The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-05-15
VOTE TO OPPOSE
STATE PROHIBITION
Mass-Mceting at Academy Adopts
Platform of Antistatc-wide
Organization.
TO CALL STATE CONVENTION
Approve Plan Calling Conference
Here Before August Is to Plan
Aggressive Campaign.
70 CALL STATE CONVENTION


embracing It's foremost men In COM
meroo and tho professions, assembled
In the Academy of Music last night
adopted as their own q platform for
mulated by tho Virginia Association
for Local Self Government declaring
| the organ!zations allegiance to the
principle OF local self-government
enunciated by jefferson and reaffirm-
ed by President Wilson, and Its hos
tility to Statewide prohibition. which
threatens to nullify that principle.
In many respects the mass meeting
was tho most remarkable ever held
In the city. 1t was tho first time in
the history of Virginia's capital that
citizens OF Richmond found IL neces-
6ary In public gathering assembled to
declare open war on the Statewide
prohibition movement 1t marked tho
beginning OF n conflict which, accord
Ing to one OF the speakers of the even
ing. will shake the State from end to
end and cause untold bitterness and
rccrimination before 1t IL nnally ad-
justed.
On the stage vtce-pres,dents and
sponsors for tho giant gathering. sat
100 citizenu OF Richmond who have at
taincd high standing In tho ctty's life.
The company included the hci<nowl-
edged leaders In business and finance
and men who stand foremost In tho
city's legal and medical professions.
BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL
MEN CROWD ACADEMY
Crowding the Academy of Music
from the ground floor to tho topmost
gallery was an assembly OF citizens
representing practically every art
and Industry that In aggregate make
up the sum of Richmonds assets.
There was vast prepondcrance of bust
ness and professional men OF mature
age and small sprinklnS OF women.
The demonstrations that followed
one nrraignmcnt after another OF the
Statewide prohibition principle left
no doubt as to the crowds position.
1t applauded loud and long the plat
FORM OF the Virginia Association for
Local Self-Government, and made
1T Its own by a majority the over
whelming prcponderance of which was
tho more sharply emphasized by the
few scattering noes" that came from
distant points In the gallery.
scattering representation OF tho
organized anti saloon elements was
on hand TO watch tho proceedings On
the front row OF the balcony sat Mrs.
Virginia May Jobson. president of
tho local chapter of the Prohibition
League OF America. Directly overhead
In the gallery sat Attorney -Gcncral
John Garland Pollard, who presented
former Governor Glenn, OF North Car
olinn, II bare month ago when he came
here To address a mass-mee citing OF
antl-saloon workers In the Same Acad-
cmy of Music.
COMPELLING ARGUMENT
OF ROYAL II. CABELI
The overshadowlng feature OF last
nights mass meeting, which abounded
In many. was the compelling argument
against Statewide prohibition pre-
semtcd by Royal L. Cabell. for four
years United States Commissioners OF
Internal Revenue, and now a member
of the local bar. Based on nrst-hand
Information accumulated by him
through his administration OF the one
office in the United States government
which deals with the liquor supply
question in it's national entirety. his
speech conveyed information which
was at once authoritative and con-
Vincing.
Mr.. Cahell reviewed In brief the his
tory OF prohibitivc legislation in tho
United States. noting the fact that
while twenty-five States have at one
time or another put Statewide laws
into effect, only nine at present have
state wide prohibition. The others,
after one or two trials. have abandoned
the system in favor of local option
one after another MIR. Cabell re-
futcd the favoritc claims OF the pro-
hibitionists lie recited excerpts from
the annual reports made TO the Com
missioner OF Internal Revenues Of
nee. 10 show that the enactment OF
Statewide prohibitory laws does not
decrease the absolute consumntion OF
liquor either in the State Itself or in
the nation at large
MERELY INCREASES SALES
IN ADJOINING STATES
The effect of a states going dry,
said MIR. Cahcli, is merely to increase
the production OF liquor in the nearest
wet state. Thus he showed from tho
commissioners reports, the increased
manufacture OF liquor III Florida more
IMAM compensated the decreased out
put III Georgia. when that state went
dry. When North Carolina entered tho
Statewide ranks, nc said the i,nme-
dintc consequence was an enormous
Increase in the Virginia output
Mr. Cabcll summed up his arraien-
ment OF state wide prohibition as a
principle with an Indictment of it's 4
central tenet, namely, that the act OF
taking a drink is not wrong. but that
The act OF selling drink Is a crime.
such u theory. he held. was indefensI-
BILE. 1t punished tho accessory in
cvime--if a crime IL hc-and allowed
the criminal himself to go free No
prohibitiorist, lie said. has AS yet
dared 10 Do consistent enough To ad-
vocatc law declaring the act OF tax.
ing drink a crime
with four years OF experience AS the
head Of the Internal Revenue Depart
ment Ia ;;iNc weight to his findings Mr..
Cabcll declared his conviction that tho
liquor laws OF Virginia. as at presenk
administered OF the basis of local op.
lion. are as efficient as the liquor Iaws
"t amy state in the Union. The situe-
tioh IN Virginia aS rcgarus the liuuor
traffic and it's effect on the public vel
fare, he said. la far better than the slt
uation in amy of the states where s,..s
CONTINUED on Tniru ausv.)