I WHAT “WETS” AND “DRYS,” THESE DAYS, f
ARE TELLING EACH OTHER IN HAGL6-OF CON
l f GRESS ABOLT PROHIBITION. ANO 'ENFORCEMENT j
___ j
(Speech of Hon'. William D. Up
shaw, of -Georgia, in. the House • of
Representatives, March 4, 49i?(>, ■ in
support of prohibition.)
(Continued from Last Issue.)
Back in- 1908 and 1909, when we
banished barrooms by State action,
Atlanta’s building permits leaped
from $4,000,000 to $.10,000,000, and
the growth of the city since- then has
almost broken the adding-machines to
record its volume,- -the population
• climbing ftrom~ 1 MV.OOO. to nearly 300,
000, with bank -xloayings and postal
receipts topping-1 everything in the
broad expanse -of -i the -marvelous
.-"South. For fear use,me of you may
still be unable-• to - comprehend the
magnificence and<‘ the magnitude if
the growth-of-Atlanta undej--prohibi
tion, I will put into italics what 1 told
some New England -hannqnueters:
You good peoples up here on-the ldm
of civilization, so far .removed from
the center of the world's activities,
may not know’ just where Atlanta is
- and -what it is. I’ll tell -you that I
have the honor-of representing the
capital city of - those five famous
1 Georgia, products—-Tv- Cobb, Stone
Mountain, “Hot Air,” Coco Cola, and
the Ku-Klux Klan! (Laughter and
applause.)
And I must«dd to that list, of At
lanta celebrities and commodities—
-Red Rock, Nu Grace, Mi-Grape,
1 Grape Dew, Big Bov, Pay Day, Kar
nak, SSS, “Anti-Kick.” -Dodson’s Liv
s ertone, B. B. B., -White Hickory Wag
ons, Young Stribling, Tiger Flowers.
Watt Gunn, and Bobby Jones. Ltell
you, my comrades, it is some honor to
represent such a dry district, of which
- Atlanta i« the-capital—the greatest
city of the greatest- State of - the
greatest Nation on earth. .(•Laughter
• and applause.)
Mr. Hill of Maryland. Will the
-gentleman yield ?
Mr. Upshaw. Pardon me. I can not
right now.
Mr. Hill-of Maryland, f thought
the gentleman would not .. care - • to
yield.
Mr. Upshaw. J yielded; tot the gen
tleman one time here, when ho said he
'■ would .sign an agreement never to
L touch liquor until the prohibition law
was modified and repealed, and when
I yielded he- would not sign - the
- pdc dg«.
Mr. Hill of- MarylandV No ; the gen
• tleman yielded when I said I would
sign if the rest of the Georgia delegn
t tion would sign, and the., gentleman
< did adt”have.enough influence to get
the rest of the delegation ' to sign,
and—
Air..Upshaw. I-had no contiroi over
my softer colleagues. I signed, hut
the' gentleman from Maryland would
not. He must have-had reasons-sat
isfactory to himself.
Mr. Upshaw. And now comes the
r great triumvirate of unconstitutional
wetness, *hc gentlemen from Massa
c’o- JttsV Messrs. Tinkham and Gal
livru, and the gentleman from Mary
land, the Hon. John Philip Hill, who
glory in the political activities of the
Association Agaihet- the. Prohibition
"Amendment, dnti ’ who excoriate the
political activities!'of the Anti-Saloon
League. They declare that the league
of the drys, which raises unselfish
money for prohibition enforcement,
v with the- avow’ed purpose to defeat
•. every- wet map'possible and elect
every dry man who pledges allegiance
to the eighteenth amendment—>-oh!
they say that this dry organization is
meddlesome, meticulous, and inimical
to the very genius and spirit of
McGrath j
Pool HaU|
J Cigars
TTobaccos
(’Candies
Fruits j
Soft Drinks j
A Place to Meet J
Your Friends J
Geo. Mutchler |
Proprietor ■
American freertorrl, but they crown
and coddle and support such organ
izations as' the Association’ 'Against
the Prohibition Amendment and the
Rational League of America as the
summum bonum of all things holy and
patriotic. - (Appliance.)
