The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-11

$2 Huntsville. former associate jus 82 s2 tice of the Alabama supreme s g court.
 
 Huntsville, October 10.-(Special) 1.-The address of Judge Richard W. Walker, former associate justice of the Alabama supreme court. at the organization of the anti-amendment campaign commit tee of Madison county yesterday was so exhaustive and so full of profound thought on the subject that the oppo- nents of the constitutional amendment express confidence that it will have great influence in shaping the opinions of thoughtful people on this important question.
 Judge Walker rarely makes a political address and his appearance as cam paign orator on this occasion is matter of more than usual public interest in this section. His arguments dealt par ticularly with the legal phases of the proposition.
 A more detailed report of his address, which was briefly outlined yesterday. shows that Judge Walker delivered one of the dearest and most concise argu- ments on the amendment proposition that has been heard during the campaign. He said the meaning of the amendment move ment can best be explained by man to man tsllzs, rather than by appeals to the people in public meetings and speeches The object of the anti-amend- ment organizations, he said, is to pre- sent to the people the real meaning of the proposed amendment and the legisla- tive tendency that 1t indicates. When the people come to know what 1t indi- cates he believes that they will refuse to put any such proposition in their con stitution. He said the words in the amendment show a lack of that consid- eration that the people of the state ex- pect in their legislatures One cause of this, he claimed, that the legislators now In office seemed to be under the impression that they were to enact ukases handed down from above, without using their own Judgment in the matter It is not deliberative body and their sole purpose appears to be to put their ap- prova on whatex CT is handed down to them by the lawmakers which Is com posed of a coterie of men outside of the Legislative halls and having representa- tive capacity All that any mea sure needed to meet with the legislatures ap- proval was for 1t to become known that it was an administration measure. Con tinuing. he said:
 Duty of Legislators.
 "The people of the state sent the legis- lators to Montgomery to make laws reg 1ifo 10 wild carnival of incorporate laws that they have enacted The legislature was pledged to take the local option att tude. following out that old democratic principle of local self-government, the platform of Thomas Jefferson This leg islature led to great extremes and in the passage of their laws did things in contravention of the fundamental rights of the people that have never been done In any state before. After finding that they could do anything and pass anything they chose in the form of liouor regulation. they propose to go still fur ther by, as their governor said In his speech here. building fence around athe law so that no future legislature can break in and change them. The Ian guage of the amendment shows on it's face the lack of deliberaton and fore
 
 that has been submitted to the people The amendment was dictated by the i'm pulse to go 10 an exf reme. It is so extreme that it's advocates are out among the people trying to convince them that the provisions of the amendment do not mean what the words say.
 But don't the words themselves show what they are? They are strong that the leaders of the prohibitionists cannot stand up to them and they are claiming that the laws that would be allowed by this amendment will never be made. Nothing that has a doubtful meaning should be allowed to go into the con- stitution of our state. The plain meaning of the first section of the proposed amend ment Is that nothing intoxicating in the nature of a beverage can ever under any circumstances be made or sold in the state of Alabama. Are the people ready to go to that extreme? All of us know there is one purpose where the con tinued use of wine must prevail or the people must abandon their settled re- 1igious observance Not only will the people of Alabama be prohibited from making wine for their own use in their own homes, but they will not be allowed to make 1t or serve it in the sacrament Is this wise to have this kind of pro- vision in the constitution of free peo- pie? It places the stigma of vice or wrong on the making of wine for any purposes II expresses the conviction that the making of wine anywhere is morally wrong It don't prohibit wine making out of the state, because it is beyond the power of the Alabama prohibtionists to do this. It Is wrong, they say, to make it in Tennessee and Ohio, where there are many fine vineyards and where my friend Brooks Lawrence has his home AS we ' can't make wine, we must buy 1t from Ohio. and if it is wrong for the people of Ohio to make it the people of Alabama ought not to be allowed to use it. Is 1t not wrong to put a prohibition on an article u at Is used as a sacrament by the church people of the state? Are you going to put 1t In the constitution of tho state so that no citizen can make wine at his own home and that no company can press wine for use on the communion table? This Is going to an absurd ex- treme Isn't 1t simply monstrous to say