The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-08
A RETURN TO SANITY

| The result of the democratic primary In
| Alabama forecasts the end of the prohibi'
| ton wave and the return of sane coun-
| sells.
The failure of prohibition as pro-
noter of temperance has been fully
demonstrated. It's fraudulency as a
propaganda serving the ends of the
selfish and dishonest officeseeker has been
tested in Alabama, as in other states IN
which the experiment has been tried. The
beginning of the end of prohibitionism
was the attempt to abolish vital provis-
ions of the constitution to enforce the
statewide law at the cost of the sacrifice
of rights held inalienable since the found
| ing of the republic.
| The people of Alabama compare well
| in point of honesty and sanity with
those of any other state. Carried OF
their feet, for the moment, by reckless
makers who plastered the statute books
with a number of measures vicious in
their origin and inimical to the state
interests. Prominent among these was
the statewide prohibition law. 1t failed
to produce promised results, just as 1t
has failed whenever. and wherever, 1t
has been put to the, test. Constitutional
prohibition" which meant the destruc-
ton of the state constitution, was advo-
Gated by the creators of the statewide
law when its signal failure became noto-
rious. The movement met overwhelming
opposition. The voters had become suf-
ficently acquainted with the agitators
to distrust their objects as well as to
recognize the inefficiency of their remedy.
The vote presaged the abandonment OF
statewide prohibition as a quack cure
tried and found wanting. The result of
the primary election is a logical develop
ment.
Maine has preferred half-century of
dishonor to an admission of the failure of
it's prohibition law to yindicate its right
to its label Drunkenness and the de-
hatchery of government have been every
where in evidence. Alabama indicates
an intention of pursuing straighter
course by declining to content herself
with hypocrisy. Estimating fanaticism
at it's real value, recognizing the profess
SIGNAL prohibitionist OF the office-seekng
class as a cousin once removed of the
carpetbagger, the state indicates its i'm
patience with the combination Of cant,
corruption and craziness, and expresses
a preference for laws democratic In prin-
ciple, and reasonably effective in prac-
tice, as against laws undemocratic in
principle and In operation a farce.
The Courier Journal ventured the
prophecy. when the constitutional pro-
hibitionists'' were bowling in the wilder
ness in Alabama, that the wave would
recede as a result of the extreme In
temperance of the agitators.
Commenting upon the Fuller law, the
Courier-Journal said in it's issue Of Sep
TENDER 1, 1909:
1.-THE Alabama legislature, under the
influence of the prohibition wave, which
included a paid lobby, Notwithstanding
the state law against lobbying, ran
amuck and legislated without deliberat-
ing. The unwarrantable invasion
of homes to make unwarranted search IS
will not be long tolerated"
Agitation for the abolition Of the Ala
bama constitution upon one side and
feeling against the agitators upon the
other were running high when the anti
amendment convention was held at Mont
gomery, to denounce the plans of the
constitutional prohibitionists' as con-
templating the destruction of democratic
government.
A gentleman In Montgomery, viewing
the apparent spread of insanity with
alarm, wrote to the Courier-Journal en-
pressing a lawyers opinion that IL the
constitutional prohibitionists" should
succeed in getting their amendment adopt
ed nothing would be left upon which the
citizen could rely for the safety Of his
home, and that no provision of the fed
eral constitution could prevent the aboli-
ton of the Alabama constitution and the
enforcement of tyrannical laws.
The proposed amendment was knocked
into a cooked hat An especially heavy
rural vote was registered against it. The
farmers stood pat upon the platform
that a mans home is his castle and that
the bill of rights constitutes a very good
rule for the conduct of governments. In
that decision of the people, which proved
the existence of decent regard for true
democracy, was seen the handwriting on
the wall. The defeat Of Mr.. Mallory,
statewide prohibitionist, and friend of
the defeated prohibition amendment, in
his race for the democratic gubernatorial
nomination, followed as matter of
course.
1t is stated by a Montgomery cor
respondent that the victory of Mr.. O'Neal
who led the fight against the proposed
| abolition of the constitution last fall,
| is a defeat for Comerism as well as pro-
hibitionism, and means a return to liberal
ism toward business enterprises and rail-
roads as well as a swinging of the PEN
dulum toward local option Like the
amendment election, the primary brought
out a heavy vote that attested the in
terest of all corners of Alabama in the
outcome. The result Is a victory for
democratic principles and rebuke to
fanaticism and fraud.
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CENTER OF. POPULATION
| Dit loIEt