Recently that gay and < debonair
Democrat, Mr. Gallivin, gave a free
vaudeville performance on the floor
of this House, in which he went -into
spasms of patriotic retrenchment con
cerning certain questionable perform
ances of certain dry agents iii their
efforts to catoh a stylish law-breaking
hotel. He vamped and he stamped—
he distrusted and almost' “cussed” the
Anti-Saloon League, and Wayne B.
Wheeler for raising money and dedi
cating their'patriotic efforts to the
support of the sober constitution of
the United States. And while the
genial Mr. Gallivin held the interest
ed attention of his colleagues here
and especially the “wet” galleries of
brilliant and blase Boston, those two
stalwart Republicans,’ Messrs. Tink
ham and Hill, were seen sitting over
there near each other, with their
faces as radiant as new moons, acting
as joint chairmen’ of the committee' on
applause. Tnere, my countrymen, you
see what unconstitutional wetness "will
do—this brilliant Itemocrai and these
i titanic Republicans shake their fists at
each other across the aisle on ques
tion sof economics and'general party
policies, but they rush into each
other’s arms oh the question of liquor
and Weep or laugh—as the case may
be—on each other’s bosom—they
sleep in’ the same wet bed (great
laughter and applause)—they eover
with the ’same Wet cover, vote the
same wet program, and are like three
falling raindrops which so beautifully
coalesce that the identity of one is
lost in the identity of the others.
(Laughter.) There itronh one grim
comfort for my dry Democratic soul
in this tragic contemplation, and that
is the fact that in this great wet tri-j
umvirate the Republicans outnumber
the Democrats two to one. (Laugh
ter and applause.)
-After all the boasting’of this hi-j
partisan, "wet triumvirate in ’ this ]
House, after’ all the boasted prophe-1
cies of the Association Against thi
Eighteenth Amendment that the
“wets” would hold the balance ’ of
power in this Congress,> the prohibi
tion sentiment is stronger- than ever.
These prophecies were made " when
they were raising1 money for -their
campaign expenses. After all their
vain boasting, even since this*" Cen
gress was elected, .that they had made
great gain's, behold the"' “57 varieties”
could muster only 59 to sign that piti
ful demand for constitutional nullifi
cation. The truth is that every- test j
vote will show that this -Congress is
dryer -than tho last, arid the*, damp'dt -
famers of our sober -Constitution are
in a condition of ignominious-defeat,
and the desolation of night without a
single star is now upon them.
The aroused and decent observers
of America know- that-modification of
the Volstead law—el mean its weaken
ing modification—would mean its ul
timate nullification
In a- sane, honest) eiiirurilrl the Pitts
burgh Gazette-Tmiesoi-undor- the. cap
tion “Beer Means’TYV&i ,-k'y.” declared
that the “beer and winer proponents
- might as well ‘shell dev.ai the corn,’ ”
I that - the unbridled -opening of brew -
, eries and the saloons which*, would
handle the output, would: b® the open
door through which' high-powered
i beer and hard liquor would flow un
restrained. And at that big “Rum
Rebellion” banquet, which was held in
Pittsburgh a few -weeks ago, where
the gentleman from Maryland, i the
Hon. John Philip Hill, was heralded
as the honor guest, the chief attrac
tion and the great dazzling “wet”
hope of that modern “Foftst of Bel
! shazzar with a Thousand of - His
| Lords,” the mask was thrown off, and
j in the presence of a high official of
the Association Against the Eight
eenth Amendment, they openly admit
tend that mere modification swas-not
what they wanted—that their ulti
mate goal was the repeal'd' of I: the
eighteenth amendment. And yet,.all
of us have seen these flaming letters
and circulars of this brazen organiza
tion soliciting funds tovcaory on thetr
debauching propaganda, “Beer and
Wine Now-—No -Saloons Ever.”
