The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-18

politician. Prohibition suddenly became
 the avenue to political success and politl- ] cal prominence. The prohibition wave which swept our country, semed to De
 overpowering and irresistible-all conserV-
 atism was abandoned. and he who was
 loudest in his denunciation of the trafflc'
 who proposed the most.extreme and radi-
 cal measures, even the confiscation ol property which had been acquired under l the sanction of law, attracted the most | attention. and won the most .popuuarl.y' 1 The inevitable reaction which always foi- l lows unwise. radical and arbitrary eh- I aetments, necessarily resulted.
 County Local Option Law l At the first regular session ot the l legislature after the advent of the re- cent administration, local option plii
 was passed. The platform of the doio inant party had declared in faVor oi
 local option and the members Of the l legislature were committed Dy tneii
 party pledges to that policy, but the I law which was enacted was only io I cal option law in name. It perWitt:a I the people of a county where the saie | of liquor was allowed to outlaw the l traffic, but 1t denied the right to re- store the sale of liquor in any couh'S where it had been prohibited. The law | instead of being in compliance with, was in repudiation of the local option policy to which the candidates noml- mated by the dominant party and elect | ed by the people were pledged. II the sale of liquor was prohibited Tn couh- | ty, that prohibition must continue lh- definitely without any right on the part of the people to make any change. Thls law was termed by the codihers
 "county local option prohibition jaw and the name which they gave 1t was not a misnomer There was no eHort
 made by the legislature which enacted this county local option prohlol,ioi law to amend or improve the laws reg
 ulating the traffic in intoxicating IT. quors, or to correct admitted evils or abuses. On the contrary under the leadership of paid agitators, a crusade was commenced in almost every county where the sale of liquor was legaNze". This agitation culminated in the pas sage of a statute prohibiting the sale or manufacture of intoxicating liquors Tn Alabama, in November, 1907, when law went into effect on the first Of Jan uary. 1909 The passage of this law provoked widespread criticism and un- favorable comment from large DOT ton of our people. That the leglsia- ture was acting within its powers can not be denied, but it was justly clalmeh that a body pledged by party plat form to local option could not Tn good faith enact so radical a law without resubmission to the people. Absolute observance of pledges made to the peo- pie by their trusted representatives IS essential, if respect for popular govern ment is to be preserved.
 But scarcely had the statewide pro- hibition of 1907 been in effect six months before 1t was claimed that It was being openly violated in all of the larger towns and cities of the state and its advocates announced that the remedy for that condition could only be found by the passage of other and ad- ditional laws.
 My distinguished predecessor in his message to the legislature on July 27 1909, declared that the state wide pro- hibition law has been found inadequate of enforcement, and evasions of the law have been many and apparently easy'
 When the special session of the legis- lature assembled at the capitol on July 27. 1909, the most radical element of the advocates of the prohibition policy had absolute control of the legislative department and the sympathy and CO., operation of the chief executive They were given a free hand in all legisla- tion on the subject. The more con servative members of the legislature were in a hopeless minority, and the propa ganda of reform outlined by the leaders of tae prohibition movement met with little, if any serious oppo- sition. The opposition was too small in numbers to obstruct or even delay the proposed legislation. The passage of the Carmichael and Fuller laws, as well as the submission of a constitutional amendment, prohibiting the sale and manufa cture of liquors, marked the high tide of prohibition sentiment in Alabama. That these laws were more radical and extreme than any which I ,11A books of any state of the union, their most ardent advocates cannot truth fly deny. A brief review of tlseir pro- visions is necessary.
 Carmichael, Fuller and Other Liquor
 Laws, Special Session, 1909
 The Fuller bill declared in express terms that it was the future policy of the state to discourage the use and con- sumption of intoxicating liquors and beverages
 While hesitatiag to declare in di- rect terms that the use of liquor was illegal and constituted a penal offense, the legislature through the laws en- acted sought indirectly to accomplish that very result.
 The purpose of the Fuller and other laws passed at the special session was not merely to prevent the sale--to out la the liquor traffic in all its forms but to prevent IS far as possible, ex- cept by direct prohibition, the use and consumption of intoxicating liquors. The sale of beverages confessedly non-
 intoxicating, containing as much as one-half of one per cent of alcohol was made Illegal. It was claimed that the sale of notwithstanding liquors and beverages containing the prohibited per cent of alcohol while innocent and harmless in themselves, might be used as cloak for the sale of intoxicating liquors. Yet it must be manifest that such an extension of the police power of the state was both. dangerous and far-reaching it destroyed property
 rights and placed under the ban of the
 law drinks which were not calculated to produce intoxication, which per Sc have no influence on the public health or morals and which were harmless in themselves but which were prohibited solely on the ground that they might | be used as disguise for the sale of | intoxicating beverages. As was de- 1 clared by one of our justices, such construction of the police power might authorize the prohibition of the sale of | iced tea or any other beverage which | has the color or appearance of whisky. By another provision of the Fuller | law the keeping of liquors or beverages
 containing over one-half of one per
 cent of alcohol in any building not
 used exclusively as a dwelling, was
 made prima facic evidence of sale or other unlawful disposition.
 The delivery of liquor to any build
 ing not used exclusively as a dwell-
 ing, or its removal from such place
 was made prima facie evidence of an unlawful sale. l Another novel nrovision of the Fuller