December 17, 1917

"Yes; DO out of D7 counties show decrease . e in crime.” ."

Barton County: "Yes; jails empty, crime largely reduced."

Bourbon : "Yes."

Chase: "Pauperi m and crime reduced 50 per cent."

Uoud: "Yes; expenses of criminal court much less · · than unuer Dickinson : "Loss of revenue not more than $3,000, saving to famtIie ·, $50,000."

Pawnee: "Yes; taxation and crime decrcasell, busine . . I.Jt•nefitt'd." Oh, ye ; prohibition almo. t ruined p ot· Kansu~. .J u!':t recently a well-edited journal told the country how 11rohihition killed Kan. as:

The grape indu try is not the only thing ruined by prohibition In Kansas. In fact, prohibition has killed about every industry in Kansas, excepting the raising of wheat and corn, alfalfa, and fruit, and live stock, and potatoes, anti pease, and cabbage, and garden sass, and chickens, :mu ducks, a.nd geese, and horses, and mules, and I.Jloodt'd cattle. It bU3ted up quite all of our flourishing saloons and beer gardens and para.ly:z:ed many of our prominent gamblers. It au:olutely killed the bartender. • union. Where once the thriving saloon sent the clamorous odor of its prosperity out upon the sidewalk. and clear across the street we find nothing but shoe stores, , dry goods stores, meat markets, clothing stores, grocery stores, and other sordid activities of a.n unhappy people. Where once ron saw the long strides of men on Saturday night going joyfully into the rooms where the doors were locked securely, where there was . a.wdust on the floor and a merry crowd a.t the mahogany bar treating all around, and a man could get his salary check cashed and spend it all right on his boon companions and go enthusiastically home and break up furniture and give his wife a black eye, instead of all these manifestations of a. prosperous and thirsty citizenship, as in our saloon days, we sec men go quietly into butcher shops and grocery stores and thE>~ go home lugging great bundles of supplies for their wives and childt·en-beet~ steak for supper, Sunday dinner, etc. Ah, what a. sad re ult of the banishment of saloons ! Prohibition has left little of Kan. a · except her fields, and factories, and schools, and stores, and pens of fat cattle, and her sober and happy and prosperous people.

IOWA.

A railroad officer in Iowa t~tifiecl with ref renee to prohibition there: It One barrel of whi ky under prohibition, when there was a. carload under license. One keg o! beer now, when there was a trainload On November 27, 1887, He.nry ,V. Grad;r, the mo t eloquent southerner for a generation, made a statement about probibitiou in Atlanta, and his splendid word ring like a trumpet. When everything else I have said or done is forgotten I want the words I have spoken for prohibition in Atlanta. to be remembered. I am firm in tbc conviction that Atlanta ba prospered -tllltler ller two years of prohibition as she has never prospered before, and the IOU IS .1 experiment of prohibition in a large city succeeded in Atlanta as no experiment unrlcr like ob . obstructions ner succeeded before.

But the revenue. Many people can not be influenced by an}~ ar~nment other than the dollar argument. Our lust for gold should not outweigh our love for our children, but to many men and to some women the clink of gold and the rattle of silwr are both mu ic and poetry. Prohibition greatly reduces taxe by · 1e. seHing court expenses; but admit the loss of revenue, I for one am willing to pay something for the protection of our boys. If you want the saloon for its revenue you should be wllling for your boy to patronize it, because the saloon can not nm without . boys any more than a gristmill can run without corn or wheat. If you want the saloons' revenue are you willing to contribute your boy to keep the saloon running? And how little you get for that boy ! The a erage town will get about 30 cents per capita from saloon licenses. Sell for 30 cents your self-respect, your boy's chances of succe s, -you-r girl's prospects for happiness! Men who do that feel like 30 cents and look like 30 cents. A month-old Jersey calf ''m sell for more than a whole room full of fellows who a se ~ them• selves at 30 cents a piece. The man who grows a bushel of wheat or a bale of cotton adds that much to the world' wealth. He is a producer. The saloons are not · producers. They pay money, it is true, for license, then they collect it back and tnil· lions more from those who are least able to pay it. -say :i laborer drinks three beers a day. At the end of a year .that will buy a long list of groceries, flour, beef, vegetable , coiiee, and other necessities. Say the mechanic spends 20 cents a day for whisky, a very modest sum, and yet that is $70 a year, and more than enough in 10 years to buy a modest cottage. Who pays the liquor tax? Do you see that faded, wrinkled, poorly clad woman at the washtub? She is paying the liquor tu. Do you see that barefooted newsboy with his hah· peepmg out through a hole in his cap? He is pa:ying the liquor tax. Do you see that pale-faced girl with her little tin dinner bucket going to the factory 'l She is paying tbe liquo1· tn.x. Oh, the cry of the children and the wail of the women condemned to walk the treadmill for King Alcohol . Their cries shoUld smite our hearts when we grow weary and are incli-ned to rest from liquor fighting. Oh, What a long list of sins many of us will have to answer for for our neglect and ill treatment of the mothe-r of our children. Let us quit it, and by leaving off liquor and by helping to destroy it we will pai-nt O"n the white cheek of many a suffering child the red roses of health, and the ringing laughter of childhood will take the place of groans of sorrow. We ·will lift from the backs of prematurely aged w · omen grievous burdens -and feed their starved hearts with joy and love and tenderness. Revenue! No matter how badly the Government of ·washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, McKinley, and Wilson needs money, " it should not permit any individual or corporation to capitalize the sins and appetites of our people. Revenue! Judas took the accursed silver and threw it at the feet of the high priests, and even they would not put it into the treasury because it was tainted with blood and bribery. Revenue! It is a great consolation to a hungry homeless wife to know • that h&· hu band died by drinkiDg a high-license whisky. The majority of women are against whisky, and I have great respect for the judgment of good women. Womankind has a long indictment against King AlcohoL He has torn her husband from her side and hurled him into hell. He has snatched her father from her and hurried him to a drunkard's grave. He has stolen her first born from her arms and landed him in the penitentiary for crimes committed while under the ipfluence of drink.

