The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1917-03-02
VETS and DRYs |.
HAVE WARM SCRAP
RESOLUTION CONCERNING LlQ-
uoR COMMITTEE FINALLY
IS VOTED DOWN. 81 {
THREE HOUR DEBATE STAGED
Battle Clears Air of Liquor Legislation
and Other Matters Will Now
Get Attention. }gr.f,,,
(From our Special correspondent

(From Our Special Correspondent
Lansing,
Enthused by the action of congress
in passing the Reed amendment to the
! postal appropriation bill, which makes
bone dry" every prohibition state in
the union by stopping the Importation
of liquors into them, the bone dry
forces in the legislature iprecipitated
the big battle OF the 1917 session.
Rep, Sigurd Nelspn. Of Gogebic
county, brought forward a resolution
reprimanding the liquor committees
OF the house and senate, which have
| worked jointly on the dry bills. The
resolution was prompted by an an
nouncement of the subcommittee of
! the liquor committees, widely printed
in the daily papers. that the commit
tees had agreed to plan TO submit
another constitutional amendment in
April to have the people of the state
declare just how dry they wanted to
be, following their vote for prohibit
ton last November.
The tussle between the bono drys
and the moist forces since the open
ing OF the legislature was tie reason
for the subcommittee determination
on another vote. The An:iSaloon lea
que leaders endorsed the plan for
an April vote. So did Lieut. Gov.
Dickinson.
Bone drys opposed the idea so
strongly that despite the announce
ments that it had been agreed upon,
the first official announcement made
in the house of representatives re-
garding 1t was a statement by Rep.
Lynn Lewis, chairman of the house
liquor committee, that it would not be
brought before the house at all.
This declaration came in connec-
ton with notice served by Rep. Mel
son that he would introduce his repri-
mand resolution. On the same day,
but at later hour, came the news of
the passage by congress of the Reed
amendment. AS the latter compels all
prohibition states to be bone dry 1t
was rather discomfiting news to the
moists in the legislature, and CORE
spondingly agreeable to the bone drys.
Rep. Nelson followed with his reso
luton, one Of scathing condemnation
of the liquor committees course. 1t
declares that the house repudiated the
action of the committee in voting to
that it would not report out bone
dry bill and also repudiated the an
nouncement of the subcommittee re-
garding an April vote.
An effort to have the resolution
tabled was defeated by vote Of 48 to
80. Chairman Lewis, of the liquor
committee, warned the drys who voted
against tabling the Nelson resolution
that they were being led into a trap
by the vets,
Rep. Nelson had Rep. Lewis admit
that he did not charge him with being
aligned with the vets and then fol-
lowed with a forceful talk supporting
his resolution and declaring that the
house sentiment was for bone dry
laws and that the liquor committee
was not rejecting that sentiment. Rep.
Sheridan Ford, of Detroit, said he was
glad the state would have, under the
Reed amendment IAN honest-to-God
3 anu ilOI a ny pOCllllCdl
stitute for it," Rep. George Z. Near
thur, author OF the bone dry bills,
declared that he resented the charge
of being led on by the vets and added
that the committee, of which he is a
member, had told him that 1t would
not report out a bone dry bill
number who had opposed the
/ 80 80 No kto,,
were opposed to its passage on the
ground that it slapped" the liquor
/ committee too hard After a three
hour debate that waxed acrimonious
at times the house voted down the
Nelson resolution, 30 ayes to 55 noes.
The battle, however, cleared the
air in regard to liquor legislation. 1t
was declared that bills would be forth
coming promptly from the liquor COM
mittee,, providing for bone dry laws
as we'll as for the moist" Wiley bill,
with the limited shipment Of liquor
clause cut out of it.
Lieut.. Gov Dickinson declared that
the Reed amendment In congress
solved Michigan's law problems and
that short law covering the points
/ in the constitutional amendment is
the only thing now needed to make
Michigan the dryest of dry states. An
ti-Saloon league leaders declared
themselves heartily in favor of the
I passage of laws prohibiting the i'm
portation of liquor for beverage pur-
poses.