Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-03-19

 "'"'' DISCUSSED

Washington, D. C., March 19.-
 Leaders of congress do not eApec' 1 any favorable legislation at thlS 1 session on the demands of the Drohl- 1 bjtionists for prohibition for the
 District of Columbia No favorable 1 Iegisiation is looked for in the next or even the one after the next
 congress, but it is admitted that the prohibitions propose to bring the question before every congress for
 years to come and press it harder
 each time. They have been becom-
 ing bolder and bolder in each con- gress for the last few years, ever since the repeal of the canteen law for the army, and they propose to bring all the pressure possible to secure further laws. having learned the cowardice of congress on these questions.
 As an offset to the formidable or ganizations of the prohibitionists, however, the German and Irish so> cieties of the country have come forward in strong protest against any further sumptuary laws by the federal legislature. It was not until the last year or two that these societies work up to the fact that the prohibitionists were doing something and that they were thor oughly and aggresively organized. So organizations have now been pitted against organizations and as the Germans and Irish represent several millions of voters, while the prohibitionists are largely made up of women, it is declared that less prohibition legislation will get congress In the future. The National German-American Alliance and the various Irish societies were recently amalgamated and word sent to congress that the members. of these societies could be depended on to cast their votes against the party enacting restrictive laws in the fu- ture, especially if these laws in- terfered with personal liberty. That is why the Littlefeld bill sivin : states the right to seize whiskies shipped into their borders from other states remains sidetracked. The Germans and Irish have de- clared they mean business and will punish the party that passes the measure.
 Whiskey People Don't Care.
 The hearings before the house district committee brought out and emphasized peculiar fact. That was that the whiskey interests made no opposition to the bill, while the brewing interests did oppose it. The representative of the brewers, along with the representative of German and Irish socities and labor organi- zations, pointed out that sales of WhisKey are never decreased in prohibition states and there is nc loss of business to whiskey manu- lecturers by the closing of saloons as the blind tigers make up that loss. Beer, however, is practically excluded by reason of it's bulk. Ii was claimed that as beer contains but 3 per cent of alcohol, it should not be ranked with alcoholic liouors and should not be put in the same class with them. The effect of prohi bition was to increase consumption
 of the strong drinks, making more
 drunkenness. and close the doors tt the mild drinks, which seldom pro duce intoXication. A number O prominent divines were quoted a! favoring the light drinks in ever,
 way possible, claiming that if thes,
 were encouraged the use of tn,
 strong drinks would gradual, lessen.
 The main reason of the opposi
 tion of the German and Irish or
 ganizations is that prohibition re
 stricts personal liberty and leads t,
 moral deterioration by causing eva
 sion and disregard of law, hypocris
 and deceit.