I congratulate the Christian ministry and Christian laymen for the fight they have · made on this giant eviL The saloon would destroy the church if it could. arid the church can destroy the saloon if it will. I love and respect a church militant. Nothing of lasting good has ever been obtained without a fight. The world’s great men and women have been fighters. Peter the Hermit in the eleventh century tramped over Europe preachI ing the crusades. ·• Deus vult! " was the rallying cry of the crusaders. This was a religious crusade solely. No spoils were to be gained. Pope Urban II at Clermont, in one of the greatest speeches ever made, told the crusaders that they would march to Jerusalem and take it · from the ungodly, but that they must not expect earthly · reward. He told them that they must turn their backs on the home they loved ; they must cross wide and stormy seas; they must walk with bleeding feet over the burning desert; they must face with dauntless breast the sword of the infidel ; they must do all this without hope of reward other than a conscio:usness of a high duty loyally done. In passing, it is · a happy Christmas consolation to know that Jerusalem _ lem and the Saviour's tomb has just fallen as a war prize to the Christian soldiers of England. In this crusade we are fighting for home :mel family, and we shall receive both spiritual and ma:terial re\-vanl. Martin Luther nailed to the church door a.t Witten burg a bold challenge that is still echoing around the world. The men "·ho have done things for God or humanity have fought, sword in hand, for the right as they saw it. Even the Prince of Peace Himself overturned the tables of the money changers and scourged them from His Father's temple. He died a bloody death, and most of His disciples died martyr s in the cause they loved. One hundre<l thousand twentieth century priests as consecrated as Peter the Hermit and 100,000 l\lal'tiu Lulhers are now waging a crusa<1e in a nobler cause than tho e waged by the medieval friar and the German monk. But these minister leaders must hnve follower , and all men and women who love their country should fall in and fight under the snowy banner of national " prohibition.

They say we can not stop the sale of whisky. Why, we have the blood of the Vikings in oUT veins. Must we tremble and whine at the feet of the beer barons and let them whip u like cu:J,'s? We can not enforce our laws? Why, man, if you will not help do that. go home and put on your wife's dress and wash 11 the di hes and ' rock the baby and let her take an ax and go out and lilla h the tigers. Ca:n not drH ' e out blind tigers? Why, a few honest, courageous officers and a half dozen determined weu can search the joints every day if necessary · ary and pour the life blood of the tiger into the street. It will do less harm there than anywhere else in the world. Can not enforce our laws? What do you say to that, descendants of the English Puritans ·what do you say, children of tb French Huguenot ? What do you say, men with Cavnli~r blood in your :veins? We are not cowards. Must we, in a sla ye's whisper, say to King Alcohol: "Sir, your hand is always raised against our laws; you sell on Sunday ; you sell to minors ; you sell to drunkards ; you are the foe of the church, of business, and of the home ; you are a menace to the manhood and womanhood, the peace, and virtue of the country, but we arfi afraid of you. We haven't got the courage to take you by the throat and hurl you from your throne? " In the South and W t live t11e descendants of the pioneers who won this fair land from savage beast and savage men. No have no more determined people ever lived. Here live the best types of American manhood and womanhood, anu we can and we will protect and defend the land of our birth · from any lawless power that seeks to rule and ruin us.

This amendment will soon pass and liquor will be drive from our shore like pirates were driven from the high seas. Twenty years before slavery was destroyed but few believed it would ever be done. Liquor will go like slavery, and it i~ a thousand times the gr~ter curse. Th.e people are now in arms against it. But few States have saloons without restrictions. The people will fight liquor fairly but they will wit! the ballot and with the law destroy the traffic in the end . A Te.xa.s judge, just after the Civil War, was engaged in the trial of a horse thief, and in the opinion of the Texas people then horses were more valuable than horse thieves, and they always hung the thief. · The judge before proceeding with the case said to the defendant, "Now, sir, I am goi~g to give you a fair and impartial trial ; but I am going to hang you just the same.') Such should be the attitude of the people toward King John Barleycorn, and such will be his fate.

Oh, the miseries, the tears, the crimes, the deaths chargeable to this prince of de troyers. King John lays his heavy hand on the smallest and the greatest of earth, and · they die his victims. The great son of Phillip conquered every foe save wine and death, and died like a dog. Lord Byron's brilliant mind and handsome face were debauched a . and destroyed by drink. The great Burns drank heavily, and going home one night from a drunken orgy he sank in a stupor by the roadside and thereby contracted an illness _ ss which soon stole the color from his splendid face and the glitter from his fine eyes, and long before his time this gifted son of Scottish song struck his colors to the pitiless foe that always conquers. ·

Who are for whisky? Those who make fortunes out of it. Who are agai""Q.~ it? The mothers of the land, because it destroys their loved ones. The ministers, because liquor undoes what th~y do. The officers of the law, because alcohol is the unapproachable chief of all causes of .crime. The doctors advise against it because there is no more potent source of disease. The .judges are against it because of its appalling record of mi ery, pauperism, and crime. Statesmen are against it because it is a menace . ce to stable government. Educators are against it because it is a grim threat to every child in the land. Oh, I can call a clo:ud of witnesses to condemn it.

