The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-07-19
encouraging the officers tn enforr.ns !


encouraging the officers IN enfovrins
H.
Tho State.
AS Is well known. Virginia was In
September. Isl4. added TO the fdry
column OF States. The law is TO go
into effect November /, 1918. Of, Tho
legislature OF 1915, elected after the
state had voted dry, passed laws
tending to make the prohibition law
effective. These laws are not what
the temperance people wanted In
every particular. bat they greatly
strengthen the hands OF those charged
with enforcing the law, and are Inn
provemeuts over the previous laws
Tho creation OF the Prohibition Com
missioner. whose duty 1t is to see that
all laws, including the prohibition
laws, arc faithfully enforced. was the
most Important charge and tho one
which caused the most discu sSlon and
criticism It was insisted that this Of
Hcer- was unneces sary' and it was a re-
Election on the law officers to appoint
someone 70 supervise them. This
sentiment IS shared by n very large
ulr hor OF Christian and temperance
people and u.s. therefore, worthy of
consideration. Your committee re-
ports. Ms its judgment, that offenders
against prohibition laws are unlike
other offenders. when murder, rob
berry theft, assault and battery and
such other offenses are committed, the
injured party cries out for arrest and
punishment Of tho cuiprit, Not 80
with the violators OF the prohibition
law. Both the seller and buyer of
clandcstino drink are interested in
hiding the crime; the seller TO escape
punishment. and the buyer 10 get
more drink. and. between the two. the
crime .s hid. It becomes necessary.
therefore 10 have someone to see
that Offenders against the prohibition
laws are brought to Justice. Your
committee believes that time will es-
lat}ssh the wisdom OF creating this
ONCE. Such an office has proven sue
crssful in West Virginia and your
committee believes will prove equally
so fin the Old Dominion.
The Country AT Largo.
The prohibition sentiment IS not
confined to Virginia It is nation
wide. In 1929 there were only two
prohibition States IN the Union
Maine and Kansas. Now there are
nineteen. Maine Virginia, North Car
olina, South Carolina, Georgia Ala
baIuA, Mississippi, Tennessee, Okla
homa ArkausA2 Iowa, Kansas, Colo
RADIO, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon. Wash
inEton. North Dakota, West Virginia.
In addition. Utah voted dry, but the
Governor vetoed the bill. and tho peo-
pie Of Texas are about 10 express their
preference for prohibition. It will be
noted that these States are confined TO
no particular section In many of the
other states local option exists and
In q large number of these the ma
iority OF the territory II dry.
zone Of the most hopeful signs Ia
the attitude I Congress toward the
liquor traTlc. Tho passage of the
webb Kenyon Shepherd act prohibit
Ing the sale ~ iutoxicants from other
States has hada fine effect. Heretofore
under the original package rule of
the Interstate Commerce act. n State
which had adopted prohibition was
unable to prevent shipments from
other States This has now been
cured by the passage Of the new act.
Another encouraging sign from Con-
gress IN the vote on the Hobson
amendment to the Constitution of the
United States 10 prohibit the sale and
manufacture OF ardent spirits IN the
United States. We are looking to the
time IN the near future s&hen this
amendment will be passed ny both
Houses of Congress-, and adopted by
itfe States. stu other signs from
Congress are the voting out of the
army canteen, the abandonment Of
the saloon IN the Capitol building
basement and the proposition TO make
the District of Columbia and the city
Of Washington dry.
THE World mt large.
THE Czar OF Russia within the
past twelve months issued nm order
stopping the manufacture and sale OF
vodka, the principal drink in the Rus
sian Empire, because of It's doterior-
ating effect on the Russian soldiers
This was especially significant, as the
government of RUSSIA manufacture
this article and made millions from
the sa1e. It was predicted that this
would bankrupt the nation. 1t did
not, however. ana the Duma, the Rus
sian parliament. has recently passed
an act endorsing the AYnperor's orders
ana finally Rbolishirg the manufacture
Of this drink. Frame has put the
ham on nbscnthe and David Lloyd
George. perhaps tho greatest English
statesman. told his country that al
cohol was "A worse enemy than Ger
man, Austrian or Turk. England
mnyes slowly. she 10 not noted for
FfffA ann. WIN nor HSt@hlbAUH tlIue
directed by her greatest statesman,
We may expect, In time. to see her
stamp out her greatest enemy. alcohol.
ut gives your committee pleasure
to report the progress of the fight
chat is wREod on intoxicating drinks
throughout Tho world ana they ex-
press the hope that this sentiment
may continue until This destroyer OF
mankind may be completely con-
quered..
while all Of the above IL encour-
aging, your committee regrets to have
TO report that the use of fntoxcants
among the women seems to be on the
Increase, This evil. Hike most evils,
is making tts attack at the extremes.
on the upper and lower classes. The
upper class Of women are doing their
drinking and smoking on the roof
gardens, restaurants. hotels and fash
iunable german clubs and their wealth
and Influence shields them from pub
Icity and arrest. while the lower
classes are making their appearances
in the police and, justices courts.
where they receive the punishment
prescribed for The drunkard. 1t gives
,-g,t