The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-01-24
AN THUG BILLS
GRANTED HEARING
DIR. Cannon and Others Appear
in Behalf OF League
Proposition.
COMMITTEE UNFAvo RABLE
Dciers Action Until Tonight.
Seek to Make Carrier Agent
of Seller.
COMMITTEE UNFAVORA E

That part OF the program OF tho
Antisaloon League OF Virginia wnirI,
seeks to prevent the intrastatc ship
tncnt of liquor into dry territory was
considered yesterday morning by the
House Committee on Counties. Cities
ana Towns. the date for hearing. hav-
Ing been previously set. The commit
tee held an executive session after tho
public remarks. hu, decided to defer
inc matter until Tonight. MIR Balm
the patron of one o: Ill. bills. said
nc thought tho attitude Of majority
oi the committee distinctly unfavor-
'LplE TO the proposed measures
heN. james Cannon. l.. r.. said Il
was not Il proposition at this time
10 prevent the sale OF liquor, but one
TO prevent Vice ana crime He quoted
statistics from the report of the state
Eoard OF Charities and Corrections, TO
show that in the wet cities and the
. TWO great wet counties OF the state
one person In forty-forr was com
United to jail or pcnitcntlary, while
IN dry couniie.. the average was one
in 100.
Change Common Inv.
ihonaS Whitehead OF Amherst wa.
the next sneaker. lie said that il has
been the policy OF the State to rcpeal
such portions of the common law as
We're found TO he opposed to public
poiicS one such provision makes tho
commo.i carrier the agent of tho buvcr
while the bill under consideration
would make the carrier the agent OF
the seller
Mr.. Whitehead made tho Statement,
that the bill would do more 10 nrcvcnt
crime than tho Mann bill, ana the Eyrd
Diil put together have done
Along with others, he referred tn
me article in The Times Dispatch af
Yesterday. containing report of n
hec'sion OF the Supreme Court of the
United States. which he explained to
DC merely statement that whIskey
Is II commodity, and that railroads
! must haul It,
Professor Z. 7. Jordan. Of Staunton,
"h" followed. said the Supreme Courts
opinion referred only to interstate traf-
tic.
several questions were asked by Hill
montague, member OF the commit
zee. one was If there Is q law which
makes II crime for any one to order
liquor. Another was In regard 10 n
statement that a fifteen -year-old boy
had ordered liquor from q circular sent
! out oy dealer. Mr.. Montague snid
hoy with proper rearing would not
DO this, and that there was no one to
! make the individual order liquor.
| tteT' j. NJ. Pitcher, d. D.. OF Phoebus,
| spoke briefly.
| Inv enforcement.
! Samuel l. Kelley was the only per-
| son who appeared in opposition to the
oiil. He said that the people in dry
| territory must of their own volition
make I'm order for liquor before they
can get 1t, and that II is not forced on
| them. II local option laws are not en-
forced. he argued, either /. Is impos-
'ible TO make prohibitory laws effect
I've or else the people OF the community
don't want them enforced He said
there are practically no violations of
the law as TO liquor except in unli-
ccnsed communities and by unlicensed
people.
lie said unliesitatingly that in Rich
lnond the laws regarding the sale of
liquor are more nearly observed than
are any other laws on the statute
| books There has never been a time.
! he Insisted, when drastic legislu ton
/ was less nee ed than 1t is to-day.
AS to DIR. Cannons hgures, Mr. KEEL
ley said II was unfair 10 mako such a
comparison. since crime would natural
ly centre In cities, were liquor sold
! there or not. Concluding, he argued
that these bills would not prevent the
Interstate carriage of liquors, and that
the only result would be that the
money spent would be sent to dealers
in Washington. Baltimore, Phlladel-
phia Louisville, Cincinnati and else
where, TO the loss of local people and
, to the loss OF the State In the matter
of licenses.
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