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

on his resolution. He said "a state has the right to be dry" Liquor business was an 'intrastate nuisance" he said. and added there never has been serious conflict be- tween federal and state laws for pro- | lection of the peoples morals. He por- trayed the devastating effect of liquor "a habit forming drug whose shackied victimsP he said today num- 1 her 100000 people"
 Blights Lives 1 "lt shortens the life and blighfs the offspring" he continued, "and brings hundreds of thousands of people to | crnnkards graves each year. It blights the lives of people before they are | born" he declared
 Representative Hobson spoke only 10
 minutes, then began to parcel out tims 10 members who spoke in support of | hfe ~~sr'utian.
 the -SsoIuuon, said prohibition had | been a success in Kansas. Representative Morgan of Oklahoma spoke for the Hobson plan. | T am for temperance" said Repre- sentative Parker of New Jersey. but
 l believe it is best enforced by careful | regulations supported by the enlight-
 ened public sentiment of each com munity."
 | He referred to instances of alleged nonenforcement. Despite state prohibi-
 tion saloons were wide open in Sa- I vannah, he declared.
 | Representatives Decker. Tribble, Lang | ley, Logue and Bell of California spoke in favor of the amendment. Representa- | tive Ferris of Oklahoma made vigorous plea for it.
 T am for national prohibition because I believe 1t will do most good" he said. There are two sides to this question. | f4 4.l- A. a a Tf | strings, the churches that are trying to save your boy or the liquor interests that are trying to ruin your hoy?" Not Moral Issue l Majority Leader Underwood spoke | against the resolution.
 | This is not a moral issue" he said. "No great progress in the world morality was
 ever made at the point of the sword ! or with the forces of the government be- hind it. We are here today to see that certain police regulations should be turned over to the federal government instead of being allowed to remain in the govern
 ment of the various states where the 1 founders of the nation placed them" | Representative Underwood said he decid- ed for himself and believed in temperance.
 T believe in the temperance of mental | attitude as in the temperance of the body" he declared. He said that he fav- | Ottu tOu0tg iDCdl OptlOU III t1t tFtdtIfltHt l of the liquor traffic and said that that l plan had worked in Alabama. | T cannot commit myself" he said, 'to ! a proposal to rob the individual states of police powers guaranteed them under the 1 constitution"
 Mr. Underwood declared prohibition | W ould cost the American people $325, 900, ,OOO in lost revenue. He said that of the s,o4. 67S,0Oo of ordinary receipts of the govern ment the last fiscal year, $245, 900. or & | per cent, was from internal revenue and customs taxes from malt and vinous spir- its
 State taxes he said, produced s2i, ,000, 900;
 county taxes Se,6oo.oOo more. and revenue
 in incorporated places of 2500 population or more aggregated $52,0oo,0o0, | If there was anything to be gained by | sacrificing all that revenue, he said, fl would be one question; to sacrifice it for
 "a shadow is another question. i He declared that in Georgia with ifl statewide prohibition there was as much | liquor consumed as in Alabama. Boot | logging, they say, he continued, is the | greatest evil of the liquor traffic. Tn prohibition" he said, there were
 800 cases of bootlegging in Georgia last year; in nonprohibition Alabama only 90! | coses. Prohibition does not prohibit" Mir. Underwood declared the principle oi
 national prohibition was the very prin- ciplc which our forefathers fought tho | same principle of centraiization that de,
 stroyed the ancient republics of Greece and Rome"
 Tn an idle hour" he continued, there
 has grown up in thM republic faction
 which clothed In the white robe of tenn. perance-for all men believe in tenn perance-would tear down the fabric o this government and remove the founda. ton stones of our national existence"
 MT. Underwood said he had Agpre, showing that divorces for drunkenness
 were more numerous in prohibition states than in nonprohibition states, and tha,
 saving banks deposits are greater in non. prohibition than the prohibition states
 Only One Way
 There is but one way to work out thi.
 question, and that is by education,'' MT
 Underwood added.
 Representative Adamson said 1t might
 be there were more convictions ii Georgia than in Alabama, and if so 1t was because Georgia voted for pro.
 hibition and enforced the law He said
 that "as between the barrooms ant damnation and prohibition and saliva
 tion, I stand with the drys and not witt the vets"
 He proposed an amendment designed to conserve state regulation of the uss of liquor.
 Representative Rucker of Missour protested what he said was Mr. Un- derwood's contention that the good mer and women of the country were trying to destroy the Fundamental principles of the government. He said MT. Underwood, while talk. ing of possible loss in revenues, failed
 to tell of the millions lost in the drink habit.
 "Is this degeneration of mankind?v ht conclu6ed.
 Tt is my opinion" said Representa-. tive Webb, that the Morrison amend
 ment Is far more drastic than the Hob son amendment. And my reading of ths
 law is that Congress now has the righi to pass legislation equivalent to the Morrison amendment under the provis- ion of the constitution giving 1t the power to regulate foreign, and inter state commerce"
 !, Representative Webb took issue witt
 Underwood. He denied the amendment
 was "a proposal to rob the states oi
 powers now reserved to them"
 If anybody roba the states of any
 power" he said, 1t will be the states
 themselves when fhree-fourths of them
 vote to give their power away" l Mann's Opinion
 Republican Leader Mann said: T am | for temperance and against intemper-
 ance, but I am not able to vote for the
 resolution now pending, or the one
 which may be offered as a substitute
 Representative Hobsop has offered nine separate constitutional amendments
 dealing with national prohibition in this present Congress and believe no one
 knows just what each one of them
 means, or what the differences may be