The “57” varieties, of ! bills intro
duced last year called for 2.75 beer,
while the Anti-Prohibition News, pub
j lished in Pennsylvania’s capital city,
j is honest enough to »dmlt~that 2.75
beer has not enough kick* to suit the
descendants of William! Penn and the
constituents of your-Uncle Gilford
Pinchot and your Unclfe Andrew Mel
lon, and on this fiamingc : circular,
which is nqw held tjefore the
watering mouths^ and' • ®ear-dimmed
eyes of my wet colleagues, Bob Rhe
dans, with a face, handsome enough to
be battling for a better cause, says,
“Citizens of America, awake. It is
now time to rekindle the Torch of
Liberty!” While, beneath this picture
of a foaming mug of 4 per cent beer
you see the “wet” call to arms “Worth
Fighting For.”
O, my countrymen, my feelings
overwhelm me as I see this clash of
programs in th (‘internal, diurnal,
nocturnal, supermd, eternal and in
fernal ranks of those who, sitting
astride beer Jcegs, wine cases and
liquor barrels, are leading this re
vised and enlarged edition of a mod
ern “rum rebellion.” against the Con
stitution of my country. And, as a
further rebuke to the pitiful “pa
cifism” of the mild “two seventy-five
per centers,” the handsome features
of Governor Ritchie, of Maryland,
beam from the front pages of every
newspaper in America—this governor
whose State has not even joined the
Constitutional Union in support of
this constitutional la.w. As he bakes
his place beside the.popular Governor
of New York, who led his great State
to secede from the Constitution of
the United States by wiping out its
supporting statute Governor Ritchie,
who suffers Chicago politicians to fan
to flame that unholy spark within his
bosom that would dare thwart the
White House dreams of “Alfred the
Great”—Governor Ritchie, mind you,
issues a platitudinous pronunciamento
declaring that our Constitution is all
wrong and the eighteenth amendment
is a meddlesome blot on the fair es
cutcheon of American liberty.
It is a. palpablt puzzle how he for
got to impale .the nineteenth am nd
ment, granting equality of citizenship
to women, when.we. remember that
that amendment to our organic law
was.passed by the bare majority of
36 States; while the eighteenth
amendment, after generations of edu
cation and agitation, went into the
Constitution hacked by 46 out of the
48 States—th< most, overwhelming
majority-that ever indorsed a consti
tutional amendment since Columbus
discovered America or Washington
crossed the Delaware. (Applause.) If
Governor Ritchie had his wav, “the
prohibition question would be re
turned to the .States”—simply a soft
way of saying that the eighteenth
amendment would be repealed; and
that would open the floodgates of
liquor in every “wet” State, bring
again the slime, the crime, the cor
ruption of American hrewerios into
our social and moral life, and throw
ing again' bt fore the plastic youth of
America the horrible, saloon, with its
inseparable accompaniments, the gam
bling hall and the house of shame—
the gilded, debauching saloon that
was the trysting place of anarchy, the
companion of the brothel, and the
gateway to hell. I tell you, my fellow
Americans, with 15.000,000 women
citizens, with their regnant, con
sciences and their spotless ballots
■ turned loose at the polls—to say noth
ing of the sober, militant.manhood of I
America, who enacted prohibition!
without the votes of the women—I
tell you there is no more chance of a
man of such ideals to enter.the White
House of this Nation than .there is for
an unregenerate sinner to go through
the pearly, gates without being born
again. (Applause.)
In face of facts like these concern
ing the constitutional security of the
prohibition law and the proven tem
per, of the great God-fearing, sober
masses of the American people, I
charge that political leaders who at
tempt to make the people believe that:
this law can either be repealed or i
weakened by modification are either
profoundly ignorant or cbockiugly in
sincere.
