The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1917-12-27

that is to submit TO the states q
amendment 10 the Constitution givin
Congress authority TO pass nation;
liquor laws, get IL ratified, and tn
difficulty has passed forever The
from time to time the Congress ca
pass just such a liquor law as tn
| people may want, and change IL a
often as the demands Of new condi
tions may necessary. The trouble wit
this proposition is, am told, tina
some day in the years to come tn
people may demand a change in tn
liquor law and the Congress may lis
ten 10 them and change IT, Whereas
IL prohibition is written into the Con
stitution now, no ingenuity of polite
ians or statesmen is ever likely to ge
II out again, and it Is the supreme Law
of the land forever, whether the peopl,
like il or not. Do the recent votes OF
the people in the First Congressiona
District direct me to do that?
There Is a perfectly natural way, q
perfectly logical way, perfectly con-
sistent way, for Vermont to have pro-
hibition for herself and for the ma
tion to get any kind of liquor law it
wants when it wants it. But, in the
face of the votes of the citizens of
the First District who apparently pre-
fer that better way, am asked to
crowd this prohibition intothe Consti-
tuition now because 'the end justifies
the MEANS" must forget my duty to
help preserve the structure and sub
stance of our government and its in
as ! understand that duty,
and join in an attempt to break down
the spirit and philosophy of those in
situations sin order that good may
come"
In this connection, inasmuch as
some friends of prohibition apparently
interpret my attitude toward this res
olution as indicating an out and out
hostility to all temperance measures
and, as some have expressed it to me,
aligning me as a "friend of the liquor
interest" it may not be out of place
TO recite here something of my record
in Congress on liquor law legislation
in brief way.
Several years ago ] voted for the So
,aiied Wcbb- Kenyon law prohibiting
he transportation Of intoxicating
iquor into states under certain eondi'
.ions, end | even voted to pass the bill
! 1 the veto Of President Taft.
| voted fer prohibition in the terri
.ory of Alaska after the matter had
,oen submitted to q referendum vote
# the people Of the territory and a
lrafs Of . prohibition law had been
by tic territorial legislature
nd the authority Of Congress asked
o put it. ito effect.
| voted against prohibition in the
District of Columbia on the reasoning
hat ! could not understand how the
eople Of the First Congressional Dis
rict would want me to help force on
0 the people of the District of Colum-
ia, who had no vote themselves, a
quor law that Vermonters themselves
,ere not willing to live under at home.
| voted for the so-called Bankhead-
iced amendment which forbade the
REGULATION Of liquor advertising in dry
erritory and which prohibited the
of liquor into states
hose laws forbade the manufacture
nd sale of liquor. This made it pos
ible for a state that so voted for pro-
ibition for itself to be absolutely
one-dry, and put the power Of the
Inited States behind its own policy.
A careful analysis of these votes,
nd comparison Of them with my in
ention to vote against the pending
will persuade the fair
,inded man, / am sure, that my policy
, this whole business, from the be-
inning TO the end, has not only been
but has reflected in every
hase and feature the principle re-
arding liquor Legislation that the
oters of the First Congressional Dis
-ict have repeatedly asserted for
at the polls.
| submit TO the candid judgment of
~ constituents in the First Congress
onal District, therefore, these propo-
tons:
This resolution is not war meas
re and its passage will have no effect
law bearing upon the liquor traffic
iring the period of the war.
The state of Vermont can have its
yn bone-dry prohibition law any time
wants to vote for it, and so can
-ery other state In the Union.
The adoption Of the prohibition '
nondment will take away from every
ate forever, as practical affairs go, :
e right to legislate for itself on this
Iestion. If the people Of the district