The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-05-15
AUTHORIZATION
Continued from First Page.)

Continued from First Page.)
introduced a resolution instructing the
organization to at once begin cam
\ paign for a big State meeting to he
\ held not later than August 18th.
\ DR.. Mcclure spoke extemperaneous
ly and to the point; Mr.. Cabell spoke
at great length and dealt largely in
statistics; Mr. Taylor was oratorical
/ and Mr.. Goodwin devoted himself to
a TRADE against the Anti-Saloon
league.
4 Appreciated the Honor.
/ Judge Christian, in calling the meet
/ ing to order, read the call for the
meeting. and said: Notwithstanding
some assurances to the contrary, ] am
proud of the distinction OF presiding
over this meeting. To the gentlemen
who have written me about my moral
welfare, / will say that l am about
as we'll able as they to take care of
myself and / will not ask any one of
them to become my guardian. At the
age of twenty-one I entered the Con-
federate army as a private and from
that day to this i have been taking
care OF myself"
| Judge Christian quoted some
aphorisms of Jefferson: The govern
ment had no right to control the rights
of the people; and Government
makes hypocrites and not converts
and in conclusion said: THE enabling
act gives Abingdon and Alexandria the
| right to say what the people of Rich
! mond should do, and that is not de-
mocracy."
| At the close OF the meeting Ben r.
Owen. the secretary, read number
of kilograms 10 the audience in which
sympathy with the movement was ex-
/ pressed. One of these was from the
governor OF Alabama; one from nine
teen merchants in Newport News and
tho others from various citizens of
Virginia.
DIR. MCGUIRE Speaks.
| DR.. Stuart Mcclure, the first speak
er presented by Judge Christian. was
very cordially received. He spoke
briefly and in very deliberate, al
most hesitating. manner. He began:
III believed that prohibition would
prohibit. would he for prohibition.
II I believed that IT would decrease
crime / would be for prohibition, but
study and observation convinces me
that 1t does not decrease crime.
that 1t does no good but is produc-
tive OF much evil" Local option. he
said, had been tested and found true.
He declared that the men behind this
| Ildu no pOiltithi axes 10
grind; not one of them was in the
F., liquor business. and there was mot a
man who signed the call for the meet
ing who did not run the risk of in
| jurtng his business by the stand he
took. He accepted the invitation to
| join the movement, and pledged him
self to do all he could for It. He
was present, he said. not to make a
speech. but to set an example to be
l E1ys
| He was opposed to Statewide prohi-
hition because it is autocratic and
not Democratic, Such questions
| should be left to each community
where the decisions would have the
| force of the people of the community
back of them. Otherwise the law
| could not be enforced. He was OPP
posed to it for economical reasons
| because there Is large amount OF
capital invested in the business and
many employees who would he thrown
| out of work. AS an indirect loss he
said;
! Conventions do not meet in dry
cities and merchants do not trade in
dry towns IL they can help IT." Wine
! aaa- whiskeg, he asserted. were not In
| themselves bad II used in moderation,
but were rather beneficial, and IL the
general need for these stimuiants
would resort to drugs. Lastly. he was
| opposed to the measure legally be-
| cause II was unwise to impose law
! upon community which does not
| want 1t and win not approve of and
/ enforce 1t. In cities. like Savannah,
Mem phis and Atlanta bars are run
! in open defiance of the law. and, while
| Virginians are mighty good people.
! they are no better than other people,
| and the same conditi ms would OBJ
| tain in the cities of Virginia IL the
4 law Is passed.
! Royal f. Cahell. who made the
/ longest speech of the occasion. dealt
| largely in statistics. which, as he OBJ
| served. were not dry" He used Maine.
the first dry States, as bumper for
I many comparisons with wet States
and introduced considerable humor
into his remarks. Stating that he held
no brief for the liquor dealers. he as
serted that In his experience as COM
missioner of internal revenue from
| 1904 to 1913 he had reached the con
c1usion that the laws of Virginia were
as strict and well enforced
! those of any State and better en-
| forced than those of any so-cailed pro-
| hieition States. He argued that with
| prohibition the liquor traffic passed
from the hands OF responsible Ii
censed people to Illicit dealers. who sell
Dviie stuff which he characterized as
squirrel liquor" and that Ia one of
the problems prohibition presents;
when a man gets full of that liquor
his mind turns to many things
| Mr.. Cabell used Maine continually
as the horrible example. quoting DR..
wtfour Crafts as saying that atHins
was the laughing stock of the world
and enough to convince Europe of the
failure of prohibition He stated that
| fifteen out of the twenty-four States
which had voted Statewide prohibition
| had gone back to local option and
gave some doieful statistics OF some
OF their alleged experiences He said
| in conclusion that the advocates of
| prohibition had baked at tho idea of
m AkinE II a crime to take drink. and
yet the transfer of the title to the
drink cannot be per se. crime. II
tho sale Is crime the drinking OF It
should be crime. In that he ex-
pressed the opinion that the prohibit
tionists showed hypocrisy.