Why not tell the truth to your peo
ple? Tell them the whole truth and
nothing hut the truth. Why not make
a new draft on their faith and loyalty
by being frank with them and then
proceed to make your campaign for
election -An the dignified basis of gov
ernmental economies and other great
national policies?
That would be statesmanship—that
would be worthy leadership. And the
tragic need today of our American
youth—the only material out of
which we can build stale, art citizens—
is the brave and wholesome example
of public men—men wh > are fearless,
-patriotic, leaders, and not hesitating,
vacillating, equivocating, and t.hejn
fabricating politicians.
I would fascinate every citizen pos
take an active part in politics, and
every young man especially, to count
the holding of office not only a worthy
honor but a sacred trust; but 1 would
urge every one who ever runs for
office to remember that safe lesson
taught me around that dear old fam
ily altar: "My son, never debate the
questions between right and wrong.”
Only officials with such a “regnant
conscience” are worthy of the trust of
the people who elect them and a safe
example for “Young America.”
Having called the attention of this
House to the utterly routed condition
of the wets, I indict the Association
Against the Prohibition Amendment,
whose literature I hold in my hand,
for colossal inconsistency and unrelia
bility. Charging all sorts of unholy
things against the Anti-Saloon
League for political activities, we
have caught them, red-handed, rais
ing a big slush fund for their own
political schemes. And I ask again:
Where is that growth which they
prophesied? Consider again the "un
official committee” of these wets. How
they would have rejoiced, to have a
round hundred, but they could muster
only 60. And hear again the dulcet
tones of their duly elected chairman,
Che gentleman from Maryland (Mr.
Hill), saying that “the modification
of the Volstead law is inevitable.”
(Applause.) Please note that nobody
applauded that remark of his except
the gentleman from Maryland.
(Laughter.) Come ahead and modify,
if you can. Where is your boasted
strength ? ( A ppla use.)
The Chairman* The'time of the
gentleman from Georgia has expired.
Mr. Oliver of Alabama. I can give
the gentleman 10 minutes.
Mr. Upshaw. I thank the gentle
man.
Mr. .Griffin. Mr.- Chairman,.! have
30 minutes allowed me. I will give
the gentleman from Georgia five min
tites of ray time.
Mr. Upshaw. Hifou are a gentle
I man. Thank you
] The Ghairman. The gentleman
; from Georgia is recognized for 15 ad
ditimia) minutes.
| Mr. Upshaw. Behold thr “rnonu
mental cheek” of the wet organize -
| tions of the country that are spoil
j sored by most. Of the wets in this
House. Listen! Growing red in the
! face at the very mention of the Anti
■-Saloon Leagu« , just-see how we have
: “caught them with the goods on."
What do we find ? Here is a phot' -
| static cop; of a letter from the Asso
I ciation Against the Prohibition
! Amendment, dated March March 16,
1925, in which we find -these rtclect
able words:
Wm. H. Slayton,, national maneg
mg vice pre-Ldent; G. C. Hinck
ley, national secretary and treas
urer. Suite -109 Lenox Building,
'1823 L strete -NW.
National Headquartt rs Asso
ciation Against the Prohibi
tion Amendment (Inc.).
Office of the National Secretary,
Washington, I> CL, March 1C, 192.■.
Mr.-:
O'ar Sir—-*. Are/you aware
that the organized movement to re
peal or substantially modify the
prohibition lavs is g: / rug great
momentum through. country
and that, every iudn :: ti points! t<
success within -a comparatively
short time?
Two circulars are enclosed. One
fit them deals with* the program ol
the anti-prahib ion movement. You
will be surprised to learn of the re
verses that the Anti-Saloon L* agut
has met with this ..year.
The other cfcular (the yellow
one) gives the names of many
prominent pcopit .affiliated with u
and tells something of our aetiv i
ties.
