Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1915-08-24
THINKS LAW ALL WRONG.
BROWNELL SAYS PROHIBITION
MEASURE INSULT.
Supreme Court Will Declare Statute
Unconstitutional If Lawyers
Guess Is Correct.

The illuminating remarks of George
C. Brownell, one time candidate fol
nomination as governor of Oregon on
the prohibition ticket, on the absorb.
ing question of statewide prohibition
are interesting. Mr.. Brownell has
carefully studied the law which will
be enforced after January /, and
claims that its enforcement will be
difficult, if not impossible, because of
its unconstitutionality. The expense
of applying the law will be a great
burden on the people, says Mr.. Brow
nell, if it should happen that the Su-
preme court does uphold the statute.
The principle of the law is wrong, it
slaps the voters in the face and is an
insult to the conservative temperance
people of the state.
"It is a law that was passed in
obedience to the wishes and dictation
Of certain interests in the city of
Portland, who dictated, directly and
indirectly its passage" says Mr..
Brownell. "It does not an never has,
represented or expressed the real
temperance element of the state of
Oregon, but does express the wishes
and the desires of the liquor interests
and certain other interests in Port
land. The expenses of the enforce
ment of this law will reach away be-
yond the expenses to the taxpayers in
enforcing all the criminal laws now
upon the statute books. The reason
will be that one man, say in the town
of Marquam, another in the town of
Candy, and another in the town of
Sandy, and say another, in the town
of Milwaukee or Oswego, may all at
tempt to have 36 quarts of beer or
some greater number than prescribed
by law shipped to them. In order to
prosecute, complaints will have to be
filed, mileage will have to be allowed
for witnesses from all these different
localities to where the trials will be
held; mileage for witnesses before
the grand jury, and the result will be
that the expense to the taxpayers will
simply be enormous when you come to
put the machinery of the law into eff
feet and into force.
eff the shipping of liquor was con-
fined to one town, it would be com
paratively easy to enforce the law.
but four or five men in a distance of
35 or 40 miles from the county seat
may violate this law in the different
of the state, and the result |
will be, as above stated, that the tax
payers would be ridden to death in
paying the expense of prosecuting
and enforcing the law. If this law is
not repealed or amended in a proper
way we will have higher tax rate in
he state of Oregon than we have ev-
n had before; we will have liquor in
thousands of the homes that have
lever been in the habit of having it
here before; we will see and know
ooner or later drunkenness among
,oys and young people whom we nev-
II knew of before, and the worst and
most serious thing of all is the cor
lupting and demoralizing influence in {
many of the homes. This law abolish {
s the open saloon and in its place
'ermits the establishment of one on a {
mailer scale in every home in the :
tate. The law is unconstitutional I
nd in my opinion will be so held by {
he supreme court of this state"