The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-15

I they would demand If it had been | omitted. It merely shows that their opposition to the Smith regulation E law Is insincere and based upon that pbarisaical bypocricy which fs 1 so marked n characteristic of the extreme and fannticaI prohibition 1 Isf.
 Removable by Governor MT Bowie finds great fault in the provision that the excise commissioners can be removed by the governor for ma feasance or mlsfeasance in office l and he, claims that this confers upon I the chief executive of the state an arbi- trary and despotic power. The con l stitution of the United States confers upon the President thes power to re- 1 move with or without cause any execu- tive official he may appoint That ii l has not led to any abuse, but on the contrary to efficiency In administration every student of our government well l knows.
 | It would have been better if the ex- else commissioners had been subject tc l removal by the governor with or with l out cause.
 The governor of Alabama is elected | by the ma jority of it's people, and tf assume that he would violate his oatf l of office, or so exercise his powers il the selection of excise commissioners l as to place them in control of tho I liouor interests, or the lawless or ths criminal element. or that he would un dertake to allow the liquor trust. I such a trust exists, to select commits sioners who would do their bidding, l!
 to assume that our theory of govern
 ment is failure. If the governor, th' elect of the people, cannot be trusted then. indeed we must confess that oul republican system of government is ; 1 failure.
 l Control by City Government Mir Bowie seems to express great re | gret that the selection of commissioner: l was not placed in the control of th' city governments of the state Evera man conversant with conditions tha formerly prevailed in Alabama knows | thatsone of the greatest evils that ther l existed was the fact that the liquor
 men, In many instances, were enabled | to dominate and control the politics of our municipalities. and to elect mer
 in their governing bodies who woulo
 do their bidding.
 1 The whole purpose of the smith law was to divorce the liquor traf- | Ac from politics, and If MT. BOwic's | ldea had been carried out of allow Ing the board of aldermen, or the governing bodies of our municipal | ities, to select the excise commits sioners the necessary result would {. have been that every man whO ex- pected to engage in the liquor busi- ness would have exercised an un- due and pernicious influence in pol ftics, nnd we would have placed n premium the brewer and dis tiIIer undertaking to dominate and control the politics of every city or town in the state. If the city commi ssioners had been allowed to appoint the excise commis- -f .lrt. hA tftttn traffic out of politics we would have had a contest in every municipality
 where the commission form of govern ment existed on the part of the liquor in terests to secure control by eiecting
 men who would do their bidding Thirty-Room Hotels MT. Bowie finds grave objections to the 30-room hotel This provision of the Smith law has been the subject of the grossest misrepresentation and misstate-
 ment. The law simply provides that in addition to those who are entitled 10 H. cense in Jefferson county-one to every three thousand of population Licenses issued to bona-fide hotels
 having thirty or more rooms shall not be counted or considered in de- termining the number of licenses which may be issued V Under the old law not only could a
  | tel but to one-room or a two-room hotel. It can now be issued only to hotels that are in good faith being op- erated as hotels, and which have not l less than thirty rooms. If some man l who desires a license should construct a
 building with thirty rooms which was
 not in good faith a4hotel- he would not I be entitled to a license. ."tt | It must be hotel-a place to entertain | f p1 uyhera nt- | ed and which is used and occupied as a hotel and which contains not less than thirty rooms-not a subterfuge or pretense for room or a hotel that are embraced within the meaning of the statute. MT.
 Bowie seems to be apprehensive that fraud could be perpetrated under this provision
 MT. Bowie asks.
 "Why are the stringent provisions for the regulation of the ordinary saloon not made applicable to hotels of this character?''
 We challenge Mr. Bowie to point to any provision of the law that does not make them subject to the same regula- tons as apply to the ordinary saloon. Under the provisions of the present stat
 rte no fraud can be perpetrated unless the excise commissioners wilfuly and intentionally violate the spirit and pur- pose of the law by permitting the sale of liquor in a building which Is not a
 bona-fide hotel, which has no occupants, whose rooms are not intended for occu- patton, but were constructed only as a subterfuge; and. even if a commission should grant license to such a hotel, any citizen of the community could file a protest and secure an investigation As to Dispensary MT Bowie favors a dispensary; he is in favor of the city of Birmingham en- gazing in the liquor traffic. he is in favor of branch of the state govern ment undertaking to conduct a private business Neither the state nor city should engage in private business It Is con-
 trary to the theory of our govern
 ment.
 Ii would make every man, wom- m and child In the city of Bfr-
 mIngham partner in the liquor traffic. The whole theory of a dis
 pcnsnry Is based upon an entire
 snisconceptiOn of the powers of
 government. It encourages the sale d.
 of the most ardent and fntOxIca-
 ting spirits, and discOurages the
 the use of wines, beers and non-in-
 toxicating beverages,
 Under the dispen sary law that now
 exists whisky or rum can be sold by
 the drink. but beer and wine can only
 be sold by the quart or pint. Such a
 law is in the interest of intemperance.
 because. every man of intelligence, knows that the use of mild and light
 wines and beers tend to increase tenn
 perance among the people.
 Under the dispensary system beer from the keg, or by the drink, cannot
 be sold. The dispensary would not re- lieve the present chaotic and deplora-