The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-14
THE RIGHT OF
 NEWSPAPER MT. Jenkins Upholds the
 Press. PUT UP GOOD FIGHT Says Prohibition Leaders Aim to Beat Press Into Submission. Made Assertion That the Fuller BIn Proposed to Do . Very Small
 Thins in Denying the
 Press its Freedom.

v
 hibit newspaper advertisements of li-
 quors, Mir. Jenkins, of Baldwin, did not
 mince words. Though of the minor
 ity on ali the Interesting phases of leg
 islation at this and recent sessions of
 the Legislature. MT Jenkins. the Rep
 resentative from Baldwin, came near
 being on the majority side when the
 House yesterday lacked only two votes
 to adopt the amendment of Mir. Sam ford to allow the newspapers freedom
 in the carrying on of their business.
 Mir. Jenkins spoke in part as fol-
 lows:
 MT. Speaker: We have reached a
 crisis in the Legislature when the
 proposition is advanced by this bill
 to deny the right of opinion as to
 what the editors of the press of this
 State shall print in their papers. This
 contest in which we are now engaged
 is not one of prohibition against the
 saloons or temperance vs whiskey but
 Is @ question of the right of opinion.
 Tn fact whenever this issue has been
 presented to the American people, 1t
 has always been decided in favor of
 the right. The prohibition leaders,
 having failed to throttle the press of
 the State into support of their propo-
 sition, having failed to get the en-
 dorsement of some of the leading pa-
 pers, essay now by this bill to brow
 beat them into silence. or subjection.
 They seek to punish them and place them in a straight jacket so to speak.
 The best safeguard of our liberties, IS the freedom of the press, the brave
 and fearless leaders of our great dai-
 lies, who standing for truth, liberty
 and the right, refuse to follow in the
 wake of the wave of reform resuia- ton and agitation which has swept
 our ship of State from her ancient and
 time honored moortngs. out in what seems to be an endless sea of agfta- tton. The political waters are becom- ing very much muddled. The little fishes are coming to the top on this
 sea of ceasless agitation and reform.
 Some of these little fishes are dis porting themselves on the surface Of the waters as if they were veritable Leyiathans of the Great Deep, and the greatest whale in this school of fish politicians Is the gentleman from Jefferson, the floor leader of the | House But, MT. Speaker. what Is | true of little fishes who come to the | top when waters are muddy. is never- theless true of the political whales know that the gentleman from Jef- | ferson bestrides himself through the l halls of this Legislature like some l Colossus of Rhodes where men who
 have been serving the people faithful | ly and truly for many years past must l play hide and seek to find thetnselves
 between his mighty legs.
 Repetition of History. MT. Speaker. this present agitation l Is merely the repetition of the history of revolution and reform. When France cast aside her great leaders, orators and statesmen and plunged into a revolution. men of doubtful and untried abilities were cast up by the storm and whirled aloft to the top of affairs to rule. One excess after ex- | cess, followed close on to one reform after another, until Divinity itself was dethroned and the laws as passed by l the Revolution agitators was set up | and all the people were commanded to worship at this shrine. Many of the laws the distinguish | ed floor leader of the House asked us | to pass at the first session of this | Legislature. were said to have been carefully prepared and were divinely right. nevertheless Mir. Speaker, the courts have decided many of them un- sound. unsafe. unwise and even uncon' | stitutional, some of them are still pending in the courts, some of theni have been repealed by this Legislature | or will be repealed. This was the re- suit of the wild reform the Governor | and his wise leaders gave us on the | railroad laws. Have we any guaran- | tee that the same result will not be as | the end of this saturnalia of reform | which 1t is now sought to be inflicted on the people by the Governor and his l wise leaders, on the question or the l present laws.
 'cWhy this agitation? Why this ex- fra session? Why this great strain ana drain upon the Treasury? Has | some foreign foe landed on our shores. | ia our old ship of state in great dan | ger? No, not at all, all Is peace and | quiet among the people who are lean | ing on tip-toe to see the first signs | of returning prosperity so long prom isod them by the laws hitherto enact
 ed They have long since grown tired | of issues, laws. reforms and agitations. | The distinguished gentleman who sits | ir the executive ofice down stairs having so successfully worked the re- | form racket as to the railroads, etc. has now hitched the fiery chariot or his ambition to the star of constitu-
 sails of his political ship flap in the l hreeze. as there is no longer any more
 railroad air through which to sail, so ha has begun to pump for prohibition.
 "rhis Legislature has been indicted hv the people for extravagances and ] extremism along all lines, and It seems that the Governor is unwilling to go | before the people on the record but
 must 20 before them on brand new issue, but when the people make up
 tbe,r verdict, both the great and small thtrra done by the administration and
 bv this Legislature will all be weigh ed and 1t behooves us, the Represen-
 tst,veE. to vote down here today what sasms to me to be not only an unfair
 nronosition. but think MT. Speaker,
 this bill proposes to do very small
 thing and one unworthy of the State or the people, and no people who are
 great people have ever yet approved small things"