The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1917-07-31
CONTINUED from PAGE one)

ton lHdt tne accompaniment OF ms
ideals must come through an enlightened
public sentiment, carrying with 1t tn
| acquiescence Of the people in the law
that are written for their government
MEANS DISPUTED
IL there is general assent among al
good people TO the ultimate object tina
the prohibition advocate desires to ac
| complish, there is pronounced dissen
from the people of many states in tn
union as to the ways and means o
achieving it, but it would be unjust t.
| hold the mass of prohibitionists ac
| countabie for the extreme position o
their leaders.
The criticism of personal motives viii
| accomplish nothing for good. We car
try this case only on what will prob
ably be the memorable consequences tina
| win result from the passage of the pend
ing resolution.
1t has been said by another that ''ir
the comfortable glow of reform people
| are apt to forget that in combating op-
preston by an overreachng traffic, il
| Is possible to invite another species Of
! tyranny more inimical to government
because it is subtler, less tangible, and
more enduring in its effect-the tyranny
of political and social coercion exercised
in the name OF public morals. The use
| of force to obtain a Sanctifled end is
as ancient as history, soiling the pages
| of Christianity itself. The prohibition
propaganda merely illustrates a phas.
of such coercion, and the application OF
methods that are more dangerous be-
l.cause of their apparent innocence. A
slight reflection on our theory of gov
eminent should make this clear
THEORY OF DEMOCRACY
The sound and 1lnderlyinp theory OF
democracy that a just form of gov
errment requires the consent of. the gov
erned9 is often subject to perversion
| President Hadley of Yale university in
his standards of Public morality" saEs:
Not content with saying that all just
government is based on the consent OF
the governed the enthusiastic advocates
of democracy hold that if you could
only find what a majority of the gov
erred wanted, you could easily incorpo-
rate it into law. Never was there a
greater practical error Public law, to
be effective, requires much more than
the majority to support it. 1t requires
general acquiescence. To leave the mi
nority at the mercy of the whims of the
majority does not conduce to law or good
government or justice between man and
man. Even Rousseau, the leading apos-
tie of modern democracy, saw this most
CiSATly. flc Sdlu III SupStdutS. "A mo
jority Of the people is not the peopie
and never can be- We take majority
vote simply as the best available means
Of ascertaining the real wisaes of the
people in cases when it becomes neces-
sary e.. do So -
Political principles such as I have just
read, although elementary in their ma
ture, are often brushed aside by those
who advocate sumptuary legislation 1t
does not forgive the error of govern
nlent to be able to command majorities
in legisla tive bodies when a vast num-
Der of people stand in opposition to stat
utes which they feel and believe trench
Oh their personal rights and endanger
their personal liberty.
GREAT DIFFICULTY
The great difficulty in the past IN en-
forcing prohibition laws in many COM
munities has been due to the fact that
the laws were not in accord with the
sentiments of the people who were COM
PEELED to live under them. Enact a law
by insecure majorities in any state in
the union and its fate is foredoomed
in advance. Let the law represent the
enlightened and universal sentiments of
the community and its enforcement will
take care of itself How often has an
obnoxious law, i'll advisedly written, by
Ie5lSlGlu-G.S D6COIIlG Qtdu lSllCI dlu
its nonenforcement pubncity advocated
bringing the entire body of law into dis
respect and disrepute.
Real temperance has made great ad-
vances in the United States through laws
allowing local communities the privilege
of determining for themselves whether
s,lmptuary rules should be adopted for
the government of the liquor trade,
where the sentiment Of the community
has been behind the law. In such cases
the law has been effective and accom-
plished good results but almost univer-
sally where laws of this kind have been
forced upon an unwilling people the re-
suit has been disastrous and no real
good has been born of the legislation.
Let us analyze the purpose of the pend
ing resolution. 1t proposes to- submit,
not to the people but to the legislatures
of IS states, the ratification of con-
stitutional amendment that will give the
federal government and not the state
governments, control over police regula-
tons relating to the manufacture and
sale of alcoholic liquors used for bev-
erage purposes. The adoption of this
amendment will undoubtedly be favor
able to the sentiment of the people in
some of the states. 1t is equally sure
that it will be contrary to the sentiment
OF the people. In a number of other
sta ties.
OBNOXIOUS RULE
In the latter case it will be necessary
to enforce obnoxjous police regulations
upon an unwilling people The amend
\ment may be adopted without the con-
sent of the states representing a ma
jority of the population in the union.
1t will require three-fourths of the As
states to secure its ratification. There
are II states that could not prevent the
ratification of his amendment if it were
agreed to by the other SO. They are Mas
sachusetts, New York, New Jersey.
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan,
Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee
and California, that under the census
of 1910 had population of 50556, 065 out
of total as given by that census of
81 1872, 266 Those u states have 2oS con
gressmen in the House of Representa-
tives and the other SO states have only
1877 If this amendment is adopted it
may be ratified without the consent of
the states / have just named The re-
suit of it's adoption would be to in part
destroy the principles of local self-gov-
eminent. that our people have cherished
and protected since the beginning of the
government. 1t would take away in part
the state sovereignty from the states.
our government under a police autocracy
such as exists in Germany and Austria
Hungary. 1t would entrench national
authority and weaken the sovereignty of
the people in the several states. 1t