The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-02-19
DR.. Cannon's Statement

Senator r. X Brock. of the Twenty
eighth senatorial district, which in
sk.uies the counties of Amelia Cum
4 herland. Lunenburg, Notoway and
4 Prince Edward, has given but "a state
snent to the press In reply 60 an ar
stIele written by myself for The h'cn
fnend Eirginian, and which was pun
.}sshed In that paper on February 4th
That article was entitled victory Tor
the People; How 1t WAS Won In
that article occurred the following
paragraph:
''The vote of % to II. by which
the senate passed the ball loaded
ed down with vicious amend
ments. furnished no evidence
upon which to base d Judgment Of
the position of senators upon this
bill. 1t had been empbatiCally
declared by those in favor OF the
bin that ii would not he accepted
- with these amendments, ana 1t
was fully understood by senators
that the bin would have to be re-
turned TO the senate for iinal ac~
ton The testing time came Mt
last. and when it came 1t was
found that Messrs Brock CatFon,
~ r.arty,- tsarrrtt,- +c.rte-e. esther,
Massie. Sowder and Watkins who
had voted for the bill with its
vicious amendments. were not
equal 10 the real test. but having
been weighed in the balance. they
were found wanting, and at the
crucial moment deserted and lined
up with the enemy. and in the
cases OF Messrs Brock, Catron,
Early, Hobbs, Massie, Sowder and
watkins again absolutely misrep-
resented their constituents az
those wishes We're indicated by
the election of members II the
a H.
What Are the Facts.
Senator Brock states that ho con-
Eiders the above 10 he IAN unwarrant-
ed and unfair criticism az senator
Early and myself and others who
voted against the report of the con
ferees of the enabling act what are
the facts on the FIRST day of the
meeting OF the general assembly Hon
Martin williams presented to the
house OF delegates a bill prepared hy
the Anti Saloon League of virginia,
providing for the calling OF ap cleo
lion to determine whether the State
of Virginia should prohibit the llCcns-
ing Of the manufacture land sale OF
Intoxicating liquors. The provisions OF
the bill were very simple. J. required
that a certain plumber 81 voters must
petition this governor to call an cleo
ton upon this question oh the fourth
Tuesday in September. the ballot to
read For Statewide Prohibition and
against State wide Prohibition" In
the event a ma jortty of the people
should vote for state wide prohibition
Ii would be unlawful TO manufacture
for sale or 10 sell Intoxicating liquors
within the State OF Virginia. after May
/. 1916. This bill was passed by the
houe OF delegates by a vote OF 10 to
10, on January 22ud.
Senate Committee Amendments.
The senate cornittee on privileges
and elections on January 2sth took
np the house bill and amended IL in
several particulars and reported It out
with the recommendation that it do
not pass. The amended bill provided
for the calling OF an election the
4,h Thursday in June. provided that
the law should not take effect until
May 1917, gave to existing rnanufac-
turers OF wine and it's by-produCts the
right to continue to manufacture.
provided the product was shipped out
side of the State, and charged the
form Of ballot. making it 10 read For
State -wide Prohibition" and For
LEGAL Option" The committee also
proposed an amendment restricting
the electorate to such persons as are
duly qualified voters at the time of the
approval of the act. The senate fixed
the date for the consideration of the
bill for "Wednesday, February attn. one
week after the bill was reported back
to the senate and placed on the cal
endar.
An effort was made TO determine
the position of senator's upon the pas
sage of the bill as ii came from the
house OF delegates, and from all the
Information that could he obtained,
the friends of the bin did not believe
that enough votes could he secured To
pass the bill in its original form. The
question then arose as 10 what amend
fnents must be accepted in order to
secure the passage Of the bill. II
seemed impossible 10 pass X without
ronceding the change in the form of
and the present manufacturers OF
wine from the operation Of the bill.
Il was clearly impossible 10 accept the
fourth Thursday in June as the date
of election IN place of the fourth
Tuesday III September. as that amend
fnent would vitiate the whole bill. II
was also thought 10 be absolutely I'M
reasonable to allow the liquor traffic
tn continue to carry utf fta business ~
The State until May. 1917. The amend
ment restricting the electorate TO
only such persons as are duly qualified
voters at the time Of the approval Of
this act" could not possibly be accept
ed as 1t would have been exceedingly
unfair
Acceptance of Amendments Necessary
The legislative committee of the
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