The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1914-07-22


The constitution of Kentucky, adopt
ed some twenty-five years ago, con
tanned a provision that required the
legislature to enact a law giving each
county of the state the right to vote
itself wet" or dry" This constitu
tional provision, like the one that pro
hibits railroad passes, was honored il
the breach. Indeed, Kentucky legis
lators have been prone, in matters o:
reform, to adopt the policy Of the Yer
mont Fathers, who resolved that the
laws of God and Connecticut be adopt
ed until We have time to frame bet
ter"
Beckham obeyed the Constitution
and recommended the enactment of
law in conformity with it; but the
liquor interests succeeded in having
exempted the larger cities. g..
Then there was a Sunday closfns
law on the statute books, which was
openly violated in the cities, notably
in Louisville. Beckham was appealed
to, but he had no power to remove
derelict city officials, and could make
only a moral appeal to the mayor OF
Louisville to enforce the law, which
was unsuccessful.
II so happened that shortly after
this the Kentucky Court of Appeals
decided that the election of all of Lou
isville's officials had been procured by
fraud. The offices we're by the court
declared vacant, and the governor was
empowered to I'LL them by appoint
ment. Beckham went over the heads
of the party machine and appointed
a mayor with the understanding that
the Sunday closing law would be en-
forced. 1t was enforced and is en-
forced to-day.
The ''recIiiers" of Kentucky make
a product that is sold as whiskey, but
which is made up Of various occult in
gradients. They we're doing an inn
mense business in Kentucky, and pay
! ing very little in taxes. Beckham Sc
cured a law that taxed these "recti-
tiers' a cent and quarter a gallon Oh
their product. Also, he secured the
i passage of a law prohibiting the ship
ping of liquor into dry" territory; but
Ee Supreme Court of the United
states held that this was unconstitu-
'icGal, SO far as it affected interstate
-niPmentS. The Louisville man, there
J ore, could take his whiskey across
The river to Jacksonville, Ind, and
rom there ship it TO any point. in Ken
: lucky. wet or dry. The Webb law, Ia
ter passed by Congress, is intended to
remove these illicit accommodations
! and stop the traffic.
/ Beckham hardly had time to formu-
late his policies, after GoebeI's death,
when he was obliged to stand for an
/ other election. The politicians were
/ against him, but the people were with
him, and he received the votes of zoo
out of the 900 delegates.
! 1t was in the palmy days of MARI
/ Hanna, and that astute leader, unde-
+ whose auspices Kentucky had gon-
Republican in 1896, believed BeckhaT
could be beaten. The Republicans.
: -asrefore, put up their best man and
/ re.r 5tOUjest purse, but Beckham won
/ y nearly 1000 votes. Three years
/ later there was no opposition to his
nomination, and he carried the State
/ by $4,000 plurality.
} Towards the end of his second term
! as governor, Beckham, in 1906, became
q candidate for the United States Sen
/ ate. His candidacy aroused intense
feeling in the camp of the liquor in
/ terests. In the primary election for
/ the senatorship. in 1907, with the COM
bined opposition of the party machine
and the daily newspapers in Louis
vile, Lexington, Covington and New
port, the four largest cities in the
State, Beckham carried 81 counties
out of 119 in the State. with the liq-
uor interests furnishing a plethOTic
purse toward his defeat. Beaten at
the polls, the liquor interests retreat
ed to the legislature, and four Demo
cratic legislators voted at the beck Of
the whiskey ring for a Republican.
By agreeing to abandon the temper
ance cause for which he had stood,
Beckham could have won; but he re-
fused to trade-Cnce more showing
his courage and his devotion TO prin-
ciple.
In my opinion. gained after jour
ney last summer through Kentucky.
that sacrifice of Beckham for a pTin-
Ciple will make him the next United
States senator from Kentucky as sure
" as it defeated him then. If there is
anything in political justice, if there
is any atonement for political wrongs,
if "a people are not ungrateful or in
different, Beckham will be rewarded.
Not that he looks for reward. Vic
tory is not always the true test of an
honest and righteous cause he said
in a public speech after his defeat in
1908; success, may have its pleasures
but failure may have it's honor
And let me add that, whether you
believe in prohibition. or in the en-
foreement of the law, or whether you
side with the liquor interests in Ken
lucky, the whiskey ring of that state
has exercised more political power OF
late years in the state than all other
cOrDOratiOnS mt tOoether. and il ia