The American Issue (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 10, No. 7, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 1, 1914 Page: 3 of 16
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A The —
American Issue
Volume X Oklahoma Edition, July, 1914 Number 7
Resubmission
On the yth oi June the U nited Civic Association (li(iuor organization) tiled their proposed amend-
ment to the constitution to legalize saloons, breweries and distilleries in villages, towns and cities through-
out the state, including Osage county and Indian Territory. Osage county and Indian Territory have nev-
er had a legalized liquor traffic. The churches expended six million, one hundred thousand dollars mis-
sionary money to establish the church in the Indian country prior to statehood. The bones of our pioneer
•missionaries sleep within the bosom of that soil. We must save it from the legalized liquor traffic.
1 he amendment proposes to put two saloons in towns of less than one thousand population. Three in
towns of one thousand and less than two thousand. One additional saloon per thousand in towns of over
two thousand population.
Fred S. Caldwell of Oklahoma City,
For Attorney General on the Democratic Ticket, Primary
August 4, 1914
Mr. Caldwell is thirty-eight years old, came to
Oklahoma eleven years ago ami began practicing law
at Oklahoma City. He took an active part in the
councils of the Anti-Saloon League during the Prohi-
bition campaign at the coming of statehood and for a
number of years has been a member of the board of
trustees of that organization. In June, 1908, at the
request of the Anti-Saloon League, Mr. Caldwell was,
by Governor Haskell, appointed “Prohibition enforce-
ment Attorney” under the Enforcement Act passed
by the first legislature, commonly called the “Billups
law.” In discharging the duties of this office, Mr.
Caldwell was early confronted by the interstate com-
merce barrier to the enforcement of the state Prohibi-
tion laws. The problem first presented itself in the
form of injunction suits brought in the federal courts
by the railroads against Mr. Caldwell and his depart-
ment and later by numerous similar suits brought by
foreign liquor dealers who wished to market their
goods in Oklahoma. As a result of this litigation,
which finally terminated in the supreme court of the
United States, Mr. Caldwell became a legal expert on
interstate commerce law, and in his final report to
Governor Haskell he made this recommendation:
In appendix “B” hereto attached, I submit a draft
for a proposed bill to be enacted by Congress for the
solution of the vexing problem of interstate commerce
in intoxicating liquors. The bill set forth in appendix
“H" is, in my opinion, clearly constitutional and will
have the effect of absolutely unshackling the hands
of the state in the exercise of its police powers with-
out in any manner interfering with or embarrassing
legitimate interstate commerce. If the legislature of
Oklahoma were t<> memorialize Congress upon this
very important subject of interstate commerce in in-
toxicating liquors, the measure set forth in appendix
“B” might well he offered as a concrete suggestion for
definite congressional legislation.
Early in 1911 the proposed measure as drafted
by Mr. Caldwell was by Mr. E. C. Dinwiddie, national
legislative superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League
at Washington and Mr. Caldwell’s close personal
friend, presented to Mr. E. Y. W’ebb, a member of
Congress from North Carolina and a member of the
House Judiciary Committee. Mr, Webb is a very
able lawyer and at once recognized the merit of the
measure and introduced it in the House of Represen-
tatives during the first session of the Sixty-second
Congress as the original Webb bill.
In December. 1911, a convention of the repre-
sentatives from the Anti-Saloon League and other
temperance organizations was held in Washington
and largely through the efforts of Mr. Caldwell and
his clear and convincing exposition of the intricate
legal questions involved, the Webb bill was agreed
upon as the measure upon which all should unite.
In March, 1912, Mr. Caldwell, at the request of
the Anti-Saloon League of America appeared before
both the house and the senate judiciary committees
and argued for the passage of the Webb bill, and in
support of its constitutionality. This argument was
used by Mr. Clayton, chairman of the house judiciary
committee in the fight i<>r the bill which he led on
the floor of the house. In the course of his debate.
Mr. Clayton said:
Mr. Speaker: In view of the assaults made upon
the constitutionality of the pending bill 1 think it hut
fair to have printed the argument made by Mr. Fred
S. Caldwell, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who made
the first draft of this bill. 11 is argument was before
the committee on the judiciary and is as follows:
(Congressional Record, 1913, p. 3283.)
The Webb bill was passed by Congress, vetoed
by President Taft and repassed over the Presidential
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Cherrington, Ernest H. The American Issue (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 10, No. 7, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 1, 1914, newspaper, July 1, 1914; Westerville, Ohio and Oklahoma City Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc941578/m1/3/: accessed April 26, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.