t
WHAT “WETS” AND “DRYS,” THESE DAYS,
ARE TELLING EACH OTHER IN HALLS OF CON
GRESS ABOUT PROHIBITION AND ENFORCEMENT
(Speech of Hon. William I>. Up
shaw, of Georgia, in the House of
Representatives, March 4, 1926, in
support of prohibition.)
(Continued from Last Issue.).
Mr. Black of New York. But you
had saloons in Georgia.
Mr. Upshaw. But in Georgia we
put out the saloons seven years be
fore the adoption of the amendment
to the Federal Constitution.
Mr. O’Connor of New York. You
have stills in Georgia.
Mr. black of New York. And you
have worse than stills in Georgia
now.
Mr. Upshaw. Mr. Chairman, these
wet gentlemen keep annoying me.
That shows what bad things liquor
will do.
The Chairman. Th Chair will state
that under the rules any gentleman
desiring t,o .interrupt a speaker must
address the Chair.e If the speaker de
sires. to yield he will do so, hut if he
declines to .yield gentlemen must not
interpolate remarks. (Applause.)
Mr. Upshaw. If they do not obey,.
I ask the. Chair to sit on them with,
every ounce of his glorious avnirdu-..
pois. (Great applause.)
Mr. Hill of Maryland. Mr. Chair
man—
The Chairman. The gentleman,
from Georgia has the floor.
Mr. Hill of Maryland. But I am
addressing the Chair.
The Chairman. The gentleman can
not take the gentleman oft' the floor..
Mr. Hill of Maryland. Mr. Chair
man, a parliamentary, inquiry.
The Chairman. The gentleman
may not propound a parliamentary
inquiry while the gentleman from.
Georgia has the floor.
Mr. Upshaw. Mr. Chairman. I de
cline to yield.
Mr. Hill of Maryland. I am ad
dressing the. Chair. I want to ask
the Chair whether the gentleman, will
yield.
Mr. Upshaw.. I told the.Chairman
that I would not yield to the gentle
man from . “boozy” Baltimore. The
gentleman, may have his “wet” spasm
later, but I do not yield to him now.
The gentlanaanifrom.Maryland .will
have to sit there and take what is
coming to him.. Here is a booklet
from the Association Against the
Prohibition Amendment in which it
outlines the many achievements of
fhat wet organiz;itBuv and among
those glittering achievements, in item
6, we find the following:
“We have turned elections in many
Congressional ..districts. Hon. John
Philip Hill, member of Congress from
Maryland, ha,ewith mur very active
aid, turned an. adverse majority of
10,000 into a favorable one of 15,000.”
Mr. Hill of Maryland. Will the gen
tleman yield?
Mr. Upshaw. I can-, not yield—I
ara too busyty.
Mr. Hill of Maryland. It was 16,
000.
Mr. •Upshaw.- I want to call your
attention to the fact that that district
used to he a Democratic district, but
‘ because of the extreme wetness of the.
gentleman “Riderc. on the White
Charger” and becaus of the admitted
activities and financial support of this
Assoliation Against the Prohibition
Amendment Those Democrats—may
r.he Lord pity their souls—have been
prostituted to vote a. wet Republican
ticket. (Laughter and applause.)
Mr. Hill of Maryland. I have, not
had any financial support. I contrib,-.
ute that myself.
r Mr. Upshaw. The gentleman from
wet Baltimore is not only interfering
McGrath
Pool Hall
* &
I'i
tV
r
Cigars
Tobaccos?
Candies
Fruits
Soft Drinks
A Place to Meet
Your. Friends
H
Proprietor
Geo. Mutchler
with my speech but he is se riously
reflecting on the veracity of this “wet”
organization, which in its efforts to
secure funds boasts of “our very act
ive aid” in securing the triumphant
election of Mr. Hill.
