The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1918-02-01

Amendment NOW. What becomes OF
that when you won't let the people
have a chance to vote on the ques-
ton? l say, the people Of the State
don't know what you are doing.
THERE is ANOTHER PROVISION
OF THIS CONSTITUTION OF THE
STATE OF MARYLAND to which 1
would like to call your attention in
this connection 1T SAYS IN THE
SIXTH ARTICLE OF THE BILL OF
RIGHTS THAT "ALL PERSONS IN
VESTED WITH THE LEGISLATIVE
OR EXECUTIVE POWER OF GOV
EMINENT ARE TRUSTEES OF THE
PUBLIC AND As SUCH ARE AC-
EQUITABLE FOR THEIR CON-
DUCT" Those words meant great
deal, Gentlemen, when they were writ
ten in there one hundred years ago.
They mean no less today. They mean
that you are trustees, that the mem
trustees OF legislative power to be used
for the benefit Of the people, and you
are to be held accountable to whom?
To the people who gave you the pow
ers, accountable for the misuse of that
power, and they come to you after you
have voted in favor of the adoption Of
this Amendment and say: Why did
you do it? You say you had the power
to do 1t. What right have you to use
the power we gave you in any such
70 q nd I'D hn tot
power to regulate this thing forever?
What was the necessity for it? Who
made you do it? We did not make
you do it. We did not tell you to
do it. You know it is not necessary
to Go that in order to have prohibit
tion in this State. We have got pro-
hibition everywhere in the State where
1t is wanted and we have full authority
to make the prohibition effective in ev-
cry county by. keeping every drop Of
liquor out Of it by law, If necessary.
In addition to that, We have the
Webb-Kenyon and the Reed laws,
which have been enacted oy Congress
and held valid by the Supreme Court
of the United States, to keep liquor
out Of any State which does not desire
to have it there. With all this on the
statute books, why could you not have
waited before committing US to this
dreadful step BY which you have
stripped US Of the right to regulate our
social life?
Personally, I certainly can speak
without any great feeling or prejudice
on the question Of prohibition. / do
not think that warps my judgment be-
cause 1 recognize the fact that the
Gentlemen who are urging this thing
so vehemently are, as far as l know
them, acting with the purest motives.
acting under a sense of religious duty
and according to deeply fixed convic-
lions. I don't question their sim
cerity for a moment 1 know that
some of them could not be otherwise
than sincere, but, Gentlemen. that
does not decide the question. The
men who burned heretics at the stake
in the Middle Ages, the agents of the
Spanish Inquisition were as sincere
they believed they were doing Gods
service when they took man who
refused to subscribe to the doctrine
Of transsubstantiation and burned him
at the stake, as much as any man.
who Is advocating this amendment
THERE is NO QUESTION ABOUT
THAT, AND YOU CAN NOT TRUST
THE GOVERNMENT OF ANY COUN-
TRY TO ECCLESIASTICS OF ANY
KIND WITHOUT PERIL. LET ME
DEMONSTRATE THAT TO YOU
RIGHT HERE. TAKE ANY ONE OF
THESE GENTLEMEN TO WHOM I
REFER. Some Of them are my per-
sonal friends for whom I have the
highest regard, some of the most in
tense Prohibitionists as know Of, and
you take one Of them and ask him
this question. WHICH DO YOU RE-
GARD AS MORE IMPORTANT, THE
PRESERVATION OF THE RIGHT OF
TRIAL BY JURY, OR THE ENACT
MENT OF THE PROHIBITION
AMENDMENT? And he will vote for
the Prohibition Amendment every
time. Do you think 1t is safe to leave
the shaping of the constitutional law.
the organic law Of this land In the
hands of gentlemen like that?
Gentlemen, it Ia the most dangerous
thing imaginable and that Is what you
are coming to just as certainly as the
sun that shines. You pass this law:
you have this Amendment ratified and
made part Of the Constitution of the
United States; force 1t upon State
like New York. for example, and what
happens? You take a community like
Manhattan, the Borough Of Manhat-
tan, where there would be probably
matorities of hundreds Of thousand op-
posed to 1t absolutely, and look upon it
as tyrannous infection, and you pass
law making it crime in that dis
trict, as 1t would be under this Amend
ment, for a man to make a glass OF
cider or glass Of beer, or give 1t to his
friends, or take 1t across the street and
what would happen? You undertake
to prosecute any man for the violation
of that law and how are you going to
convict him? By jury made up, as
juries would be, Of probably ninety
per cent Of men who feel just the
same way about It as the fellow do
who was being accused? You know
you could not convict any man as long
as you had the right of trial by jury in
that district What would happen
then?
Then they would want the abolition
of the right of trial by jury, and I put
it to my friend. Mr.. Baker, or any OF
these gentlemen, and ask them wheth-
er they would not rather see the right
OF trial by jury abolished than see the
cause Of prohibition fail and they
would say, Goodbye, jury trial"
And If he does not say so, he won't
be comfortable wngn he goes back to
his congregation.
1T is A MATTER OF RELIGION,
ruNNrr,I UAEE1N AMI WIT HANNnr