The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-02-14

planned. This amendment provides
that nothing In the enabling act liz
to be construed as affecting the pres
ent laws governing the sale OF cider.
Mr.. Leedy, Of Page: Can the gen
tleman from GILES tell me what the
present laws are concerning the per-
centage OF alcohol in CIDER"
Judge Williams: II cannot"
Mr.. Leedy. 1T is six per cent and
yet you allow your people to drink TINS
stun and yet won't allow them to drink
beer, which contains just three per
cent"
Judge williams professed Ignorance
of the statutes in regard TO the per
cent of alcohol in cider. but said:
There never was prohibition bill
passed in the United States that didn't
allow the sale OF cider"
Mr.. weaver: Was there ever pro-
hibition bill passed in the United
states that permitted the manufacture
OF beer and wine?'
Judge Williams: mo. but we have
these restricted so that they will have
to sell their products outside of the
state" Then came rather personal
discussion between Judge Williams
and Mr.. Leedy. The gentleman from
Page asked II he could ask Judge VIII
liams another question. Judge VIII
liams answered. mo. ] have difficult
ties enough. but j want the gentleman
to know that | have the most pro-
found respect for him and would not
do so under any other circumstances"
Mr. Leedy. II thank the gentleman
for his respect and ! can assure him
that he certainly has difficulties before
him."
Judge williams then stated that
everybody couldn't get what they
wanted and repeated the history of the
measure since the legislature converted
in January, and declared the report
of the conference was the very best
thing that could be obtained.
The Evil Recognized.
In answer to question as to wheth-
er the next legislature could not amend
or twist the enabling act. Judge Will
liams stated that the hands of the
next legislature were not tied. and
they could make such laws as II saw
fit.
He declared that every one recog-
nized the evil of whiskey and that to
allow the sale OF IL would only inten-
sify that evil. The enabling act as IL
now stood, he declared. would mini
mize the evil, but no law yet had ever
prohibited 1t. He stated that murder
was against the law, and that men
had worked ever since the first muir
der was committed in an effort to stop
murder but there was nothing that
would keep man from numbering his
fellow man.
The only thing that could be done
was to minimize the sale of whistey
and this could be done by passing the
enabling act and stopping the proniS-
cuous sale of the stuff in the State.
Mr.. oliver, of Fairfax. the minority
member Of the conference committee
from, the house, took the floor and con-
graduated the defense the gentleman
from Giles had made of the bill. which
he fMr oliver considers indispeasa-
BILE
1T seems strange" he said that
we should act on this measure. Fri
day. the 18th. but ! hope the future
generations will not be able TO point
back and call this the Black Friday
Of the State of Virginia. He de-
clared that If the people of the State
had asked for a vote on the question
Of Statewide prohibition that they
should be given a bill that would let
them vote on the question they wanted
instead of this conglomeration or
prohibition and free manufacturing az
ardent spirits. He said that after
reading the conference report It was
easy 10 see that only a small NUM-
Der of drinks are prohibited, and that
a large number of ardent spirits had
been exempted, and he called upon
the members who were pledged to
vote for the enabling act, not to ac-
cept the amendments as returned in
the report, but send ii back to an
other conference committee.
Oliver Blames Cider Saloons.
He declared that he would not vote
for any bin such as the enabling act.
stating that it was like throwing 1t
eli
Ia not so much the fegalized saloons
which have proper police protection
that do the harm. but ii Is the cross
roads hard cider saloons, which do
the evil. for II the citizens of the coun-
try cannot get whlskey they are going
to drink this hard cider. which may
be any percentage of alcohol Mi.
Oliver then launched into an attack
on the measure on the ground that
ii was giving TO the people the refer
endum vote which they have not got,
and If they have, he said, the present
bill granting the initiative and refer
endum was unnecessary. He declared
that IL Mr. Williams would put the
time limit to May /. 1917. and cut out
the wine. beer and cider amend
ments, he would content himself with
merely voting against the measure,
and would not fight IL again.
Mr.. MeetZe, or FrlnCe WllAam: II
we keep sending the bill back and
forth from conference committee
until the end of the session, what will
become OF the bill?
Mr.. Oliver: IF you have enough
votes you can get il out of a con-
ference committee, If not then the bin
is dead
He then told of the breweries al
most on the border of the State. and
the ease with which they could haul
their wares across the line and then
bring them back to the people of
those communities.
Mr. Willis, of Roanoke, to cut off
further debate. moved the pending
question as to whether the conference
committee report should be accepted
or not This was carried by vote
Of 81 to IL.
Mr. Stubs, of Gloucester, claimed
the floor, and declared that. although
the pending question had been called,
he wanted to ask a question, or rather
raise point of order. The point
was that as the conference report was
indivisible, the committee had no right
to interfere and bring back other
amendments. and he asked the chair
to rule whether the committee had
this right or not. The chair ruled
that they did have. the right.
The HOusc Accents