Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1912-11-16
THE EFFECT OF
THE AMENDMENT
PERSONAL Liberty viii Not be Great.
ly Afected--Legislat Must
Act on the Order

hibit the manufacture ana sale OF in
toxicants in West Virginia, viii put
out Of business 49S saloons, nine brew
cries and one distillery.
Now that the prohibition amend
ment to the constitution has been
adopted by a vote or the people by
a majority not less than $4,000 and
possibly $4,000 many people are won
dering what the effect of the amend
ment will be, and just how far It viii
affect personal liberty about which
so much was said arr1ng the cam
paign. Certainly the amendment will
not prevent or prohibit any man or
woman from taking drink. In or
der TO satisfy many inquiries, the
text of the amendment adopted on
Tuesday is published in full as fol.
lows:
"On and after the first day of July,
nineteen hundred and fourteen, the
manufacture. sale and keeping for
sale of malt, yinucus, or spurious
liquors, wine, ale, porter beer or any
Intoxicating drink, mixture or prepa-
ration of like nature, except as here
matter provided are hereby prohibit
ed in this state.
Provided, However, that the man
ufacture and sale and keeping for
sale. of such liquors of medicinal,
sacramento or scientific purposes
and the manufacture and sale of de-
natured alcohol for Industrial pur-
poses may be permitted under such
regulations as the Legislature may
prescribe. The legislature SHALL
without delay. enact such laws with
penalties, as may be necessary to car
ry into effect the provisions of this
section.
The legislature, of course, will not
attemI6 to prevent the shipment of
Intoxicating beverages into the state
In other words, the purchase of beer
or whiskey In any other state in the
union, and its shipment into West
Virginia to the purchaser Will not be
prohibited Neither will the legisla.
ture by statue prevent the farmer
from making wine from his own ap-
pies and grapes
How will it affect the clubs" is a
question frequently asked. The an
swer is that it will not affect any
club that is now operating, except
that orders for intoxicating beyer-
ages will necessarily be placed in
states where such beverages may be
manufactured, and not in West Gir-
ginia
All the clubs in the state now sup
ply their members with beverages
on the theory that the member has
purchased and paid for, and ordered
over his own signature, whatever he
drinks. The legislature will not, and
can not, pass law, preventing a
, man from drinking what he has le-
/. gally purchased, so long as his drink
ing is not offensive to the public. He
will be allowed to take a drink in
his club just as he will be allowed to
take drink in his own home.
The legislature, will in all prob
ability. prohibit by statue, the keep
ing of intoxicating beverages for sale,
under any conditions, by druggists,
including the prescriptions of physic-
ians. This will be done in pursuance
of the resolutions adopted by the
druggists at their state meeting, pray
ing the legislature to pass a law pro-
hibiting the keeping and sale of all
kinds of intoxicating beverages at
drug stores, under any conditions, with
the provision that pure alcohol might
be kept for the compromising of pre-
scriptions calling for it as a preser-
vative.
Can there be any change of the
constitution again and when?" is an
other question frequently asked, Here
is the answer:
Section 2 Of Article XIV of the
Constitution of West Virginia, says:
ANY amendment to the constitu-
ton of the state may be proposed in
either house of the legislature; and
if the same, being read on three sew
eral days in each house, be agreed to
on its third reading, by two-thirds of
the members elected thereto, the pro.
posed amendment with the yeas and
nays thereon, shall be entered on the
journal, and it shall pc the duty of
the Legislature. TO provide by law, for
submitting the same to the voters of
the state, for ratification or rejection
at the next general election there
after, and cause the same to be pub
lished at least three months before
such election in some newspaper in
every county in which a newspaper
is printed"
Under Section /, of the same ar
ticle of the constitution, the legisla-
ture Is given the power to pass law
providing for a convention to amend
the constitution, but this convention
can not be called without the vote of
the majority Of the voters of the
state, and its acts and ordinances
must then be ratified by the voters
OF the state. The second paragraph
of the article, quoted in full above,
may be regarded as the final word in