The Monroe journal., 1922-12-22
uPSHAW URGES OFFICIALS
TO SUPPORT PROHIBITION
Congressman Who Made Dynamic
Speech Before the House Lectur-
ed Here a Few Years Ago

Congressman Will ID. Upshaw o
Georgia, who stood up in the Hous,
at Washington the other day and call
cd upon the governors of the forty
eight states and public servants ev
erywhere to set an example by abid
ing by the prohibition laws, will bt
remembered by number of Monro,
people, He delivered two lecture.
mere several years ago-one at tn,
graded school and another at tn,
courthouse. Those who attended thes,
lectures will recall that they wer,
characterized by the same dynam;,
strength as the message delivered il
Washington.
AT the lectures in Monroe Con.
gressman Upshaw incidentally told 3
few facts about himself. When lust 8
young man his spine was so injure,
IN q TALL that for seven years he was
conf ned to his bed and unable to dc
more than move. Such was the spirit
of the man, however, that during this
time he wrote a book which he later
peddled through Georgia from a roll,
ing chair. Sales from the book gave
him enough money for an education
at Mercer university, and now we find
HIM representing his distric. in Con
gress.
In his Washington speech Mr.. Up.
shaw urged that the President issue
a ringing Christmas proclamation
calling every citizen and especially
every official to total abstinence foi
the common good" Referring to the
recent governors conference he said
Let these governors, led by the
President and' vice president of the
United States and all the members
of the cabinet walk out in the oper
and lift their hands before high heav-
en- and take a new oath of allegiance
to the whole constitution and the
American flag"
Let them sacredly declare" said
Mr.. Upshaw, "that regardless OF
what their tastes and practices have
been they will never again build up
a bootleggers barbarious business by
drinking any form or any amount
of illicit liquors at any dinner, at
any luncheon, or in any ballroom or
any back alley. Let every member
Of Congress and every United
States senator follow suit; let every
state and federal judge and every
prosecuting attorney in America
stand up like patriotic men and de-
clare they will never again per-
sonally trample the constitution
which they have sworn to obey, and
defend"
Declaring the "plain people
laugh at high sounding pronuncia-
mentos, because they believe that
many" high officials believed in
that 'hi-fa-lutin' autocracy which
claims the privilege of buying and
drinking illicit liquors themselves
while denying the privilege to the
poor devils down among the masses
who are foolish enough to want the
opportunity to buy and drink illicit
liquid damnation." Mr.. Upshaw said
that IF these governors who put
their feet under the Presidents ma
hogany at the white house really
wish to get anywhere in their con-
ferences for law-enforcement, let
them remember what the beloved
and immortal Sam Jones said: "If
you want to reform the world, be-
gin on yourself
Mr.: Upshaw commended Com
mander Alvin 0wsley, of the Amer
lean Legion. who, he said, had de-
elared he would not touch a drop
of liquor while head of the Legion,
and then launched an attack on
Governor Parker of Louisiana, who,
he said had asserted at the recent
governors conference at White Sui
phur Springs, W. Va, that prohi-
biton is failure"