1.\lrs. Lititia Youmans say :

We have been selling our boys to pay the · revenue. It is a. crime. Dt. James Miller says: ·

Alcohol is a poison. It kills in large doses and half kills in slliallc r · o.nes. H produces delirium, insanity. It poisons the blood and wastes the man.

Blind old Homer, noo years before Christ, said:

l 1 'at· from me be the gift of Bacchus, pernicious inflaming wine that 1'\ e :tk ens I.Joth uouy and mind.

Bi~h op Foss . ail!:

.As a bristian minister I oppose drink because it opposes me. The work I do it undoes. It i an obstacle to the spread of the gospel and whose complete ucce s would drive the gospel from the earth.

Judge Allison says:

VIe can trace four-fifths of the crime! committed to the influence oc rum.

Year· ago Lord Chesterfield said:

Luxury, my lords, is to be taxed, but vice prohibited. Let the difficulty in the law be what it will, would you levy a tax on a breach of the Ten Commandments? ? Governments should not for revenue mortgage the morals and health of tlre people.

On the lOth <Jay of November, 1890, the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Cowley, chief of police, ngnin t Clu·i tian. en, said, among other things:

~'he statistics of every State show a greater amount of crime and misery attributable to the use of ardent spirits obtained at these retail liquor .· saloons . than to any . other source. There is no inherent right to sell intoxicating liquor by retail. It is not a privilege of a citizen of the United States or a citizen of a State. As it is a bustues . attended with danger to the community it may be, as already aitl, entirely prohibited.

This great court has recently upheld prohibition legi lation. They say that when saloons are legislated out blind tigers will follow. Yes; ; for a time, per hap for a long time. Maine has had tigers for more than half a century, and decidedly prefers them to the saloon, but gradually she has been ridding herself of the wor. t of them. Of cour e blind tigers will follow saloons, but one saloon is worse " e t ha:J. many blind tiger ~ . If we wait 10 year and then abolish the saloon, they will then be followed by the tigers, so that the quicker we begin the fight against the licensed evil the quicker ''e shall get rid of the unlicensed evil. The sooner we get to the tigers the sooner we shall kill rn1 1 , , f tl · f tl t' tl 1 tl wm . ..L 1e longer we ue er .1e coming o 1e tigers the longer we S]ln.ll llaYe liquor.

· we must not give up the fight. The gotl of battles is with u . The great spirits of Gou~h, Neal Dow, Frances Willard, anll a thou and other brave men and women who fought wrong nn<.l rum before we were born are looking down on us to-day and are bidding us Godspeed. Outlaw this giant outlaw that . Ita ever hall his hnncl rai. ·ed against our law and against our best interests. Give us a . sober America and we shall have a free and pro perous America. Men who drink, have .. . 0 u not served his maje. ty, King John, long enough? Are you not tired seeing the brewer' wife nn<l daughter sweep by you in silk 4' 1 ]' d · tt t' to th 1 J furs, ~1m t mmon s, 11aymg no more a en lOll you an ;\ ' you were a slave, while your own unhappy wife live in a rented home and your <.laughter i. clerking in a depart : ment store when she , should be in school? What money bought those silks, furs, and diamonds? ? The money you , spent for beer. l\Ien, have you not been building palaces for the distillers and brewers long enough? Quit drinking and build a cottage for your own family.

Whatever i wrong, per se, can not be made right by honied excuse, . e, by golden bribes, or by specious promise of improvement. The l\Io<lel License League, alarmed over the fight now being waged against liquor, is advocating respectable saloons, improved groggeries. · when serpents, with their fangs undrawn , and their poison sacks undisturbed, get to be harmle s and attractive pets, then I will believe that the saloon can be purified and made u eful.

We must have nation-wide prohibition. We must pass this amendment. We want the strong arm of the Government on the side of the people in this fight. Then we shall ba'e potent protection.

After all, the only sane course is to oppose with the utmost vigor wrong wherever you find it. It is the only consistent course. This liquor evil should ask no quarter. It degrades an it touches from the time it leaves the still till it lands its victim in jail, in the poorhouse, or in the grave. It makes the tender-hearte<l man cruel as a murderer. It converts a man of energy into an idler. It smothers the laugh on the lips of the child. It fills the home with hunger and silence. It changes the wife's love into despair and her pride into shame. Do not tell me that we shall in any way compromise with the evil that has wrought such misery in the world. · what excuse is there for its existence?

