The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-02
SHAPIRO REVIEWS ] LOCAL OPTION LAWS Tells What Is Provided By
 New Statutes
 STRICT PROVISIONS
PROVISIONS
keoks Into Some of the Arguments Made in Favor of Maintaining Present Conditions in
 Birmingham

fsadore Shapiro, the well known young attorney, yesterday made statement on the local option situation, in which he analyses the provisions of the Parks and Smith laws. A digest of these laws will probably be of interest to the public just now because of the approaching election to be held. MT. Shapiro's statement Is as follows:
 ''The question uppermost in the minds of the people of this county is the best solution of the liquor situation. It Ia problem the very nature of which eiicits agitation and turmoil and causes state of unrest Because of such unrest an early satisfactory adjustment of the sit- uation Is not only expedient, but impera- five. Unrest retaIIis progress.
 ''several years ago a majority of the tvoters of Jefferson county sanctioned the trlal of prohibition. That 1t has not been Eenforced is matter of common knowi- edge. That it is not being enforced can not be successfully disputed. We need only to read the daily papers and behold sthe manifold items of liquor raids and confscations. Most of these raids occur ion the same premises; most of the off, Renders are habitual violators. And that Eprohibition is not being enforced is incon- SAestable proof that 1t cannot be enforced. If the present head of the department of public safety, Judge Lane has been un- successful in the extermination of the blind tiger. not a man.in Birmingham can accomplish this feat. The eradication of sthe tiger from residences is an impossi- Ibility and It's elimination from the busi- mess district requires such constant sur, !yeIIance as to cause business upheavals. < Argument of Fair Trial
 For the advocates of prohibition to declare that these laws have not been &C., corded fair trial is in itself an admis- sion of their impractlcabihty. It is an ac- cusation that the jury, the people, is .prejudiced.' To assert that this omis- sion of a fair trial is due to the lax en- sforcement of the prohibition laws is force ful evidence of the fact that the majority of people favor such laxity. The non-en- forcement of these laws demonstrates most ooncIusively that there is a futile attempt to force upon the people some thing they do not want The fault, then, 
 but with the people. So, if the prohibit tionists desire a reformation or annihila- l ton of the liquor traffic, it logically fol- lows that the people must first be re- formed.
 Tt has been the experience of all peo- ples and ages that a prohibitory statute unsupported by public opinion is a prac- tical nullity. Not only is It a dormant instrument hut itsi very inactivity and ' iheffEctiVeness has a most demoralizng effect upon the entire community De- tiance of law causes governmental chaos.
 If prohibition was fortified by public opinion it would be enforced. It is not so fortified. and it Is not enforced.
 q have personal knowledge of gross contempts of these laws by officials en- trusted with their enforcement. I have personal knowledge of fragrant violations of these laws by some of the very mem bers of the legislature who were most ar dent in their advocacy. How can others regard law disregarded and direspect- ed by it's creator.
 That other prohibitive laws are like wise disregarded is no valid argument in support of the effectiveriess of the prohi- blton laws. There is no analogy.
 'Virtually every penal statute regulates the ethics or morals of the people. Now,