The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-02-18
- allowed to handle their own AZ
fairs according to their own ideas.


former yirginian, but now OF hen
lucky and attorney for the Natlonai
& Model License League, spoke for over
an hour The idea of the league
which he represented. he SAID. was
to place the liquor traffic upon broad
and economic lines similar 10 conal3
tions now prevailing in Germany ana
~ the assistance OF the league have
come. he declared. hundreds OF mer-
Z chants, lawyers and ministers
He compared a number of wet
and dry" States as To their criminal
conditions, and spoke especially OF
Maine. which had been referred TO
. by Mrs Hoge. and said that In that
state whtskey is sold everywhere and
in the most shameful manner. Ho-
Tel guests ray 81 more per room, ne
declared. for certain rooms pecaEse
Of what they ind in the bureau
drawers.
of course, the murder statistics are
larger in wet southern states than
: In dry. Northern States. said Coz.
Smith. In Maine, when one man CANS
another a liar, he said, he Is eaiIeo
uron to prove. II, This is not true
Of Southern people In Maine, ne
declared. IL one man takes away an
other mans wife he Is sued for none
tary dame ges; in Kentucky the man
Is killed,
captafn Smith followed with num-
crous figures giving the condftirhs
in some haE a dozen states that nag
voted dry" and then become wet
AGAR, 1sf1s44tts ht,stt the Neha+e- eoltas-
try every canccivable crime is at
srfbt7std TO liquor. he said, and mill
lions OF deaths annually lad at its
door. while whtslsey IS not even mem
tened In the mortality statistics re-
Gently prepared by the United States
government
Law of Eminent Domain
The law OF eminent domain sub
3ects the individual Ia the welfare of
the public. he said. bur the individual
Is always resnmpenSed for the dam
age done him,
" sss. eti--~ these rrsi,t ettstsTa people
propose to de- for the liquor people -
he asked Nothing. They would ut
teriy derastate business interests val
ued at hundreds of thousands of dol
lars, ami h.da their heads behind Bib
heal quotations when called upon To
make good the loss they have caused.
They would regulate interstate
traffic but what regulation do they
advise? Virginia now ships into dry
States thousands of gallons of whls-
key every month. The prohibttionists
I'm righteous wrath cry that they
would pu, an end of this evil. but
what in Gods name would Maryland
and other wet States pour into Vir-
ginia Ii the Virginia liquor men are
forbidden 10 do business here
why did these prohibitionists come
before you few short years ago
and declare that local option was the
long desired end: that II was most
excellent thing, and having accom-
plished their first purpose. why DO
they come TO you now crying ihat
local option liz curse which Is de-
stroving the welfare of the state
Were they ignorant or hFpe-
critics? Did they deal fairly with the
LEGISLATURE and with the people OF
virginia Are they ignorant or hypo-
When tia.s-GoElae -t4'--A"sa new
and tell YOU that prohibition pro-
hihits. when they know full well that
Il does not prohibit. and II they can
not enforce partial law, how VIII
they attempt 20 enforce general
State wide Law
IN nan attorney and my bpsi-
ness is to protect the interests OF the
great league which ! represent but
what think you, gentlemen OF the
committed of these hireling ministers
who under the guiSe OF doing GOD
work abandon their charges ana come
before you asking that you destroy
great commercial industry; ASKING
X fhat GTEEptD the Treasury w F|f''
State; asking that you force upon the
fair counties of Virginia conditions
which eaunot but breed dtstoystty ana
corruption: asking you to do this
thing which these htrelinEs them
selves know nothing about and can
never understand
Likes Byrd Biil.
The Byrd lla4;pF bsll he said, N a
good bill. little drastic, perhaps,
10 unaA He wish -
I'D. restrictions placed upon the hquor
sraftlc and the league which lie rep
rosentaa aA..4s44teA a Aiii ~+rt~fi pro-
yided that any ssioonkeeper who Nio-
lated his retail or shipping license
should lose his license while the
nudge Of the circuit Court in whlcn
the Houor dealer lived should he I'm"
peached II he did not properly en-
force the liquor law,
rayors Local Option.
q Mnneure, OF Alexandria, said
.hr o,4nelple Of local option was
De,noerattc. He believed that II the
vote were taken It would he three ia
fwo In favor Of local option.
Mr.. Griffin, Of Petersburg, said tha'
II was stated In the Times pispatch
that $4,000 gallons of liquor was
shipped out of Richmond In one day
10 southern States. II this was the
case haw much was shipped from
other cities in Virginia This showed
thai prohibition was failure.
Dr. Cannon Closes.
James Cannon, Jr. editor OF the
f~nrts,iau Advocate auo superntend-
ant of the Anti Saloon League or Nlr-
,rinta. closed the discussion in rapid
ERE t;harA cte glstic speech ot n1teeh
minutes duration. Inasmuch as TINS
snessn Was In the nature o! an ON
ciat summing up Of the arguments "f
thnse favorlng the bill 1t lis given IN
some detail He asked, what ~ IN"
repi Question IL is not whether or
pot the General Assembly shall
change its present mode ana r"tl"N
NJ dealing with the liquor question
hut whether or not the people ShHh
he given the privilege If deciding tor
themselves upon il change & reA-
sonahle number request the privilege
~ !, lecisiog. The local option p9Acy
af ID. tspe with this question adopted
IN this Eta4e about tHTnt%-h'c years
apo Ia 70. = distinctive Democratic
narty pull,r. as has been asserted
fere. fer ,",a; option was a PLANK IN
hrfh I.rp1'ius.a and ErMocracc
o,,rtv "a = viis Il. the tr1e o. the
veSssps al m law
Present Law r.oiiibitofy.
Sag IS Il thc iEvar.KDlo or historic
nolkcs. ~ the Democratic party In Nir-
etnla. for the present liquor laws IN
d, combination Of ipCE