Gentlemen, I used to hear, when I
was a boy, of the “proverbial cheek;
of a Government mule,” but I want
to say that after catching these wet j
organizations in the vedy act of rais-!
ingnig money to influence elections,]
after hearing criticism of the Anti
Saloon League from men like the wet
Senator from Ne.w Jersey, after hear
ing wet Congressmen—Democrats and
Republicans alike—like the gentlemen
from Maryland, Mr. Hill, Mr. Linthi
cum, and Mr. Tydings, and Mr. Galli
van (Democrat), and Mi-. Tinkham .
(Republican), from Massachusetts,
who stand up here and criticise God
fearing, patriotic people who are try
ing to.defend the Constitution and the i
youth of America, while admittedly I
accepting aid from a wet orgaaiza-)
tion that.is attempting to nullify the
Constitution, I shall not. hereafter |
think “the cheek of a Government!
mule.” but the cheek of William H.
Stay ton and Hon. John Philip Hill.
(Laughters, ami applause.)
Fin ally,then, as a general practical
proposition, what is the use? Why
encourage a generation of traitors,
lawbreakers, and liars by opposing
for local political reasons a national
law that,, will never be repealed or
modified or modified? Never! Yes,:
never—
“Tilt the sun grows cold,
And the stars grow old,
And the leaves of the judgment;
book unfold.”
1 ask, my wet colleagues on both j
sides of. the aisle, Why kid yourselves;
any Linger? And why kid your peo
ple at home with any false hopes,
which are nothingm ore nor less than
hifuorized hallucinations?
You know the constitutional process
through, which any section of our urv
gauic laws can be repealed or amend
ed. It must be done by the same pro
cess required for its enactment. Your
friends, of outlawed liquor must elect
two-thirds of the members of both
branches of Congress who will stand
up and be counted before the eyes of
the nydsherhood of America as they
vote to* remarry this Government to
the reeking corruption of the licensed
salooft, and then you must elect legis
lators, in three-fourths of the States
iu the. American Union who will walk
out before the searching, eyes of the r
awakened manhood and womanhood of
.•America and vote to ratify thkb un
holy compact, and you know that will
occur- just the day after the judgment
day.
“But ah,” says the wet Representa
tive, responsive to his “wet” constitu
ents at home, “I admit that repeal is
very- remote, probably impossible, but
the Volstead law must be modified.”
There you go, kidding yourselves
and your constituents again. On what
do you base your declaration? Con
versions to the “wet” side, you say.
Not on your life. For every disaffec
tion from the dry side we have now a
thousand recruits to the cause of con- j
stitutional law and personal and na- I
tipnal sobriety.
Much ado was recently made- in the
l papers about the prohibition apostasy
; of Reverend Doctor Kmprinham, for
, roerly an active prohibition advocate.
That misguided soldier is not the
i first soldier or officer in a great army
; to become frightened when the battle
j raged. That kind of a soldier was
I never known to win a fight. Here and
I there we may temporarily lose a bat
tle, but the great war for righteous
ness goes on. Brave men declare, like
John Paul Jones, “We have just begun
to fight,”
According to my concept, that is
the only attitude that will make a
.man keep his faee to the foe and
'cause him to fight resolutely out amid
.the boom of cannon, the rattle of mus
ketry, and the carnage of battle which
defiant “wets” and weak-kneed “drys”
are waging against the eighteenth
amendment to the onstitution of the
United States.
- Frankly, and sadly, that is a mis
take which the Reverend Doctor Em
pringham made. In looking for facts
•an dsigns of encouragement he.went
.into the territory where the enemy
has always been in practical posses
sion. Of course, he found law tle
.fiance in great “wet” centers like New
York, Chicago, Philadelphia alid Bal
timore, for those cities luive never
fully joined Che constitutional union-.
