The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-17

plONOKe resistance where ODeuleIlce IS tA- rected. It should be the first concern 1 of free people to preserve liberty and this alone can be accomplished by main- taining constitutional restraints and just divisions of power. We should be care full not to overstep the proper bounda- ries of legislative action, nor to rely on fierce as a moral agent, nor to excuse our
 invasion into private and domestic affairs On the plea that we should exercise a paternal care over the people. It is not the province of the state to curtail the absolute rights of the individual by a system of coercive legislation except in SC far as his conduct will affect others
 and is necessary for the peace and good
 order of society. The bill of rights is a
 limitation upon the absolute rule of the
 majority, and constitutions were estab- lished to guard and preserve the inalien-
 able rights and privileges of the individ-
 ual man and to protect the weak against
 the strong.
 Conditions which formerly aroused a fear of the executive departmeot no lon-
 ger exist. The constitution imposes upon the chief executive a solemn duty to see 10 it that the laws are faithfully exc cuted. This last important function of the government he cannot accomplish unless he is entrusted with the control of
 subordinate executive agents not subject to impeachment, There should be no
 jealousy of the powers of the chief mag istrate cireumscrbed and limited as they are by our fundamental law, but our aim should be, if we desire to attain the high est type of government, to vest in him, as far as our peculiar conditions may warrant the same power of appointment
 and removal over subordinate executive | agents as are exercised by the chief mag s..t IL. .1 Ee.. as possible, be vested with the control of all subordinate executive agents, for when his powers are weakened we de-
 stroy the symmetry of our whole sys- tenn of representative government.
 Question of Temperance Tn view of the many serious and per- plexing problems which will demand our
 careful considerati tion and tax our wisdom 1t is unfortunate that there is one ques- ton which at the present time holds the chief place in public interest and arouses the most public concern. That question is temperance, or the lawful and reason able regulation hnd control of the traffic in intoxicating liquors.
 Tn 1967 we made a radical departure from the methods which had previously
 been observed-abondoned the policy of
 local option and embarked upon the ex-
 pertinent of absolute prohibition of the
 manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors in every portion of the state. In view of the fact that local option was
 at the time the acknowledged creed of
 the democratic party, to which decided | majority of the legislature. as we'll as the
 chief executive, was committed, the adop-
 ton of the policy of statewide prohibition by legislative enactment without submis- sion to the people occasioned widespread criticism and angry controversy.
 Again, at the special session of 1909 additional statutes were adopted, under the claim that they were necessary to secure the proper enforcement of the ex- isting prohibition laws.
 'I have reserved a review of these stat utes for my regular message, but 1t may not be improper to state that certain pro- visions of these laws, more radical eX- treme and arbitrary than any ever before | enacted in any southern state, created | public alarm, and provoked general ap-
 prehension by their invasion of individual rights and constitutional guarantees. "The submission of constitutional amendment which sought to make per-
 manent the prohibition policy and to en- large the legislative power by encroach-
 ments upon the bill of rights, aroused a storm of opposition made statewide pro- hibition a burning political issue and | plunged the state into a contest of un- precedented bitterness and acrimony.
 That the proposed amendment was both
 unwise and unnecessary, without support
 in public sentiment and was the offspring of that fatal union of intolerance and bigotry which has filled the pages of his 1 tory with the darkest chapters of human I folly and tyranny, the impartial and de- cisive verdict of an indignant people l clearly established. The contest it pro- voked engendered passion, aroused prej- | udice, estranged friends, and invoked l from their dark recesses the baneful and destructive spirits of bigotry, intolerance and hypocricy, whose sinister shadows
 were cast athwart the state. Yet, un- l fortunate though that contest was, in | some respects it was nevertheless un-
 avoidable and inevitable. It clarified the political atmosphere It impressed upon l the people as never before the wisdom of | the fathers who founded our institutions, l in proclaiming the eternal divorce of | church and state.
 Tn the discussion of the proposed
 amendment it necessarily followed that 1 the purpose and objects of the constitu-
 ton; it's limitations and grants of power,
 were fully reviewed before the people, and the acrimony and bitterness engen-
 dered found their compensation in the
 
 principles it produced and the renewed loyalty to those reserved rights embodied | in the organic law, the preservation oi
 which are essential to the maintenance | of free institutions.
 'Following the contest on the consti- tutional amendment, the liquor question | in every possible phase and aspect was
 made the subject of controversy both in
 the primary and general elections.
 Call for Convention
 l When the date for the primary was fixed by the state democratic executive committee, a call was also made for a
 convention to assemble on May r to for mulate and promulgate party platform. | The delegates to this convention were to ; be elected by direct vote of the members | of the party. That convention duly as- sembled--its delegates receiving their cre- dentials from the same vote that nomi- | mated the party candidates-and after full and fair discussion gave voice to the
 calm. deliberate and thoughtful sentiment
 of their constituents by declaring in favor of the policy of local option and local l self-government Nor was that declara- ton reversal of party policy. It was | but the reaffirmance of continued ale glance to a doctrine which had always been the accepted creed of democracy To the support of that platform, to carry ing out in the utmost good faith it's pol licy and pledges every loyal democrat is committed by the solemn obligations
 of party fealty and party honor. It
 should be matter of congratuation to us all that the electroate of Alabama is keenly sensitive and unusually vigilani in demanding from their public servants the redemption of their campaign
 pledges. whether directly or impliedly