Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1912-12-17
THE GALLERIES
ARE FILLED AS
KENYON SPEAKS
Reformers From Whole Country
Hear Opening Of Liquor
Bill Debate.
LET, THE STATE CONTROL
Declares Government Must Dissolve
Partnership With
Bootlegger.
LET THE STATE CONTROL

Washington, D. c., Dec. IL
Senator Kenyon, in his speech yes
terday on the Kenyon bill to make
interstate shipments OF liquor into
dry territory subject to state laws,
declared against partnership be-
tween the government and the boot
logger, and was listened to by a
large number of men and women
representing reform organizations
from all over the countries The gal
leries were crowded. Senator Ken
yon did not finish his speech, but
will conclude today, speaking on
legal phases of the bill. In the
course of his speech he said:
"The partnership of the federal
government with the bootlegger
ought to be permanently dissolved.
The assistance of the government in
maintaining holes in the walls and
speak easies ought to cease. 1t
would seem as If the purpose would
meet the approval Of every one
whether engaged in the liquor bust
ness or opposed to it.
There is. no hidden purpose in
I this bill and the language cannot
be distorted into the idea, so freely
circulated in the literature now be-
ing distributed by those opposing
this bill, that it destroys the right
Of man to the personal use of in
toxicating liquor. No state in the
union has passed an act prohibiting
the personal use of liquor. It is not
made crime for one to purchase
liquor and the right to use it is eff
fected only as it might be incident
ally by the prohibition or sale. .
Il assume that no state ever will
pass law prohibiting the personal
use of intoxicating liquor, up to the
point at least where man by SO
doing might become drunkard or
make nuisance of himself.
''This bill goes no further than
state law. II leaves the question
entirely with the states. 1t does not
attempt to say whether liquor shall
be sold or used or given away. 1t
is drawn on the theory and to carry
out the purpose that the police pow
ers of a state should not be made
impossible of operation by the fail
ure of congress in the interest of
general public welfare to remove
from commerce an article which
might impede the carrying out Of
these powers in the state. 1t never
was intended BY the constitution, in
comforting upon congress an sexclu-
sive power to regulate Interstate
commerce, to take away from the
various states the right to make rea-
sonable laws concerning the health,
life and safety of it's citizens, even
though such legislation might indi-
rectly affect foreign or interstate
commerce.
"This bill, if enacted, would not
be law to bring about prohibition.
It would not be law to stop perl
sonal use of intoxicating liquors nor
to prohibit the shipment Of intoxi-
eating liquors for ones own family, |
nor to stop the use of intoxicating
liquors for sacramental purposes.
Its purpose, and it's only pur-
pose, is to remove the impedimentl
existing to the states in the exercise |
Of their police power regarding the
traffic or control of intoxicatingl
liquors within their borders. 1t is
the spirit of our times and the genius
of our institutions that each state
should exercise its police power free
from the impediment that might
spring from a narrow construction
of the interstate commerce clause.
Where a state has determined
that Intoxicating liquors shall not
be manufactured or sold within it's
borders, is it not manifest that the
citizens of other states should not
be granted greater privilege in that
state than its own citizenship en-
joys? While 1t is true that one state
cannot by it's laws have extra-terri-
torial effect upon contracts made
and executed in another state, it Is
equally true that one state should
not have extra-territorial power to
break down and destroy the laws of
another state under the pretense
that they are upheld by the inter-
state commerce clause of the consti-
tuition"
Senators Sanders of TENNESSEE
and McCumber of North Dakota, both