The St. Joseph observer. [volume] (St. Joseph, Mo.) 1906-1932, 1917-03-24

Drys Try to Defeat Measure
The fact is that the Reed amend
ment took the officers of the Anti
Saloon League entirely by surprise.
They did all in their power to defeat
1t, but were unable to come out open
ly against it, without advertising their
hypocrisy The Anti-Saloon League
lobby had driven the members Of
Congress to desperation and they
seized this opportunity to put that
lobby out of business.
There are but few members of
Congress who honestly favor prohi-
bition; when they vote that way they
are guided only by political expedien-
cy. The Reed amendment suited
those Congressman exactly; they were
able to give the Anti-Saloon League
a solar-plexus blow and at the same
time please their dry constituents.
AS Congressman Barchfeld, of
| Pittsburg one of the wettest mem
bers of the House, said in explaining
his vote:
81 voted for the Reed amendment
because l wanted to make the dry
states bone dry and to put the fear
of God into the hearts of the states
that remain wet. That Is my reason
and you can publish it, 1 never cheat
or four-flush; my cards are on the
table.
81 am opposed to the Antl-Saloon
League agitators who play upon the
credullty and emotions OF old women
at prayer-meetings. They are fakirs.
and want to put them out of busi-
ness. They are yelling Anti4Saloon
League, and am yelling anti-saloon
leaguers.
! when the resolution proposing a
constitutional amendment for prohi-
bition comes up will vote against it.
have not changed my views on the
liquor question in any particular. I
believe 1t is a question for the states
to settle. and l never will vote to i'm
pose prohibition upon wet states any
more than / would vote to make dry
states wet. When a state votes dry.
l say give them prohibition that pro-
hibits. That's what the Reed amend
ment does"
Their Enthusiasm" For 1t
League officials was expressed In a
letter addressed to the dry members
of Congress when the amendment
was pending in the House. in which
they said:
"While the Anti-Saloon League of
America is committed to the extermi-
nation of the beverage liquor traffic.
we did not propose this amendment
because we felt that until intoxicat-
ing liquors for beverage purposes
should be denied the facilities Of In
| terstate commerce, or until national
prohibition should prevail through
the orderly processes OF constitutional
amendment, it might be better sim
| ply to prevent the use of federal
agencies to hamper and nullify state
prohibition laws and leave to the
states the determination of how far
and how fast they would go with re-
spect to the control OF the possession
and use OF intoxicating liquors.
1T is useless to deny there is an
honest difference of opinion among
the supporters of prohibition as to
the present expediency of the Reed
amendment. Some of our people fear
that this proposed amendment will
not be helpful to the prohibition
cause but that its enactment might
not only produce some reaction in
prohibition states which are not
'bone-dry,' but might deter other
states from passing advanced prohlbi-
ton legislation. They have favored
legislation which permits limited
shipments, because it was thought in
some states 1t would not have been
possible otherwise to abolish the sa-
loon"
The officials of the league rave
about the alleged evils resulting from
the use of alcoholic beverages. but
never in their history have they pro-
posed or advocated law that would
prohibit the use.
They never have for two reasons
first, they know that such prohibi-
tion is not and never will be popular
and that they could not win. and sec.
ond, because the adoption or reJec.
ton of such prohibition would NEAR
the loss of their Jobs.
When the people of a state adopt
the Anti-Saloon League brand of pro
hibitlon the officers OF the leagu,
keep right on collecting money ant
drawing their salaries. They ther
devote their time to enforcing a Law