The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1913-02-02
character and can not be reached
by State laws until after delivery to

consignee. Congress having as yet
passed no law excluding such ship
ments from interstate commerce,
the result is that railroad stations
and express offices in prohibition
States are being converted into
speak-easies and blind tigers from
which these liquors are secretly
taken or secretly sold in defiance of
the peoples will. Thus the Federal
government is lending itself to the
humiliation of the State, to the
overthrow Of the most sacred right
which its own constitution guaran-
tees. Thus the Nation has become a
partner in a piracy as foul as any
the high seas ever saw and in the
destruction of the principle of local
sovereignty as defined and approved
by the Federal. Constitution. Thus
the American flag is wrapped
around the whiskey barrel and the
beer key and made an emblem Of
anarchy and crime. 1t is said that
the States ought to be more Wig
liant in the enforcement of prohib-
itory laws. It would require a small
standing army at an expense no
State could bear to surround every
depot and every express office with
armed guards by day and by night,
year in and year out"
In his speech Senator-elect Shep-
pard has made plain the issue CEN
tered in the liquor traffic. 1t is man
ifest to the American people that
a pernicious influence, directed by
the manufacturers of liquor and the
brewers, has been effective on some
of the members of Congress. For
twenty years the opponents of the
interstate liquor legislation have
had to contend against this evil die
tum, but the time has arrived when
delays will not be tolerated
In the Kenyon bill is the solution
of this issue, but when called re-
Gently its consideration was post
poned. 1t will be called again and
one of the callers will be Senator
Sheppard. When called there will
be vote and when the vote is taken
the bill will become a law with the
approval of President Wilson.
In closing his speech Senator
elect Sheppard said:
IAN area equal to three-fourths
of the inhabited territory of the
United States has been voted dry,
but the solemn enactments of the
people are being crushed and desc
Grated by those who operate from
the outside. The Constitution is pro-
famed, self-government overturned,
the Nation made an accomplice in a
conspiracy against the States, in
order that traffic, as odious as it
is powerful, may multiply its profits
from the wrecked ambitions, the
scattered hopes, the ruined homes
of men.
This legislation is but another
step in the warfare against a traf-
fic, whose existence is the Nations
shame. The liquor traffic is a peril
to society because it undermines the
health, the strength and the integ-
rity of man. 1t is a menace to the
Republic because a race of weak
lings can not sustain or comprehend
the institutions Of liberty. 1t is a
source of danger to posterity be-
cause the alcoholic faint foredooms
the unborn millions to degeneracy
and to disease. l shall oppose this
scourge from hell until my arm can
strike no longer and my tongue can
speak no more. shall oppose it be-
cause | hear the cries of children
who are hungering for bread. | shall
oppose it because l see a mothers
wasted face, her pale lips pleading
with the besotted figure at her side.
| shall oppose it because I see the
staggering forms of men, whose
trembling hands hold but the ashes
OF their strength and pride. l shall
oppose it because it mocks all man.
hood and makes of woman's virtue
a commodity of the slums. | shall
oppose it because | see its battle
line outstretched across the globe,
threatening to engulf the pure, the
true, the good. l shall oppose it be-
cause its abolition will mean new
stability for the Republic, new ra-
dance for the flag"
Joe MarOun Indicted.
Vnn i e i i