Having thrown f lieirV^e,irdian arms
■around their, ol&Ctaweij darling, the
,corrupt arndAcorrubting saloon, they
have cofttindfeji their slavery to the
’appetite begotten of the saloon, and
in abject and patriotic surrender to
that appetitie, which they have placed
above the Constitution o' their coun
try, they have claimed 1 he. right of
“selective anarchy,” as Reverend Rob-,
bins strikingly put it—the right- of
i individual interpretation of a constitu
tional law—the right of virtual seces
sion from the Constitution of t^ie
Union. In other words, the great
“wet” communities whose Babyloiiihn
devilment has discouraged the faint
heart of Doctor Empringham and a
few other ephemeral “drys,” claim
claim that the American flag is a
beautiful emblem to salute on the
Fourth of July—a beautiful insignia
of authority to invoke for the protec
tion. of their factories, their farms,
their fortunes, and their families, but
they deliberately walk up and spit on
that same flag that has been made!
stainless before the eyes of. the;
watching world when they want a
drink of bootleg liquor. It is before
such a crowd of lawbreakers that this !
learned and eloquent clergyman has
run up his beer and wine flag of
tragic surrender.
He has made the mistake that many
“wet” politicians in New York, New
Jersey, Maryland, and elsewhere in
the valley of “wetdom” have made in
dreaming of a “wet” man in the;
White House, sitting astride a beer
keg or a whisky barrel on the beau
tiful portico of that beautiful, immac- I
ulate mansion—they are. like a man
amid the ice and snow of the Arctic
regions, who imagines that the earth
must be • frozen from pole to. polo.
They forget that there be many mil
lions, more than half of, the American
people, who have never bowed the
knee to bibulous Baal.
I honor Doctor Empringham’s abil
ity, and 1 do not discount his sincer
ity, but he is just as surely mistaken |
as any soldier who thought he could j
win a battle by surrendering to the
enemy in the first skirmish hecau.se
he saw a few of his comrades wound
ed and dying around him.
I am compelled to remind Doctor
Empringham and the whole country j
that the New York silk-stocking
crowd, whom he sepeeially represents, i
has never been wildly enthusiastic!
about prohibition any way. They were;
not on the firing line when we were:
fighting for the eighteenth amend-,
ment, and, as a whole, they have not
been conspicuous in battling for its
constitutional majesty since its enact
ment.
I challenge the “wet” claim that.1
Doctor Empringham’s apostacy has
any national significance. Edw’in .1,
Randall, secretary of the Episcopal!
Diocese of Chicago, issued a state-1
ment declaring that this Temperance!
Society does not represent the Epis
copal Church, and Bishop Charles IV
Anderson declares that the society is
made up largely of Easterners, and;
he does not know a single member in ;
Chicago.
The Temperance Society which Doc - ■
tor Empringham tries to drag into thei
liquor camp has heen practically de
funct since 1918. It formerly repre-!
sented about 20,000 out of a total.
Episcopal membership of 1,198,000.1
Nineteen Episcopal bishops con-j
demned the Empringham statement.
and only five indorsed him.
Certain it is that the distinguished
New York clergyman, does not repe
sent. the sober. God-fearing Episco
palians of Atlanta and the Southland
from which I hail. Many of them |
were leaders in the battle against the
saloon, and many more are. now loyal j
supporters of this constitutional law.
The Southern Episcopalians, whom 1
the fact that this is a land of re
have the honor to know, rejoicing in
ligious freedom, also believe in the
cardinal Bible doctrine that enjoins
the support of all duly constituted'
law. They have no aympath.s with
Doctor Empringham’s foolish state
ment that the prohibition law is class
legislation.
It is not so much class legislation
as the sixteenth amendment, for that
is directed especially at the class of I
people who have large incomes, while |
millions of American people escape]
any payment whatever. Amt if Doctor!
Empringham’s “hifalutin" bunch in |
gay and Godless Gotham seek to per
sonally modify and defy the provi
sions of this constitutional law, they
will soon become my neighbors in \t
Ianta, where we have gilded bootleg
mTITionaires for breakfast, dinner, and
supper, behind prison walls.
Class legislation, indeed. This
country had suffered from class legis
lation in favor of brewers, distillers
and saloon keepers for many weary
desolate, debauching years. These
thirsty vampires had been the benefi
ciaries of protective legislation as
they built their slimy fortunes out of
corrupted politics, shattered homes,
and depleted1 humanity; hut during all
this reign of rum and ruin the present]
day beer* and wine reformers were i
never heard of.
