Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-06-03
PROH|B|T|ONLA
SCORED IN SPEECH
BY JUDGE POWELL
BY HARLLEE BRANCH
(City Editor of The Journal

| the prohibition law with the decla,
ration that it is his calm deliberate
! judgment that no enactment of such
widespread, vicious, universally de,
basing effect on our law and the en-.
forcement of it, of such potency in
arousing disrespect for the law and
the courts, has ever before been
imposed upon our people, Judge
Arthur G.. Powell, of Atlanta, presi-
dent of the Georgia Bar association
! today, in his annual address to the
lawyers gathered here for their con.
vention, created a sensation.
Judge Powells address on Law,
the Twin Sister of Liberty con.
cerned itself with various laws and
their enforcement as we'll as court
practice and procedure. However,
his references to the prohibition law
and the trend in some quarters to-
ward religious intolerance attracted
the most attention from the two or
three thousand lawyers gathered
here
In closing his reference to the pro-
hibition law, Judge Powell said:
Now, l have spoken boldly as if
this were a subject upon which we
would agree. l have spoken more
freely than otherwise l might have
done because my words are in the
nature of a confession of one who
has repented. l was one of those
who. helped to draw and pass the
prohibition law in Georgia.
thought 1t was right; cold facts have
convinced me to the contrary. [
can speak boldly, for 1 am not en-
barrassed by any political associa-
lions Or by any allegiance to liquor
or to any liquor interests. Certain
ly' L have no financial interest in
expressing these views"
Evils of Prohibition
In his attack on prohibition, Judge
Powell asserted: Rum has it's un-
doubted evils, the barrooms were in
tolerable nuisances, the influence of
whisky interests in our politics was
debasing to the last degree. Yet in
flying from these evils we have
flown to worse. We were told that
liquor was the cause of crime, that
it made widows and orphans, that
1t was practically the sole author Of
poverty and distress. Have crimes
decreased? Are there fewer widows
and orphans? Is there less poverty
and distress?
Immediately following the pass
age of the statewide prohibition law
in Georgia in 1907, long before the
war, the capital felony docket in the
supreme court increased in a start.
ing ratio, condition that the pass
age of time has never relieved. The
wave of homicide that swept over
Georgia on the passage of it's state
wide prohibition law found it's coun-
terpart in the wave that swept the
nation on the passage of the nation
al act. IL is no gross exaggeration
to say that where rum has slain it's
thousands, prohibition has slain its
ten Thousands.
Sowing Dragons Teeth
If you do not believe that the
dragons teeth are being sown in
Georgia soil, ride along one of our
pubic roads and see the chaingangs
at work. Notice therein the large
numbers of young white men and
boys most of them offenders against
the prohibition laws
What will be the effect on society
when these men, debased and degrad-
ed as they are by the nature of
their punishment. are returned to
community life, W 'Gev become
fathers of families that are to be
reared among us? There is some
thing radically wrong with any law
that cannot be enforced except at
such tremendous moral cost. The
wrong in the statute is that it is too
.ntemperate. too drastic, that it pro-
hlolts where it ought to regulate.
Perhaps light wines and beer is
the solution. l am not sure of this,
but L do believe that I know that
the enforcement Of the present law
is running the morals of this nation"
Judge Powell at the outset empha-
sized that his criticism was being
made in his personal capacity.
Religious Intolerance
Touching upon religious intoler-
ance, Judge Powell said: when
see statutes passed in the guise of
law for the purpose of giving to some
board or officer a discretion by which
the members of the Roman Catholic
Church may be prosecuted, 1 am
filled with adherence This is SID
posed to be a land Of religious free
dom and of liberty of the conscience.
Yet, can you sum up the wrongs that
would be Gone to Jews and to Catho-
les, even in this very state Of Geor-
gia, if most of their rights were not
protected by fixed laws, instead of
being left to discretion. And this
is true, Notwithstanding the large
number of useful, upright, honorable,
highminded citizens found in the
Of these sects. How.
ever, this spirit of religious persecu-
ton is SO foreign to the inherited
instincts of our people that the hope
Is strong within me that it will soon
pass away"
At the opening session of the con.
Vention several reports were read, |
among them being that of the COM |
mittee on legal ethics and grievances.
of which William H. Barrett, of Au-
gusta' is chairman, and that of the |
treasurer, Z. d. Harrison, of Atlanta. |
Mr.. Harrison announced that he |
would not accept the office again. He |
said he had been treasurer for thir- |
ty-tWo years, and that due to his age |
and duties as clerk of the state SUI
preme court, he felt he should be re.
lieved of the treasurership. Mr.. Har-
rison is one of the most beloved |
of the association.
Nominating Committee
The committee which will nomi- |
nate the new officers for the asso-
citation was appointed by Judge Pow
ell as follows: Sam S. Bennett, AL
oany, chairman; Warren Grice, Ma
con; A. L. Franklin, Augusta; L. q.
Rosser, Atlanta, and Cecil Neill, Co
umbus.
Special ARRANGEMENTS for tho az.