There is an old legend that once upon n time an angel visited this earth, and he came to a sawmill and said, "What are you?" " I am a sawmill," was the answer. "'Vbat do you make?" "I make lumber." What is your raw material?" said the angel. "Logs . " "Is your fini hed prodm : t, lumber, worth more I than your raw material s . logs?'' Yes,” said the sawmill. "For what b lumber usNl?" "It is us~cl to build houses for the people ami for many useful purposes." "Very weB," said the- angel, "you serve a u eful purpose. Turn on the steam and let me hear the ' music of the saw and the hmn of the machinery." He next went to a gristmill, and be said, "What are you?" "I am a gristmill," was the answer. "'¥hat do you make? " " I make meal and flour:' " What is your raw material?" "Corn and wheat." "Is your fini hed product worth more than your raw material?" "Yes." "Very well," said the angel, "you are a public necessjty. You cOntribute to the comfort and convenience of mankind. You l'te ·erve to live forever. Turn . on the steam and let me hear Ute melody of your busy wheels." He next came to a distillery, and said, "What are you?" "I am a di tillery," was the answer. "What do you m~e? Now," said the angel. "tell me the truth, because from your appearance and from the crowd around you, you do not look very truthful. Tell me what you make." "I make drunkards,” said the distillery. What is your raw material?" said the angel; "now, tell me the truth." · Tl1e distillery said, "l\Iy raw material is the American boy." "Then," said the angel, "I know that your finished product, the drunkard, is worth less than your raw material, the American boy, with his happy face and his heart free from care. You have no excuse for existing. You ought to IJe bani he<l from the face . of the earth." .

The old negro mammy who mu· ed me used to tell me that "white folks and nigger mu t . each eat ~ . peck of dirt." and I think I got my share. I know 1:\yo young men who were reared 3 miles south of my home town who swallowed 900 acres of the best black river-bottom dirt I ever saw. They ~ot more than their share. _,ftr

Strong drink is a warrior whom no victory can satisfy, no ruju satiate. It pause s at no Rubicon to con itler, pitches uo tents at night, go s into no quarters for winter. It conquers amid tile burning plains of the South, where the phalanx of .Alexander halteu in mutiny. It conquers amid the snowdt1fts of the North, where the grand anny of Napoleon found its winding sheet. Its monuments are in ~very burial ground. Its badges of triumps are the weeds which mourn _ crs wear. Its song of victory is the wail that is heard in namah, "Itarh~l c1·yin1,; for her children and weeping because they are not."

The sword is mighty and it· bloody trnces reach across time, from Nineveh to Gravelotte, from ?.iarathon to Gettysburg. Yet mightier ls its brother, the wine cup. I say "brother" and history says ·• brother." Castor and Pollux never fought together in more frat rMI harmony. David and Jonathan never joined in more generous rivalry. Hand in band they have come down the centuries, and upon every scene of carnage, like vulture and shadow they have met and feasted.

Yea; a pair of giants. but the greater is tlie wine cup. The sword has a scabbard, ancl is . h<'a.thed; has a conscience, and becomes gluttftl with havoc; has pity, a.nd gives quarter to the vanquished. The wine cup has no scabbard and no conscience; its appetite is a cancer which grows as you feed it; to pity it is deaf; to sutrel'in~; it i blind. 'f The sword is the lieutenant o! Death, but tlle wme cup is hi · captain, and if ever they come borne to him from the wars bringing their troJ.lhies, boasting of their achievements, I can imagine that Death, their master, will meet them with garlands and with song, as the maidens of Judea met Saul and David. But as he numbers the victortes o! each his prean will be. " The sword is my Saul, who has slain his thousands; rmt the wine cup is my David, who has slain his tens of thousands."

This is a great contest. In a short time we shall be voting. The · bugles ''ill soon sound the charge. Swing into line, Members, and vote for home, sister, and mother. When the Georgia prohibition bill pas ed one of the younger members telegraphed home these words: Mother, you won."

l\fy people were Scotch-Iri h, and I have always loved the heather-clad hills of Scotlnnu. In childhood I never tired of reading tales of Bt·uce and Wallace and the kilted highlanders, the 1\IcDonalds, the Campbells and the Camerons, the Murray) and the Lindseys. It was the custom there in the wild days of border warfare to summon the clans to battle by sending a fleet-footed messenger through the highlands with a burning cross, and as the cross was carried by each clansman's door he was expected to hurry at once to the meeting place, and no loyal highlander ignored the summons. Scott's heroic verse vividly describes this scene:

When ruts the cross from man to · man,

Vich .Alpin's summons to the clan,

Burst be the ear that fails to heed.

Palsied the foot that shuns to speed.

Let us pass this amendment and go forth to the States to secure its legislative ratification. Carry then the burning cross of this crusade to every home in our great Republic and invite every man and woman to rally . to the support of the ratification of this amendment, and "burst be the ear that fails to heed, palsied 'the foot that shuns to speed."

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman from Arkansas has expired. The gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. GnAHAM] is recognized.

1\Ir. GRAHAl\1 of Pennsylvania. 1\Ir. Speaker, I yield even minutes to the gentleman from California [l\Ir. KARl'\].

The SPEAKER pro tempore. . Tf1e gentleman from California is recognize(} for seven minutes.

1\:Ir. K:AH:N. Mr. Speaker, immediately after the Civil War Congre s for days wre tle<l with the adoption of the · fourteenth and fift~enth amendment to the Constitution. They were ultimately sent to the State for ratification. They were :finally WTitten into the fundamental law of this country. They are to-day a dead letter. Nobody recognizes them as law. No effort is made to enforce them. And you now propose again to~·vrite upon the statute books of the Nation a provision that will become a dead letter. You are simply creating a contempt for law. We have prohibition laws in many of the States of the Union. Are those laws enforced? You know they are not enforced. You know that there is drunkenness even in Maine, which was the fir t of the prohibition States, and it will continue o, because man ''ill get liquor by book or by crook if he wants it.

