The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-06-04

;hG power and if it's suppression woul1, in the opinion of the administration CT of Hoover or of the great Christian forces bent over their high task in aid of the President, aid in the winning ot this War. the man who asserts that Ihe President will not take the necessary ne tion is a traitor or fool,
 Now what bearing has this amend ment on the war? None whatever, ex- Icept to embarass and interfere here lat home and humiliate us as weddings and roundheads before our allies. It does not become a prohibition until year after final ratification. If it be- came effective earlier. or during the war, and if the President and his ad . visers, fighting our battle in prayer and agony, believe that the workmen in the shipyards and factories of the east should have mild beers for the period of the war, or that the labor ing man for whom a future of wider understanding, sympathy and useful ness is emerging out of this great cr- sis, would resent the Prussian spirit of this amendment and again distrust the purposes of those controlling this government, then I say that the adop- tion of the amendment and it's enforce ment during the war should be an act of sabotage directly aiding the cause or w 1Illam the Damned
 LET HIM KNOW TRUTH
 But let the prohibitionist who wants prohibition above all else--above self determination, free government or the process of spiritual evolution--know the truth. This amendment by taking jurisdiction of the subject declares it to be the sovereign will of the people that for one year after ratification there shall be an open season on the manufacture and sale of intoxicants. It is the best opinion that all state prohibitory statutes will be repealed just as the statute of Washington fix ing the hours of service of railway em- ployes was held to be repealed when Congress took Jurisdiction one year later. It was held to be the will of Congress and in this case, of the Amer ican people, that the states must not interfere with the subject. If ratified during the war, I shudder to think of the consequences of a repeal of the careful and effective machinery worked out by the states to control-and which do control-this evil.
 "The undemocratic nature of the measure is demonstrated by the fact that storage and personal use are pro-. |tected by the necessary construction of the amendment. The constitutional provision is supreme and cannot be varied by state or congressional choice.
 Tt prohibits only manufacture, trans- portation and sale. The man of wealth
 with his town and country cellars can store up the requirements of gen. erations and consume it with his guests at will. The poor man cannot. The housewife who makes cordial for for the home shelf or scuppernong wine for rare occasions of honor and clean domestic joy must take her place at the bar with the interstate white slaver and explain that she manufac- tured 1t or bought 1t during the year of saturnalia and preparedness which the framers of this amendment hold out. The great captains ofindustry and employers of labor who want absolute prohibition for their workmen have no intention of giving up the privilege of the temperate use of stimulants.
 .In short, this amendment proposes prohibition for the poor man and in- dulgences for the rich, and is in that respect consistent with its other vir- tues. The Tammany bosses of the Ahti- Saloon league, the iunkers of Berlin, Louis XIV and all statesmen of that type whether actuated by bigotry Pharisaism or lust for privilege ard power. believe alike that 1t is the common people who are corrupt. de- bauched. not to be trusted and are properly suppressed. 1 am the state is the chorous of Louis e Grande, Ho-. henzollern and the conspirators against free government in America. EFFECT ON FREE GOVERNMENT
 Now, my friends let us see what this amendment does to free govern ment in America; and what of states rights? It is characteristic of the Teu- ton character of this movement that it's proponents reduce the term, states rights to the level of jealousy and privilege. To a right thinking Amer ican, 1t means the function and oppor- tunity for public service. It includes rights in the restricted or selfish use of that term, but its primary signifi- canoe and that for which we are bat tin gagainst this thing is the prin- eiple of self government. because by no other process can human welfare and progress be permanently worked out The President, with his singular felicity. has stated the case. We now think of the right of the individual as an obligation to be just, rather than as an opportunity to be selfish. Like wise. we now think of the rights of fba rat nn1u nv Cr1ardinp md