It costs us, . n the average, $1,500
to organize in a Congressional dis
trict effective); enough to win
Congressman there (see the whit*
circular incloSeo)
Will you be one of three $500
contributorsItc take care of one dr
trict?
Or will you lie one one of fifteen
$ 100 contributors ?
We much hope that you will out
the attached/blank for as large si
amount as you can afford to. You
will save in reduced taxes a?L r th*
Volstead law is modified whatever
sum you ctnitrihute. now.
We.are going to win anyway, ut
we can win more quickly ann murr
decisiv ly with your help.
-Vert sincerely yours. i
• G. C. Hinckley
National Secretary.
This is the incontt stibb evident < 1
against them. We (fiys admit that
the Anti-Saloon League was horn n
put the saloon out of business by
clean political methods amt is staying
in business to keep the wets < in.. That
is our job;' Our subscription cards
state this fact 'open and above board
Mr. Hill of .Maryland. Mr. ('hair
man, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. Upshaw. Not now. Wait uriti1
1 get all the evidence before the jury
and then 1 wfll yield.
Mr. Black of Nee Ytn-k. It. should
be stricken out.es irrelevant. (Laugh- .
ter.)
Mr. Upshaw. Let roe'read a few ■
words to you from this ether com
munication:
“We have, not the available funds
We can not make our plan of cam
paign nuntil we know wruit. to ex
pect. Won’t you send your subscrip
tion with the blank inclosed 7”
As our friend from Massachusetts
(Mr. Gallivin) would-sav, "Oh, boy!”
(Laughter.) This letter bears the
signature of that archpatriot, William
H. Slayton, "the titular head of this
unblushing wet. organisation.
Mr. Black of NeW"-York. Mr.
l 'hair man, a ill the gentleman yield ?
Mr. .Upshaw. I can. not, for my
time is short. Mr. Chairman, I want
you to protect me from these frequent
; interruptions from these meddlesome
‘/wets.”
Mr. Hill of Maryland. You need it
Mr. Upshaw. And you w ill need it
■ before I get through. 1 want to show
. you how careful they are. Here is a
j subscripts u card from this organiza
tion whicn say- it is a crime for a dry
organization t- raise munep. and here
'is the envelope in whicn to send the
“wet.” money, addressed to ‘ Mr. W„
If.. Slayton, Lexington Building, Bal
timore, Md. ’ One card asks for twe
[•years’ dues $10 each year Here is
another JetU r to the Delphi Lumber
t o., f’owan, W. Via., in which they are
making similar requests. Now, watch.
T remind ou that they say in this
photostatic copy, ‘We are going to
win anyway:" in other words, wo do
not need you- much, but come on with
a check if ou can. Look again—
here is a letter to the Mullens Gro
cerv Go., Mullms, W. Va., asking
funds from .wholesale grocers, saying
that it been comes back then will be
no saloons and that beer will be dis
tributed through-the wholesale gro
cers. The say in 'this -letter.
“If we consumeds-Pnty as much as
we did in that year, 20,000,1)00,000 oi
bottles ot beer would> be distributed
through the grocers, for the old sa
loon will ncv. r return.”
Tire letter also says: “In 1914 we
were consuming fib,Q0l>.fl00.>>barrel's of
beer. When the Volstead Act is
amended b»rer will be-sold in bottles."
You will notice the-.leUer says ‘‘the
old saloon will never come back.'
(laughter.) They make'this admis
sion when se-king money from the
great decent class of wholesale gro
cers who, of course, do not want sa
loons to return; but in all good humor
look at this change of front, for at
that “rue rebellion” heid last fall ii
I’ittsburgu-'-Mi. Hill was there, I re
mind you. and a representative of
this wet organization—-atriey tore off
th> mask am blatantly demanded the
repeal of the • ighteenth amendment
and the return of hard liquor in the
open saloon
(Gontmued in Next Issue.)
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