The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-07-31
Vote Tomorrow Will Be Over
the Required Two-thirds by
Safe Margin
STRONG SPEECHES BY
DRY SENATOR'S
Sheppard, Ashurst and Shall
roth Clinch Argument For
Dry Nation-Underwoodi in
Guise of Wet Advocate

Washington. july so.-Eone-ar.
prohihitlonists predicted today that
tho Sheppard constitutional anend-
ment would pass the senate W edne3- 4
day nv a vote OF 50 - - TIL @drEs'
are confident they have the figar wca-
An agreement has been reached
whereby :he ame',9r'ent viii he be-
fore ne states only SIX years, il ny
that rtrsa three -fourths Of the ca9a
rloryyealths have not ratified. i falls
sror1 the calender aetora'icaily
"1Vets' base .he.r hopes Y the Idea
that the 'drys" will not he ah'e ta ~
eleven states 70 the twenty-five al
raady prohibited b. law.
Speeches limited to II hour Tare
beard today. Voting tegins Weanes-
day at Z. NJ.
Two-thirds of the senator's present
must vote for the amendment II II ia
successful Or. Dinwiddie said that
his side would have from two or three
to fifteen ma jority."
Senator Sheppard speaks.
Senator Sheppard beran the
speeches today. O. course, In favor OF
his amendment.
'-rhc sum of s2.5o0.ooo,o 900 Is spent
an7nsTv for whiskey; encugh is CON
saned for each man, woman and
child to have twenty-five gallons each
annually" he said.
That trading in poison like alco-
hoi should have reached the proper
ttor5 it has ard that it's promoters
have acquired the influence they pos
sess is matter of nothing less than
humiliation. Whiskey is a menace
to tie national haalth. nor Is end eff
ficiency and a stain upon the nations
name. II is now time the federal gov
ef.4,nYent stopped, traffic IN 81, son ,
that takes from people six times rs
much as thew spend Tor bread. fen
times as much as thew spend for
furniture and twice as much as they
spend for clothes
Definite effort has been made. said
Senator sheppard. TO enlist organized
labor againsl prohibition. re cites
as one reason the existence of unions
among bartenaers and brewery ana
distillsry operatives
La Dor is asked" he said, ito i'm
neril its very existence. to take food
from the mouths and clothes from the
backs OF it's men, women and chill
dren in order 10 sustain traffic moan
ing hunger. disease. insanity ana
death" ---
Other Dry Speakers.
Senator Sheppard was followed by
Senators Ashurst, of Arizona, and
Shafrotf. of Colorado Senator
Ashurst d. claring himself In favor 81
TN. resolution. He suggested that
some time limit within which the
states might ratifv the amendment to
the constitution should and probably
would be fixed. He said be would
favor some reasonable proposition
alorg that line, one consistent with
the spirit of the resolution. Senator
Ashurst asserted that nothing OBJ
jectionabIe or unwelcome 70 state
would be forced on the individual
states by the adoption of profibi-
ton amendment 20 the re eral con-
stitution He said the resolution pend
ing would simply apply great refer
endum principle to each OF the states
by permittirg them TO say whether
they approved or disaporoved the
aure !, dment. If they wanted the
change from present conditions they
could get it, If not they could reject
IT. the senator added.
Tndrr,vood's Charact 2ristic Speech.
Senator Under ,yood, of Alabama.
who gave notice last week nat he
would speak and vote against the -eso-
luton delivered an emphatic address
in which he sought to MAKE the point
that the people of Colorado, for in
stanca If the proposed amendment
should b. ratified could say what the
peonle OF Alabama should or should
not do In this connection the Ala
hama senator spoke of imposing upon
an unwilling people regulations OF
police character in the hands of the
federal government and through this
n*trumentality control purely local
affairs.
Senator Underwood admitted. how
ever, that some federal regulations les
Sc. imm orality hut he did not think
the one under discussion world have
this effect He asserted that satis4ac-
tory enforcement of prohibition laws
could be secured If the people OF q
| locality We're in favor of such laws.
| He used arguments much heard since
I the fight for prohibition frst was
I started about oppression. and the
rights of the people. the Individual a.
we'll as Of the community
| The Albanian took exceptions 70
what he predicted would result under
nationwide prohibition, the use OF
/ federal oric rs to regulate the habits
| of the people o. tho different states.
His speech dealt much with this
phase of the situation, local self-gcv-
eminent, and there wss much in what
h ssaid to suggest other speeches by
Mr. Underwood on this subject
Senator tnierwood's speech came
a day sooner than It had hsen ex-
lpected. He read It with much cares