If the saloon that sold intoxicating:
beer and hard liquor had then been ]
transformed, and nothing sold except i
so-called innocent wine and non-intox-j
icating beer, the lives of such saloons:
might have been prolonged indefinite-1
ly. Where were the present “wet”
proponnts of “kicklss” beer and wine
then? Ninety-nine out of every one
hundred of them were then in the
militant camp of liquordom, fighting
the very prohibition which they are
now trying to destroy.
It required the eighteenth amend
ment outlawing intoxicating liquor in
every form to put brewers, distillers
and saloons out of business. This con
stitutional law and its supporting
statute, the Volstead Act, which is
simply the eighteenth amendment in
action, Whve Mood the test of the Su
pretrte Court. Doctor Empringham,
andS every*body qjse how clamoring for
beer , and wine as an aid to sobriety,
ought know that the beer and wine
they are advocating would only whet
the appetites of the patrons of the
saloons where they would be served,
and. thus camouflaged, hard liquors
and all forms of intoxicating drinks
would flow practically unrestrained.
In other words, they propose to win
their fight by going bodily into the
enemy’s camp, and the loyal friends
of sobriety, especially the voting
motherhood of America, will refuse to
go with them.
The self-effacing spirit of the heroic
crusader is not found in the declara
tion of Doctor Kmpringham that “my
investigation has showed me that I
had been a darned fool to give up a
good church arid a good stipend to
make the world good overnight.” Alas,
the dreams and the memories of hig
stipends do not feed the warp and
woof nor build the fiber of moral
heroism. These tragic regrets also
seem to have blinded our unfortunate
and erring brother to the fact that the
very conditions of which he is com
plaining give him a larger opportun
ity than ever to how the spirit of the
unselfish crusader which caused him
to “give up his good church and big
stipend” to help the cause of sobriety.
If, as Doctor Kmpringham declares,
there is more drinking than ever, es
pecially among the youth of the land,
in God’s name why does not he get on
his knees and roll up his sleeves and
plunge into the very heroic work of
education and “moral suasion” in be
half of sobrietyHe has a far
stronger appeal than ever; for now
he can bring to his aid those great
twin inspirations- our sober Constitu
tion and our stainless flag. Every
inch and every ounce of “Young
America’s” patriotism would now leap
to the colors to fortify his great
moral and spiritual appeal.
Doctor Kmpringham simply got dis- ,
couraged too soon. Nobody except a
fanciful dreamer ever expected the
world to be “made better overnight”
by legislation. Hound by the chains
of a long, long night of liquor appe
tite, the friends of prohibition expect
ed it to take something like a genera
tion to cure the Nation of its long de
bauch; and wi’h the exception of an
occasional spasmodic modern “rum re
bellion" in some of the big wet cen
ters, we are moving grandly upward
and onward in the cause of America’s
emancipation.
Those patriotic prohibition Episco
palians who may feel grieved and hu
miliated over the regretted apostacy
of this Episcopalian clergyman should
take comfort in the fact that his un
fortunate utterance has been widely
and vigorously repudiated by so many
Episcopal leaders. The truth is, as
far as a national impression is con
cerned, it has fallen fiat and will
serve as a boomerang in favor of pro
hibition enforcement.
The Temperance Society, directed
by Doctor Kmpringham, seems to he
largely a paper organization. Its
present state is largely one of inactiv
ity, very much like a certain “Dis
abled Veterans’ Association” of which
my friend, Mr. Fish, of New York,
told me, and which alleged organiza
tion protested against payment of the
soldiers’ bonus. Investigation dis
closed thot the organization had ex
actly three members. It sounded hig
hut it acted mighty small. The great
denomination of law-abiding, sober,
God-fearing Episcopalian . with a
membership in excess of 1,200,000 in
the United States, many of whom
honor this House as members, and
who are overwhelmingly dry, will
move grandly on in support of this
wholesome constitutional law. In the
meantime the’r natural pride can find
worthy solace in the thought that
Richmond Pearson Hobson, hero of
the Merrimac, is a consec: ated Epis
copalian layman, who ha. done more
for the cause of prohibition than any
other man in America next to that
stainless Christian statesman, William
J. Bryan. Verily, Hobson outranks
Kmpringham in the pride of Episco
palians and for the safety of Amer
ican youth.
