Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1913-02-20
A Great Speech On The Kenyon
Bill By Senator Webb Of
Tennessee.

Don't protect by your law Of inter-
state commerce those who violate our
laws. 1t is wrong to force this upon
US. We are following your illustrious
example, Senator's. You taught US the
way to make it easier to do right. 1t
is wrong to thrust US back when we are
simply walking in your footsteps. To
give our State control of consignmente
of liquor when they cross the State line
or within our jurisdiction is no pre-
cdent have set the example of making
liquor different from other commodities.
You have excluded liquor, and liquor
alone, from this great Capitol. This in
your estimation set it apart as different
from other commodities. Your method
of taxation has set it apart as different
from all other commodities. The pro-
Queer of liquor is not permitted by law
to control or even have access to his
own product except in the presence OF
your officers. Mother product of man
has such a brand of district upon it
and its producer. tits a positive wrong
and positive discourtesy for you by
your licenses and your protection Of
liquor to nullify our laws by your method
of regulating interstate commerce.
Your quarantine stations in protecting
the people against contagious diseases
confne the citizens themselves regard
less of their convenience. liberties, or
comfort, and exclude them from access
to their own homes and loved ones to
prevent disease. You are right in this.
Liquor kills more people than all wars
and pestilences and famines and earth
quakes combined. Yet this commodity,
more deadly than all diseases combined
has right of way into the heart of a
sovereign State in spite of the wishes
of its people
am greatly gratified to day that |
stand on State rights with the Senators
of Kansas. Kansas has made heroic
fight against the greatest evil known to
man. Hersleadership thrills my soul
/ am proud to follow on this, the great.
est problem of civilization, where Kan
sas leads / have not always stood with
Kansas on State rights. | bear on my
body scars, but none on my heart. be-
cause SO years ago differed with Kan
sas on this great question. 1t is a
happy omen that the bill bears the joint
names of Senator Kenyon, of Iowa, and
Senator Sheppard, of Texas-North and
South standing together for State
rights.
NV widowed mother, insight of the
smoke of distilleries, told me on her
knee that it was wrong to make and
sell liquor, lnever went to teacher
from infancy to my graduation 10 a
university who did not teach me it was
wrong to handle, touch, or
taste Iiqnur. As a soldier boy in my
teens heard the general order of Gen.
Robert E Lee read at dress parade
that liquor brought to his army should
be in sealed packages, put in charge of
the surgeons, and that the seal should
not be brok en- till the wounded were
actually on hand. 1t was sober army
that made HIM the most famous COM
mander in history and put his statue in
Statuary Hall by the side of the Father
of His Country My Father in heaven
was good to me to give me such a
mother and such commander. Irever-
ence their memory.
- ** y
| am an optimist. The world is get
ting better every day. 1 saw in my
boyhood liquor absolutely without re-
strictionZIt is now restricted in a
thousand ways; saw gambling uatram-
meled and INDUCED in everywhere,
even on the public highway. 1t has
been driven into guarded dens. / saw
public betting on horse races-now a
thing of the past. Lotteries in my
boyhood used the mails. A gentleman
allowed himself to be punctured by
bullets into a pepperbox- to show that
he was brave and a man of honor
Senators, America is aroused on the
liquor question. Angio-Saxons have
won every reform that once caught the
ear of the people. Liquor has got to
go. God grant that | may help it go
The world is stirred on this question.
Children now live who will have to ex-
plain to their children what saloon
was, and why their ancestors tolerated
such deadly evil. But for the money
invested in it it would already have
been thing of the past. federation
of the saloon puts the dollar above the
man.
Miss Frances E. Willard. the lovely
and charming queen of womanhood,
-has-theAg great honor of statue in
Statuary Hall in this Capitol. No
honor has ever been bestowed more
worthily. In her name and in the
name of millions of charming white
ribboned women all over this great
American Nation; in the name of the
white ribboned hosts of Tennessee,
under the leadership of: Mrs. Salena
Holman, mother and a grandmother
of noble family, who for years, with
womanlv dignity and charm has done
more than anybody else in cultivating
public sentiment in Tennessee in favor
of lofty ideals of citizenship, and who
if usefulness to her people is the cor
rect measure of statemanship. in Ten
nessee's greatest sta tesman; in the
name of all the fathers and grand
fathers and mothers and grandmothers
of this great Nation, who wish clear
environment in which to rear their off.