There are more people 'Ybo die every year from overeating than · who die from ovenlrinking. The doctors will tell you tllat. here are 7,000 people drowned every year in the United States. Do you want to stop p · people from going in swimming because you have a large number of deaths from drowning every year? By analogy you ought to be willing to pass prohibitory laws against swimming . Oh, those who favor this legislntion tell you · that liquor i the cause of the downfall of many men. I recognize that fact. The abuse of liquor, not its u e, does cause the downfall of many men. But there are thou­ . nnds of women in this country each of whom will tell you that her downfall was · caused by some man. Do you _ u want · to kill off all the men on that account? [Laughter.] There are tlwusands of men in this country · each of whom will tell you that his downfall was brought about by some woman. Do you want to kill off all the women - on that account _ ? [Cries of . .. ~o!" "No!"] By a parity of rea - reasoning you ought to be ,..,.-illing to kill off the human race because, forsooth, some men and some women can not with tand the temptations that beset them. T.bi legi lation will · result, in my opinion, in placing thousands of private till · in the very homes of the land. Distillation is the easie ·t of all proce ses. Men are going to get liquor if they want it.

The Speaker of this Hou e [Mr. CLABK of Mi ouri] told me o! a ca ·e of a man , in the Missouri Penitentiary-a prisoner who hntl a fondness for alcohol. :S:e got hold o:f a gun barrel and m::ule a worm out of it. He took the corn meal that was given him for food and made a mash out of it, and in his cell in the prison he distilled whisky. [Laughter.] You can not prevent men from getting it if they want to get it.

This country will be infinitely better off if you teach men the neetl and importance · ce of temperance, of sobriety. You can not curb intemperance by prohibition laws. I venture the assertion that such legislation is constantly violated in practically every State in which it has been tried. But you make sneaks and liars and hypocrites of men whenever you attempt to put into force laws of this kind, and that i what I object to. I do not believe that is a good thing for this country. I said at the outset that the fourteenth and :fifteenth amendments are held in contempt. This legislation will create additional contempt for law if it is eventually written on the statute books. And that nation is in a bad way indeed when its people hold its law. · in contempt. It were infinitely better for this Nation if this question were left to the individual States of the Union.

If the people of the States want prohibition, they can have it. In my State we have local option. Here is an extract from the San Francisco Chronicle of Wednesday, November 4, 1914. We hntl our first State-wide prohibition election on the day previous, the 3d of November, 1914. This article is headed:

SHOUTED FOR DRYS-SOLD BOOZE '.fO WETS.

Rogers, a druggist whose show window prominently displayed signs " Vote California dry," was arrested to-day, charged with conducting a blind pig. He was released under $200 bail. . st'ft~~s was in Pasadena, which is one of the largest dry towns in the That shows how it make hypocrites of men. That shows how it makes liars of men. That shows how it makes sneaks of men. Let us be honest, with ourselves at least, in this matter. Let us leave this question where it rightfully belongs-to the individual States of the Union. [Applause.]

l\Ir. WEBB. I yield four minutes to the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. KE.ATING).

Mr. KEATING. Mr. Speaker, I was impre.ssed by the strange logic of the gentleman who halit just ' taken his seat. I do not think he has gone far enough, however. I would call his attention to the fact that we have on · our statute books laws against stealing, Those laws are repeatedly violated. Why not be frank with one another antl repeal them?

I know of a case "·here a man ,,·as in the penitentiary for murder.' He secured n heavy tool wHh which he worked, an.d he killed a guard. · Why not be frank with one another and repeat the law against murder beeause it is being · violated?

A short time ago several hundred men and women were drowned through the capsizing of a steamet• near Chicago, and a clamor went up all over the country - for laws to safeguard steamships. Why indulge in such . nonsense? As the gentleman has told you, thousands of men and women are drowned every year. Why enact laws calculated to safeguard men and women against being drowned?

l\Iy friends, what arrant nonsense is this? Of course . prohibition laws are violated. I presume that prohibition laws will always be violated. But that does not affect the principle of the proposition we are considering.

I am in favor of this amendment and will vote for it, becnu. e I believe that the · liquor traffic should be outlawed in this country, and I know of only one way in which that result may be secured, and that is to place upon the statute books a law which will forbid the sale, the manufacture, and the importation of intoxicating liquors aml then give to the State and national authorities full power to enforce that law: ·

We are about to pass this amendment. The people of this country want their Constitution amended o that · the liquor business will be destroyed; and their Representatives in this Chamber, in voting as they will vote to-day to submit this ~ amendment to the State legi 1atures, are responding to · that appeal of their constituents.

l\ly own State has adopted prohibition. It adopted it by a very narrow margin, and those who were oppo ·ed to prohibition were loud in their predictions that the people would . soon tire of it. And yet two years later, when a proposition was submitted which would permit the manufacture of light beers, the people of Colorado defeated it by more than 50,000 majority. ·

As a further evidence of the sentiment of the people of Colorado on this issue, every Representative from that State will vote for this amendment. [Applause.] · - · l\fr. WEBB . . Mr. Speaker, I yield ro·o minute to the gentleman f-rom Wyoming [Mr. MoNDELL].

