The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-23

sturdy cItlzen," he said. and l do not want to trust his future to the hands of the liquor traffic. Not all the wars since the dawn of the world have struck down the millions that have fallen under the onslaught of alcoholism. Now is our op- portunty to save these lives"
 Representative Mondeii of Wyoming
 supported the resolution.
 Representative Langley of Kentucky de-
 olared he would vote for the prohibition
 resolution.
 Ut would seriously cripple the govern ment finances" he said. ''necessitating
 new drastic revenue legislation: would
 require hundreds of thousands of people
 to seek other employment and hundreds
 of millions of dollars Of invested capital
 to seek other fields
 He said, however. the harm wrought
 by liquor was to be reckoned with. that
 1t was the peoples constitution, and their
 right to decide could not be denied them.
 Representative Henry of Texas op-
 posed the amendment.
 This question is one which must be
 left to the individual state" he said
 and I venture to predict that after this amendment is voted on here to-
 day the question of prohibition will not appear on the floor as national is-
 sue for 20 years.
 q love my country. but I never sup port constitutional amendment that Ss satraps and intermediates into Texas" Representative Heflin of Alabama de- clared state control of the liquor traf- fic was making good progress in Ala bama and argued against "'surrendering g to the federal government the re- served powers of the states which saved the south in the days of recon struction."
 Representative Caleb Powers of Ken lucky argued against the contention that the amendment would interfere with the reserve rights of the various states
 Representative Bartholdt of Missouri defended the saloon as an institution, declaring he knew of saloons where a gentleman would not hesitate to take his wife and daughters"
 You cannot cure the demand for
 drink by cutting off the supply he
 said.
 from the corn fields of Kansas. the cot ton fields of Georgia or the sea coast of Maine to tell the steel worker who faces q temperature of 2S0o degrees at the furnace door that he shall not have his beer when his work is over?' demanded Representative barchfeld of Pennsylvania, who opposed the amend ment.
 Representative Buchanan of Texas opposed the amendment Represents tive Saunders of Virginia supported il and argued against the contention that
 1t would rob the states of reserved powers"
 Attacks HefIin's Argument The fear of gentlemen that an army of federal spies and informers and of ficials will invade the states Is but B poor argument" he said. The army 1 is there now, spies, informers and all. It is under the internal revenue bu- 1 reau,"
 I Representative Witherspoon of Mis- 1 sissippi opposed the resolution. AL though a prohibitionist he declared he 1 would not turn the police powers of | states over to the federal government 1 Representative Dickinson Of Mis- souri declared he knew not what re- I suit would come from submitting the | amendment to the states, but ne be- I lieved the majority of his people were entitled to a chance to vote on it. That TO democrat could afford to vote for the resolution. was the asser- ton of Representative Small of North Carolina on the ground that 1t would | be a disastrous blow to state rights l Among others who opposed the reso-
 lution were Representatives Vinson of 1 Georgia and Aswell of Louisiana. 1 Proposing a substitute for the Hob I son resolution, which would prevent the importation of liquor into any state 1 from any outside source, Representa- tive Morrison of Indiana kept the House | in an uproar of laughter with viz orous speech.
 l There are IS men in the Indiana delegation in this house who will vote against this resolution" he said. 'and
 I can point out to you one man whe 1 will support the Hobson resolution whe
 drinks more liquor in 12 days than | those 13 men do in 12 years
 | ID .l~s. closing the opposition, warned southern
 members who proposed to vote for the resolution, that they would be forced to grand and lofty tumbling" when l confronted with the problem of giving l the federal government authority te enfranchise the women of the states l Representative Hobson declared sup porters of the resolution were more
 consistent than its opponents in re- specting rights of the individual states l "We believe that three fourths of the states of this nation" he said, have the 1 right as we'll as the wisdom to settle l this question of national prohibition l We propose to let the states themselves settle it.
 l Representative Hobson replied to a 1 speech of Representative Heflin. whc 1 declared that Hobson has been defeat
 ed by Representative Underwood on a
 prohibition issue in the recent Senate primary campaign in Alabama. He de- l clared Underwood did not fight alone
 and asserted that the liquor interests opened four headquarters in the stats l and fought to defeat Hobson."
 "The forces of Wall street and tho | administration forces all endeavored tt beat Hobson,' he said.
 l I've have been told that the vote here I tonight means political death for many | of us," said Representative Murray but we can choose whether we vii have the preacher and the church choii chant benediction over the remains oI
 whether we will have grave decor
 ated with saloons, brewsries and distii'
 leries."
 Hobson Takes Floor l Representative Hobson took the floor I of the amendment. He argued particu- larly against the Morrison amendment
 asserting that Congress already had all
 of the authority which that measure
 sought to confer.
 In conclusion Representative Hobson ldecIared that although the resolution might not secure the necessary two I thirds vote in this Congress, prohibi- l ton would be made national issue in | the 1916 campaign
 l we will have an administration that 1 in the open or under cover" | When the resolution was read fof amendment Republican Leader Mann l presented an amendment to submit the prohibition amendment to conventions to be called for that purpose. Hc ar- gued that by this plan members of the conventions would be elected on the di- 1 rect issue and the question would be
 brought more directly before the people l aA tn hn Efa