Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-04-15

state commerce in liquor, brought out a
great speech in the senate from Prof.
w. r. Webb, the Tennessee school
teacher who was appointed by the gov
ernor Of his state to I'LL out an unex-
pired term Of only few weeks. The
speech was delivered on February 10,
1918, and is as follows:
Mr.. President: The liquor evil has
been before the world since the begin
ming of history. The history Of the
Jews, the Greeks and the Romans, the
three ancient civilizations best known
to us, shows the different methods OF
approach to this great question. A
referendum to the citizens of Rome,
the imperial city that ruled the world.
on the banishment of the temples of
Bacchus, as saloons were then called,
Notwithstanding their protection Of a
god, resulted in Rome going dry. Rome
went dry on the political slogan that
the temples of Bacchus were head
quarters Of the Generalization OF
youth and the white-slave traffic. The
saloon still maintains It's ancient repu-
tation, and in our time 1t has elimi-
mated none of its evils, but has added
others unknown to the ancient civiliza-
tions.
Bacchus, a god of great power was
not, / am glad to say, infinite in his
attributes nor universal in his juris-
diction.
Bacchus was a riotous god. His
birth was a tragedy amid thunder and
lightning. His mother was consumed
by the lightning and Immediately on
his birth departed to Hades. Hence
the epithet, fire-born. The orphaned
Bacchus was never mothered. He was
put in charge of Persephone, the in
fernal goddess Of death, daughter Of
the Styx, wife of Pluto, and mother OF
the Furies, whose reputation lies chief
ly in the fact that she was abducted by
Pluto and made queen OF Hades. His
nurses became insane, and the little
kid was changed into a ram and brought
up in the dark recesses OF cave. When
he was grown, he became insane and
became a hobo. He compelled his fe-
male worshippers to leave their homes.
In their frenzy mothers mistook their
children for animals and tore them In
pieces. The people, and particularly
mothers, opposed his entrance to many
countries. Ships that carried him had
their masts and oars changed to ser
pents, and Bacchus changed himself
into lion, and ivy surrounded the
slip. lie "ClC oCl1Cu WIN
madness and leaped into the sea. Ho-
mer calls him the drunken god" He
was the god of the tragic art. In the
beginning of his career the Graces were
his companions. Time wrought great
changes in his companons, who were
Bacchantic women, raging with mad
ness, invehement motions, their heads
thrown backward, with disheveled hair,
carrying in their hand cymbals, swords
or serpents. Satyrs and centaurs, mon
strosities slightly human in face, brute
in body, were his chums. Sacred to
him were poisonous shrubbery, and
among animals sacred to him were the
serpent, tiger lynx and panther. The
expression Of his countenance in art Is
languid and shows kind of dreamy
longing; his head, with wreath of
vine or ivy leaves, somewhat on one
side; his attitude is easy, like that OF
a man who Is absorbed in sweet
thoughts or slightly intoxicated. He Is
often seen leaning on his companions
or riding on a panther or ass, tiger or
lion. On coins he Is represented with
the horns Of q ram or a bull. The above
forceful description Of Bacchus, as CIV
en- in the poets Of Greece and Rome.
and taken from the classical dictions ~
is so easy Of Interpretation that I shall
not apply it. ---...
TO regulate interstate commerce,
What does regulate" mean? 1t means
to prescribe rules for, and to prescribe
rules means primarily to restrict. Un-
restricted commerce is not regulated.
1t is free and unrestrained and has no
regulation whatever. The derivation
of the word regulate is from rego,
which primarily means ito keep
straight" "a very suggestive meaning
In connection with this bilD. The verb
reign" contains the primary mean
ing, and Webster's first definition Is to
possess or exercise sovereign power
or authority; 70 exercise government
as a king or emperor; to hold supreme
power. Webster gives the third mean
ing to have superior or uncontrolled
dominion. The first meaning Of regu-
late in the Century dictionary is to
adjust by rule, method, or established
mode; to govern by or subject to GER
tain rules or restrictions. To regulate
a machine is to adjust the governor so
as to restrict or confine it's movements,
to increase or lessen the power as oc-
casion demands. To regulate a clock
or a watch is to restrict it's movements
by a pendulum or compensating spring,
Our forefathers in making our great
constitution used the word regulate
in its ordinary use. They never intend
ed to surrender the right of protecting
their descendants from the greatest
evil known to man. They pledged their
fortunes as we'll as their sacred honor
to guard the happiness Of the people
and not the interests Of the saloon and
the stillhouse and the lawbreaker. OuI
forefathers, who made our great con-
stitution, were great scholars and
used words with great accuracy. They
used regulate" in my humble opinion
to mean that the power to restrict in
terstate commerce was in their hands
to be used as the needs Of the people
required.
You yourselves, senator's, gave that
Interpretation to the word when you
prohibited the consignment Of liquor tc
the Indian tribes. Later, when the In
dian territory became a part of the
sovereign state of Oklahoma, the su-
preme court Of the United States de-
creed that under your law consign-
ments of liquor could not be trans.
ported to that part of Oklahoma which
was formerly the Indian territory. Have
not we in Tennessee, in our father:
house, a right to expect that you dt
as we'll for us and our children as yol
do for others? We simply ask for equa
Justice. We do not ask you to ever
help us execute our anti-liquor law:
or delegate to US any power we do no
possess. We simply ask you Ito de-
prive liquors intended for unlawfu
purposes of interstate commerce char
acter, and let us deal with such i'm
ported liquors as we would with liquor:
Of domestic production intended fo
the same unlawful purposes"
Your laws regulate nitroglycerin ant
its products. That means they restrict
they prescribe conditions. They pro-
hibit entirely from the whole Unior
absinthe simply because 1t intoxicates
but another intoXicant is said to have
the right of way even over the sover
eign power of states and the nation It.
self. have been myself denied b!
quarantine the privilege Of crossing
into my own state to my own home be-
cause l did not have with me health
certificate, and / had not been in con
tact with any contagion. Cattle, sheep
horses, hogs and plants Of every de
scription are stopped, regardless o
loss to the owners, because Of antici
mated disease. To regulate, then, |:
evidently to restrict. 1t seems. that th'
only commodity known to man tina
cannot be restricted Is intoxicating H.
uuors. If disease OF animals and plant!