1\lr, 1\IONDELL. Mr. Speaker, the real question before the House to-day is whether or no we believe in representative <mu constitutional government; whether or no we believe that governments derive their just powers from tlie consent of the :;oYerned, and that the governed therefore have the right to ·ay whether those powers shall be extended. There may be gentlemen who doubt the efficacy of prohibition as a perfect cure for the evils of intemperance. There may be gentlemen who <1ol1bt • . the wisdom of prohibition through Federal enactment. But unless those gentlemen assert and contend that the people ure not capable of judging and determining those question . · uiE.>y can not logically vote against the resolution now before the House. I am one of those who believe that under our form of government t'he right of the people to an opportunity to determine whether or no the powers of the Federal Government shall be extended i beyond controversy or question ; therefore as a very considerable number of very respectable people desire to have the question of prohibition through Federal constitutional _ onal enactment submitted for decision in the constitutional way I am in favor of giving them that opportunity, because . I am a believer in a government of the people with such powers as the people desire it to have and e:x:ercise. [Applause.]

The SPEAKER pro tempore (1\Ir. CRISP). The time of the gentleman has expired.

1.\ir. VOLSTEAD. Mr. Speaker, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from North Dakota [1\Ir. NoRTON:].

Mr. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I have listened to-day with a great deal of interest to many of the opponents of this proposed amendment to the Constitution of the e United Stutes for prohibiting the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors. Their subtle and specious arguments have forced me to the conclusion that many of these gentlemen have unquestionably missed their calling. They very evidently have made recent and most careful study of the most modern a.nd up-to-date methods of strategy and deception practiced on the battle fields of Europe in the present world war. These gentlemen are here when they should be using their great talents elsewhere. Their arguments in this debate evidence that they would make mar\elously great camouflage artists. They are wasting their time and talents here in Congress when they might well be making our German enemies across the sea believe molehills are mountains and that broomsticks are 20-inch cannon. Some of these gentlemen would have you believe that this amendment is contrary to the whole spirit of our original Constitution and ef our established form of Government. Notb- · ing is further from · the truth. This resolution proposing au amendment to the Constitution of these United States is in every · way pr op erly before this body, and it is in every way proper for this body t o submit this amendment to the severa-l States and to the people thereof for approval and ratification. I shall unhesitatin g ly support this resolution, first, because it is in e v ery wa.y properly before this Hou e, and because it i in ever y way right and fitting to at this time submit it for approval t() the se:veral States of the Union. I shall support it for the further reason that I firmly believe that if this resolution could be adopted and approved by the necessary number of States at once it would not only not interfere with our winning of the war, but would, on tb~ other band, greatly help and aid us in winning the war. [Applause.] .

I shall support this resolution, gentlemen, because its passage in this House will mark one of the final steps in the great work of driving fr:om this Nation for all time one of the greatest cause s of crime, misery, and unhappiness among our people. I shall support this resolution, gentlemen, because I have been witness for many years in the splendid State I have the honor in part to represent here in Congress t() the marvelous benefits of prohibition as shown in · the homes and among the families. of my State. _

I shall support this resolution, gentlemen, because I know that when it is finally adopted and when it becomes a .. part of the law of our land there will then no longer be found in this great Nation of which we are aU so proud those poor, pitiful, blear-eyed, woeful wrecks of humanity now found in every city, town, village, , and hamlet where a saloon exists and where intoxicating liquors are dispensed. [Applause.]

The SPEAKER. The time of the gentleman has · expired.

1\fr. GRAHAM of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield threeminutes to the gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. MERRITT].

1\1r·. MERRITT. 1\Ir. Speaker, nobody que tions- that we a:re living in a government in which the majority rule. Nobody ques t ions that this amendment is properly before this House and that it is constitutional if passed ~ ed in a constitutional way. But that does not prevent this resolution from being revolutionary, because if passed it will put into the Constitution social legislation that has never been there before. It will take away the great distinction of our Constitution that it is the fundamental law and not aa instrument for social legi - lation.

In Connecticut years ago, before I became active there, we passed a State-wide prohibition law. It went on for five or six years and was so unsatisfactory that it was repealed. Since that time we hav e gone under local license, which ~~s been very satisfactory. As a matter of fact, none of the large · • towns or cities has continuously been under no license because that was found unsatisfactory for them. The small towns and · country places are under no license, which works satisfactorily, and the large towns under license, which workS sa tisfa ctorilJ.

I think that is a fair example of what should go on. There is no possible obJection oo our part to what the Middle West or the West may have. Ir they want licen e or no license they should have it. . All we want is to have · the say as to our own social legislation.

We have. in Connecticut a thickly settled manufacturing district, and I am perfectly sure that if this legislation could be pa sed and passed promptly you would not help the war at all. As a matter of fact, no cri is of that kind exists at · all because under the act of this Congr~ s giving power to the President and the food administration we shall have practical temperance, and that wiU enable us to see how it works. That will be real national temperance. It seems to me to put through this so-called emergency legislation when there is no emergency, rai es a que s tion during the war that is unwise. [Applause.] :Mr . . VOLSTEAD. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [l\Ir. RoBBINS].

l\1r. ROBBINS. ·. Mr. Speaker. there is pending fn this Congress ~ three proposed amendments to the Federal ConstitUtion :

1. For the purpose of establishing national prohibition. . 2. For the purpose of conferring the right to vote upon women. . 3. For the purpose of placing the name of God in the Federal Constitution and by this . means recognizing the name o · f the Supreme Being in our organic law. · ·

. We are now engaged in the consideration of the first of these proposed amendments, which is designated a s-enate joint resolution lf on House Calendar N~. 79 of the Sixty-fifth Congre s 1 second session. This amendment proposes as follows :

After one year from the ratification of this ~lclc the- manufacture-, sale, or transportation or intoxicating liquors within, the importation ther of into, or the exportation thereof fr-om the- United States and ' an · territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof: for b verage • purposes is hereby prohibited . .

