The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1924-10-20
JOHN W. DA WIS
In Congress He Drew Fire Of Dys When He Offered
Amendments to Webb-Kenyon BiI-Fought Re-
call of Supreme Court Decisions,
HIS LIFE STORY

Davis was very much in evidence
on the firing line. His own State of
West Virginia, being dry, was, nat
urally, very much affected. Also.
he served on the committee which
drafted the bill.
When the bill came out of COM
mittee it prohibited shipment of
liquor over a State line into dry
territory. But Davis signed a minor
ity report against it and offered two
amendments which the "drys"
claimed would certainly extract all
the teeth from the measure.
The first amendment provided
any one delivering liquor to a com
mon carrier for shipment into dry
territory should be subject TO a
prison term Of from one month to
two years. a fine Of from 800 to
IS. 900 or both.
The second amendment provided
that nothing in the act should forbid
shipn ent or transportation of liquor
for sacramento purposes or for per
sonal use of the owner or consignee.
No sooner had Davis amendments
been read than he was made the Oh
jective for a concerted attack by the
"drys."
AS a result of this attack, Davis
met his one overwhelming defeat.
His amendments were both showed
underE and the bill passed the House
by a vote of 239 to 81.
Davis bitterly resented the attack
and pointed uut It's injustice.
There seems to have been more
or less deliberate effort TO spread
abroad the impression that our
amendments were not offered in good
faith or from the standpoint Of
friendship to this matter" he said.
This is not true"
II have no sympathy with the
bootlegger or 'speak-easy' keeper
whether he acts in a prohibition
State, a license State. or a dispensarv
State, and he ought to be put out Of
business as quickly in one as in an
other"
Davis announced that he would
vote for the bill regar less of
whether his own amendments were
defeated. and he carried out this
promise when the ballot was taken.
Fought Roosevelt
Davis career in Congress is re.
membered, among other things. for
his denunciation Of Colonel Roose-
welt when the ex- President advocated
recall Of United States Supreme
Court decisions.
In this attack he unloosed all the
burning sarcasm at the command Of
his sharp tongue. praised the SUI
preme Court. and derided Roosevelt
for his "third-term" candidacy.
Referring to Roosevelt and the i'll
dicial decision recall movement. he
said:
There are those who. RECOGNIZING
the need for reform, are readv-to
rush headlong after so-calIed RENE.
dies which when put to the test will
only aggravate the disease they are
supposed to cure.
with those who believe that nv
applying the doctrine Of the recall to
judicial officers the court willebe ele
waited, justice promoted. or free gov.
eminent made secure. L must differ
respectfully, 7 hope, but none the
less with all the vigor I can com
mand.
An ignorant judge may be in
formed, a corrupt judge may be de.
tected and exposed, but a fudge
cowed into impotence or tenpted to
excess by dependence upon the CON
slant favor Of the appointing power
or the continued smile of public an
proval is of all men the most pitiable
and dangerous
IF third term in the presidency
would be extraordinary and uniaue
the recall of judicial decisions would
indeed>be unique and extraordinary.
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