Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-02-23
Prohibition That VIII Prohibit.


The passage of the Reed amendment by tower
ing majority, in the House, following its emphatic
approval by the Senate, means that at last there
will be Prohibition which really prohibits. Under
the terms of this far-reaching measure it will be
crime punishable by heavy penalties for any person
to order, purchase or intoxicating liquors to
be transported in interstate commerce, except for
scientific sacramentai, medicinal or mechanical
purposes" into any State territory whose laws
forbid the manufacture sale therein of intoxicat
ing liquors for beverage purposes" There is no
mistaking the significance of this ronclad embargo
1t puts federal power behind State laws which have
been largely futile 1t parts the dry States and the
wet States as efectualy as the sheep shall be
divided from the goats.
When the Reed amendment goes into effect
the tide of whisky, wine and beer which
flows into Georgia regular as the fulling
of the moon will cease; So too, with the fourteen
other Prohibition States where liquor now can be
imported legally. Easy-going pretense will give
way to hard and fast reality Transgressions of the
statute there doubtless will be, but for the most
part every that has adopted, in the future
adopts Prohibition will be free from any outside
interference temptation in enforcing its law to
the letter A problem which heretofore has been
of an interstate character is narrowed to the indi
tanned some months ago by the Supreme Court,
those States which expressly prohibited the impor-
tation of liquor guaranteed federal support in
the enforcement of their embargo and that was
long step towards effectual Prohibition. But the
Reed amendment goes much further and by one
stroke raises adamantine wall against the ship
ping of liquor into States which forbid its manufac
ture or sale within their borders, whether or not
they expressly forbid its importation. Thus the
power and the responsibility of making Prohibition
actual instead of merely nominal, and complete in
stead of fragmentary is placed squarely upon the
individual State. This amendment disposes, of
course, of every semblance of need for an extra
session of the Georgia Legislature to pass bone
dry" BILL
The economic effect of the new law will be of
much Importance, for it will Keep within the dry
States millions upon millions of dollars which have
drifted to wet territory, total and permanent loss
to the communities whence it was drawn Infinitely
more important, however, will be the moral effect
of the new law, not only aid to genuine Pro-
hibtion in States now dry but also as a powerful
influence for the extension of Prohibition through
out the Union. The liquor traffic has received the
hardest heaviest blow of its history. Barred from
interstate commerce in more than score of States
it will face continually widening prescription and
continually dwaring profits. Unless all omens
fail, there will be nationwide Prohibition in the
United States within comparatively few years.
This matter can be viewed no longer as a theory;
it must be accepted condition. The economic
no less than the moral sense of the country has
turned overwhelmingly against liquor a beverage
and science has added its passioness but powerful
condemnation. decade two ago pleas for Pro-
hibition were based mainly sentiment; today
they are based mainly on reason and business. The
demand for abstinence from alcohol is part and
parcel of the demand for efficiency in every field of
endeavor and every 'aspect of life