Seven years are · given to • vote · upon this · amendment. E:ven if adopted eight yeurs may elapse before it becomes . etfective:

The Government of the United States is one of delegated power and the Congres pos e ss es only such power a · ure found within the written Constitution. The Con titfltion of the United States i a compact made b- y the people of the United States tO' govern themselves as to general objects in a c e rtain manner. The meaning of the Constitution as to the document itself res t on judicial interpretation and extension of th e law. Its meaning i found not only" within the Con titution it elf trut in th e judicial interpretation placed upon its cluu · es by the Supreme Court out of which · has grown up the extension of authority known as the " doctrine of implied powers " whereby the Constitution has been made flexible and a living growing compact governing perfectly this Nation of over 100,000,000 people with perfect ad::rptabilitS' as - it governed 130 years ago this Nation when it consisted of less than 6,000,000 people with limited comm rce and few wants.

For the people of the · United States loyalty con ists not in devotion to a sovereignty or fatherland but to the law itself, and to an ideal, t<Y a Constitution, and this ideal found it supreme expression in the United States in the Con s titution adopted in 1787. What, then . is the Constitution that we · are here proposing to ask the people to amend?

In the · case of Horn~ v. Dorrance (2 Dall. Rep., 304) it is thus defin:ed by the Supreme Court :

It is a form of government delineated by the almighty hand of the people , in which certain first principles oil fundamental laws are e tablished. The Constitution is certain and fixed · it contains the permanent · ent wm of the people and is the supreme law of the land· it is paramount to the power of the legislature and can be revoked or altered by the authority that made it. The life - giving l.rlnciple and the death-doing stroke must proceed from the same ban . What are the legislatures? Creatures . es of the Constitution ; they owe th e i r existence to the Constitution; they derive their powers from the Constitution. It is their commission, and', therefore, all their acts must be conformable to it or else they will be void. The Constitution is the work or will of the people themselves in their original, sovereign, and unlimit d capacity. Law is the work' or wm of the legi - l'atu:re in their derivative or subordinate capacity. The one is the work of the creator, the other. of the · creature.

The amended Constitution of the United State · : The peopl e ' s law 9f the United States now con ists of the written plan of governm e nt prepared by the convention of 1787 and 17 amendments which have been added under the ,Provisions of the amending clause.

The first 10 amendments, usually cal'led the Bill of Rights, state in . separate articles as additions to the Constitution the right , privileges, and immunities of citizenS" of the States.

The eleventh and twelfth amendments limit too power of th e Fed ­ eral courts in actions against States and correct the defects in an impo sible plan of choosing Presidents and Vice Pr id e nt of the United' States.

The three am e ndment adopted at the close of the Civil War are additions to the Constitution rather than. alterations.

The sixteenth amendment permits nation a l taxation of in c on'les derived from any source, including · real estate. ·

The seventeenth · tb: amendment provides for the election of U nit e d States Senators by the people in t ad of by State legislature s .

We are now pr')p.o !ng to add an eighteenth am~ndm nt to the · Constitution, which amendment I shall briefly describe u prohibiting the manufacture a:nd sale of intoxicating liquors. ©

~be. people have purposely made the amendment of the stitution difficult and incapable ot haste. . The fundamental law of the land is not to be hastily changed ' modified, or extended ..

In order to amend the Constitution it is nece 'iary to pas& through both the Senate and the House the proposed amendment in identically the. same form by a two-thirds majority and then submit the propo ed amendment to the people ot the various States, which must be adopted in the · same · form by the legisla,tures of three--fourths of the States before · it becomes operative. In this ca e it would require' the affirmative action of the Iegi latuPeS' o:t! 37 States.

A vote, therefore, in favor of submitting this amendment to the people means that the question \viU be submitted and made an issue in the election of the next members of the leo-islatures of all the States and of the governor in most of the State , and the question of prohibition will be fought out on all the hustings and in the legislative contests of each of the States of the Union. In ~ this way all the elector of the country will be given an opportunity to · register their opinion on the propriety · o~ adopting this amendment and prohibiting or continuing the- manufacture and sale of liquor in the United ; States · , and that is exactly as it should be .

the responsibility for this legislation should be with the voter who resides in the district and knows the local conditions and wants of the people and not with the Members of Congress, · es . wbo may not be familiar with the local situation.

In the district which I represent, the twenty-second Pennsylvania, composed of the counties of Westmoreland · and Butler. there is a population l of , over 400,000 people and a v:oting population of about 40,000. To expect me to vote ngnin t submitting this proposed amendment to the e 40,000 voters for their consideration and . dec-ision would be to require me to act n · rbitraril.r , unrea · onubly, and contrary to the duties of a Congr e ssman.

The office of a Congressman -. man is repl' es entative. On all questions except moral qu e::; tions he should represent the sentiment of his district, but on moral questions he should act according to the dictates of his con ci e nce.

