpora ton fund of the brewers can fix the legislature of the sovereign state of Alabama
 Ours is a government of people. and if we have reached that period in our history as the governor says when he said that people cannot be trusted when the form of public morals Is sn debased that the most priceless herit- age of it's citizens,--the right of suf- frage,-- Is for barter and for sale. then he confesses that aelf-goverp- ment Is a failure. and that the time has arrived when we should abolish the constitution and petition congress to form a military government to rule our state.
 Repudiate Charge.
 T indignantly repudiate the charge. All the money that all the brewers who ever brewed could not purchase the vote of the free born citizen of Alabama, nor do place so low ap estimate on the legislators of Alabama as to believe that they can he fixed.
 Fixed is an ugly word, for it im- plies bribery and corruption. It sim plies bribery and corruption:. It i'm that they are so wanting In all the noble qualities of manhood that the Legislature, composed of the picked and chosen of each county, can only be saved fom yielding their honest con- victions to the purchase price of the bribe-giver by being nianacied by con- stitutional amendment
 T hurl back the indication with scorn. No taint of dishonesty has ever yet besmirched a single member of 5 our legislature, and I do not believe that the time will ever come when even the governor of the state can be justified in branding them as chattels in the market to be bought and sold. Nor do I believe that all the tainted money poured into the coffers of the Anti-Sa loon League by John Rocke- feller as reports claim, can purchase the vote of our people, or arrest the triumphant march of the opponents of this amendment to certain victory in November.
 Now this second section of the amendment contains the most danger ous proposition ever presented to the people of Alabama. The Fuller bill provides that you can store no liquor except in your own home. If you have a bottle of beer in your down town office, the presumption Is that you have 1t there to sell-that Is ae- cording to the Fuller bill.
 Invasion Of Home.
 "Now the presumption Is that these prohibition bills were drawn by Judge Weakley Then what is the purpose of Section 2 of the amendment? It provides that the Legislature shall say where liQuor shall be stored. If this is ratified, then the officers could in- wade your home. and the great prin- clple that the home Is a castle would be overthrown.
 "The people Of Alabama are willing to give the prohibition laws a fair trial. But the people of the State are ralIying to the protection of the Con- stitution and to protection of he home.