Mr. Boylan. Will the gentleman
yield for a question there? I know
the gentleman wants to be fair, and
since coming into the Chamber I have
read over the Record very carefully,
and I fail to find in it the statement
that the distinguished gentleman from
Georgia attributes to a certain dis
tinguished prelate. I am sure, in view
of that fact, the gentleman, with his
usual sense of fairness, humanity and
decency, will correct his references to
the aforesaid distinguished prelate.
Mr. Upshaw. 1 will be delighted to
correct the language as soon as the
charge by that prelate is withdrawn
that all prohibitionists are in the
habit of misrepresenting facts; in
other words, in the habit of lying.
Mr. Boylan. I would like to say to
the gentleman that that does not ap
pear in the Record. I have read the
Record very carefully.
Mr. Upshaw. Then it was taken
out, because I have witnesses to it.
The gentleman from Massachusetts
(Mr. Tinkham) read those very words.
Mr. Boyland. The House is guided
by what is in the Record. It is not
guided by what is taken out.
Mr. Upshaw. It was uttered on the
floor of this House and is a part of its
record.
Mr. Boylan. It is not a part of the
record, because it does not appear in
the Record. How can it be a part of
the record in that case?
Mr. Upshaw. It was a part'of the
proceedings ol' this House. The gen
tleman knows I love his genial spirit,
and 1 would be glad to accommodate
him. But I must say again to the
gentleman and to hte members of this
House that 1 am tired as the honest
representative of the prohibition
forces of this country, standing for
decency and law and order—I am
tired, i say. hearing on this floor and
reading columns of slush and slime in
the newspapers, attacking the sincer
ity of prohibition leaders and the
overwhelming millions of the Amer
ican masses who rejoice to follow
them. And 1 declare again that the
political, commercial or ecclesiastical
size of the man who stages this at
tack makes no difference with me.
Whether governor of a . big wet
State, or a wet Senator, or the wet
president of a big university, or the
archbishop of Canterbury, or a car
dinal from Boston, or the pope of
Rome, I tell you, 1 will not stand for
it. (Applause.)
Mr. Black of \cw York. Will the
gentleman yield ? Have any of those
gentlemen said that?
Mr. Boylan. it the gentleman will
permit-—
Mr. Upshaw. Excuse me, but 1 can
not yield any more.
Mr. Black of New York. Mr. Chair
man, 1 make a point oif order against
the gentleman’s retmarks. The gen
tleman is talking through the privi
lege of this House, and is talking
against private citizens and people not
members of this Government, and is
attacking them on a hypothetical case,
itist as if the pope of Rome or any
body else made that statement.
The Chairman. The point of order
is overruled. The gentleman from
Georgia will proceed in order.
Mr. Boylan. The gentleman, I
know, wants to be fair about the
statement in the Record.
Mr. Upshaw. I want to be fair,
hut 1 want to ask the gentleman, who
is my good friend, to take his seat
until I have finished.
Mr. Boylan. I want to have the
gentleman put right before the coun
try. The gentleman has quoted the
statement in the wrong way. I know
the gentleman wants to be fair.
Mr. Upshaw. The gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Tinkham) will
hear testimony that he read those
words from some prelate whose name
at the time I did not get. Is not that
true, Mr. Tinkham? The gentleman
read it. If he has changed it, then the
Record has been changed.
Mr. O’Connor of New York. That
is substantially correct.
(Continued on Page -1.)
J. K. McLEAN
••
Fresh Fruits
Fresh Vegetables
Plenty of Nuts
Choice Canned Goods
Meats
Fresh Garden Seeds