I nm not now arguing or commenting on the moral features of the liquor traffic. Time forbids a discussion of this. This does not necessarily · arily enter into the consideration of the submi sion of this amendment at this time. That que . question must be decided by the voters of tl1e different States when the question is presented to them. The . _ i t uation that confronts me as a 1\Iember of Congre s is, Shall I by my vote oppose the submission of this propo s ition to the voters and thereby say to them that they are not to be trusted, or that they are unable and unwilling to decide tlti . question, or shall I, by my vote in favor of it, refer it to them for their con . consideration, as I would any other constitutional amendment.

That there is a great d e mand among the people for the submission of this question to them is admitted. It is stated in the report of the committee in this House on the bill, and not denied in the minority report, that 80 per cent of the population of the United States has declared for prohibition, and that more than GO per cent of the population live in dry territory, and that approximately 10,000,000 of the people of the United States residing in all sections of the United States have petitioned Congress for the passage of this resolution. Surely, to disregard the voice of the people so emphatically uttered would be folly upon the part of a Representative in Congress and would be turning a deaf ear to the people who are entitled to favorable hearing and con. i<le.ration. Never before was such a petition presented and such demand made for the enactment of legislation as this. I am in favor of all the amendments above referred to. I could not vote to withhold any of them from the consideration of the electors and discharge, as I view it, my duty to them as their Representative.

It will be urged here and elsewhere that thi s is an inopportune time to consider this proposition. That the consideration of it will bring dissension, dissatisfaction, and unrest among our p e ople at a time when they ought to be united, determined, and in complete accord in the prosecuting of this great war to a victorious conclusion. That I do not · believe to b e true. I am not a member of the committee that reported thi s re. olution. The question is here and must be met and decided. There is no E:> . c aping the responsibility. I am al s o aware in ms: own case U1at it requires great courage to vote in favor of the submission of this amendment to the people; it mean s much for me aml 11l'Obably will affect my political future; it certainly means the e h·angement of life-long friends, the breaking up of political tie s , and the engendering of more or less personal enmity ; but I mu t not consider my personal situation, my personal feelings, nor my personal future. 1\Iy duty, in thi instance, I believe to be plain and clear. That is to vote to refer this whole que tion to the arbitrament of the voters of my own congr.essional · <listr.ict and all the congre ional uistricts in the country for their ultimate con ideration and determination. They will determine it rightly. In a Republic the J1nal uecision of all que tions munt ultimately come to the people themselves, and from them all authority must proceed. In this instance · we can trust the people implicitly. Our trusts will be met; our anticipations \Yill he fulfilled. They will decide this que tion rightly, nnd until it i o deciu . ed it will never be finally settled. I trust the people; I believe in their judgment and their honesty. Their love for the Con titution and our republican institutions i an ample g:nar:mty tllat these will alway be safe in their lmmls and keeping. Their pah·ioti m and devotion wm guide them aright. Their voice in this instance, as in every other similar instance, will prove again the truth of that maxim of our political life, that "vox populi vox Dei." [Applause.]

Mr. VOLSTEAD. 1\Ir . Speaker, I yieltl to the gentleman from California [Mr. OsBORNE]. .

Mr. OSBORNE. 1\lr. Speaker, the question before the House is the adoption of a joint resolution proposing to the several States of the Union an amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting the manufacture, sale, transportation, or importation of intoxicating liquors .

It is in the nature of an enabling action, permitting the States to ascertain the sentiments and desires of their citizens upon this very important question of public policy. In other words, it is not a question as to the merits of prohibition, but the question is whether or not the people of the various States shall be permittecl to vote on the merits of prohibition.

As greatly as I deplore the e>ils attending the intemperate use of intoxicating be•ernges, I ltaye never con i1lered inuiscl'iminate prohiiJition as the be t and only method of coping with the evil.

In a long experience while a young mnn a a newspnver reporter on police-station details, ru1u later during several y~ar~ spent in mining camps on the Pacific coast, I rea<:hetl the conclusion that an enormous percentage of all the evils o f intemperance arise from the use of strong spirit s -whi s ky, brandy, gin, rum, ancl so forth, but, in our counti-y, principally whisk-y. I have observed that all of my acquaintances of earlier years who were drinkers of spirits have passed nwny. It is only the temperate who are left, and who still perform useful functions in the \Yorld.

In a life of several years in a noted mining town of the Sierras, where, ip an isolated locality, one knew the individual characteristics and personal habits of nearly every resident, I knew a number of very bright and capable young men who fell into the habit, not unusual in such frontier towns, of taking an appetizer in the form of a cocktail before breakfast. A cocktail, I .am told, is a very insidious and virile concoction, embracing a number of most potent ingredients of high spirits and various appetizing condiments. It is said that one · will create an appetite where none existed before. But the appetite is not confined to food, but extends to further stimulants, and tlle .roung m e n I have referred to soon acquired the habit of taking a second cocktail, usually at a second saloon, and after no great interval they had what was locally termed a "cocktail route," which they trayersed morning after morning, from one saloon to another, absorbing three or four or even a half dozen cocktails before b . breakfast. I hardly need say that all of these young men, some of them very capable and promising, ha-ve passed away, most of them over 25 years ago. I occasionally meet an old acquaintance whom I knew at the intensely active mining camp of Bodie, which flourishcu <;;ontemporaneou ly with Lead, - ille and the later days of the Comstock, 35 or 40 years ago, but not one of the- followers of the cocktail route do I ever see. They have all passed "beyond the great divide."