The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-06

" prefer to return to the local option sys-
TEN which banished liquor from the coun-
Ties where the saloons were not wanted
and which enabled the license counties
TO keep a firm hand upon the saloons.
1t will be but a question of time until
other states which have embraced the
statewide idea will return to the onlv
effective way to control and regulate the
SAFE or liquor or to prohibit the traffic
Where public sentiment is against it.
Lynchburg (Va.) Advance: The prohibi-
tionsts and the local optionists can. OF
course, draw their own conclusions from
the fact. but an unbiased view would in
d'eate that the wave of prohibition Is un-
uetgolng reaction. 1t may be urged,
and there is good deal of ground for
the argument, that Alabama was not
ready for prohibition, and that the adyo-
Gates of that principle were too hasty.
We believe that the cause of prohibition.
like any other cause which involves con-
oitions embodying a distinct departure
from the past, fails in attaining success
by being pushed beyond the rate of prog
ress which the education of the people in
that principle or belief has attained
And so the disinterested observer may
expect a reaction in this particular senti-
ncnt. The farther the pendulum is
pushed, the farther it will swing back,
unless some force entering in unexpected
y arrests its natural progress o.,
Columbia State: But Mondays election
in Alabama was much more significant
than that on the constitutional provision.
The election of Emmett A. O'Neal local
optionist, by majority of between 10000
and 5000 over H. s. D. Mallory, his pro-
hibition competitor, is more than straw.
Both men are lawyers and, presumably,
of high standing. If that vote means
anything, 1t is a protest against present
conditions in Alabama, where the legal
form of the strict sort of prohibition ex-
lists, while the illegal sale of whisky is
so general as to be demoralizing to the
people.
1t is claimed that a majority of the
convention to meet at Montgomery May
10 is in favor of local option; that the
state senate favors local option, and that
the house OF representatives is in doubt
| The prohibition law has been in effect
in Alabama for 2S months, and in August,
1909, the legislature adopted the most
stringent regulations for the enforce
ment of the law. The State then predict
ed that the extreme prohibitionsts were
forcing through measures that would
cause a revulsion of feeling in Alabama,
and the ultimate defeat of prohibition. %
Alabama is giving South Carolina an
object lesson of the evils of intemperancs
In legislation. Will South Carolina profit
by It? .f .4
Rome Tribune: The result of the pri-
mary election in Alabama by which En-
met O'Neal has been named as the DEM
ocratic candidate for governor, and Incl
dentally the death knell of constitutional
prohibition sounded. is significant
1t shows the fallacy of permitting
great moral idea to be used to further
the political ambitions of any man or set
| OF men, 1t also demonstrates what has
| been often said before that the perma-
l'n6ucy of laws affecting the moral status
| of 4 state is often done away with by
the work OF extremists, who want to
| move too rapidly.
| Arkansas Democrat: The beginning Of
the end OF Comerism in Alabama started
with the election against the constitution
| al amendment last fall and the end came
Tuesday when O.Neai was nominated as
governor Of the state.