The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-02-21

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offered an amendment to section
which makes dry" vote effective
! provided the said General Assembly
shall put into effect by proper enact
ment the intent OF the people as sx-
pressed by the people at the polls. with
proper penalties attached thereto for
! put into effect by the General Assem-
! bly,.
Defeats intent Of Bill.
Mr.. Byrd took the floor. He de-
-ciared that the affect OF the amend
ment would be to absolutely defeat
the intent OF the bill. No moot court
vote of the people could bind the
Legislature. The amendment would
caiise the people to do thing which
there " would be no use for tnevl TO
do. When you got through II would
be only to bind General Assembly
not vel elected and ! repeat. said Mr..
BYRD, this amendment cannot pind inc
next General Assembly
Mr.. Oliver asked II the next Cen
ornl Assembly could not repeal the
law.
Mr. Byrd said that Of course IT could.
Mr. Byrd then addressed himself to
the arguments Of Mr. White as to the
FIVE or thirty years we have had local
option elections. he declared what
is this bill? Simply an extension OF
the principle Of local option, nat
is the gist of the argument OF the
opronc,1ts Of the neasure-simply that
ii is legislation by the people instead
of i,v the Legislator y ask any
honest and sincere man, said Mr..
Ryrd. what is the difference between
local option applied To one county
and the extension OF IT to hundred
counties? II is merely question OF
exped encN" 49,, -
Mr., watts Of Roanoke. asked II
Mr.. Byrd We're willing TO have tne
measure go that If the vote was wet
the whole state would be wet
mo-" Mr. Byrd almost shouted.
we VIII keep everything we've gov
and get everything else We can.
80 long as the sun shines the
country saloon shall never be re-
established In Virginia" declared Mr
Byrd. He declared that the people
did not legislate. II or county couid
vote why could not a hundred vote
He declared that the purpose OF Sec
ton So sas to keep the Legislature
from being trammeled IN deanns
with the liquor question.
the contention might be. The people
are sovereign. II they were not re-
strained in their right TO vote by the
constitution Of the State then they
had such rIgh. lie trusted that the
House would not be mised by specious
bleeding on the constitutional ques-
ton.
Meetzc Makes Strong Speech.
Mr.. Meetze. of Prince William. next
spoke. He promised the House thai
he would make as much noise "a
anyone. He had he said, come ou'
against some constitutional lawyers
Of whom there were two In the House
When he ran for the Legislature he
declared that there were several other
aspirants. hut that he ran on the
dry" platform and &c. J. Meetze IL
, here, :" he ee4aFed-Ae- said that ht
had told his people that II he got
TO the Legislature ne would vote tc
give them the right TO vote on the
subject Of Statewide prohibition. and
''If do not do that l am not a Demo
GRAFT declared the Prince William
man with emphasis.
Shaking a big handful of petitions
! toward Mr.. White, he declared that
the best people In Prince William
county were on those petitions. and
that should he as far as the Legis.
Nature need go. The gentleman
from Norfolk had said that he car,
ried no brief for the saloons. He be-
/ lieves in majority rule. Oh, the in
! consistency of these people. said Mr.
| Meetze. as the House roared, with
/ the long control of the minority ovel
the majority in holding the Jordan
bill back in mind,
Mr. HI -
Mr.. oliver. the active wet" man from
| Fairfax He declared that he didn't
believe Mr.. Oliver had had his clothes
! off for a week. he had been so busy
in his fight on the enabling act" In
fact he had but recently heard Mr..
Oliver say that nobody but lawyer
knew "a d. thing about it. In en-
phatic tones Mr.. Meetze declared
that while he was no lawyer he did
not take back seat with any man In
| reading plain English.
He read section 62 OF the Consti-
tution and declared that the gentle
man from Rockbridge, Mr.. White, had
not even read 1t correctly.
| Blind Tigers In Richmond.
He declared that of all arguments
the revenue argument was the most
outlandish. He declared that Rich
, mond with 164 saloons was reputed to
have more blind tigers than ever be-
fore In its history.
| The gentleman from Norfolk had de-
clared that he favored freedom of
speech, but he was unwilling to talk
the matter over with the people in
an election.
The gentleman from Rockbridge
had spouted a: long word with every
letter in the alphabet In 1t and those
upside down. He had said that by the
Jordan bill the peeple were making a
law. The gentleman from Rockbridxe
stood In his way in supporting the
was so sorry that the Constitution
measure. Don't you rec the point %
emphatically Temanded the Prince
William man. He can vote against It
and then say he was forced to do 1t
aeeassss r. was moi constitutional. He
/ Knows fur welt. TOO. that law ia con-
sidered constitutional and IL consti-
tutional until IL In reversed by a court
The Constitution is behind the Jor-
dan ball and the people are behind
the Legislature. declared Mr.. Meetze,
Mr.. White here interposed to say
that he had ALWAYS. on tbs several
occasions offered him. voted dry" In
local option elections.
Come From Missouri.
To which MIR. Meetze replied amid
.Fonch lanshtgr that Mr.. White was
well known as constitutional law
yer. and that I'VE are from Missouri
ana you nut show us"
Reverting to the revenue feature If
the arguments OF the VETS" Mr..