Evening star., 1917-01-10
MAY PUT VETOON
PROHIBITION BILL
Reported That President VIII
son Will Object to Omission
of Referendum Provision.
REPORT NOT CONFIRMED

Reports today that President Wilson
trict. should it pass the House. because
were not confirmed by careful Inquiries
made by Star reporter in official quar-
ters. although there was no assurance
that he will not do so.
The best informal tion today, although
White House officials will not discuss the
matter. is that the President has not
given the matter consideration and will
not do so until the bill is actually be-
fore him. He probably would then con-
suit the District Commissioners. in whose
judgment as to District affairs he has
confidence. and take action afterward
Predictions as to a possible veto of the
bill are based upon letters the President
has written regarding prohibition, hold
ing that it is a matter of local option to
be determined by the wishes of a ma jority
of people in any given unit
Presidents View in 1911.
May ], 1911, while Mr.. Wilson was
Governor of New Jersey and before his
nomination to the presidency, he wrote
letter on the subject to Rev Thomas
B. Shannon of Newark. n. j., the fol-
lowing being the material portion:
May 1, 1911.
My dear Mr.. Shannon:
The question asked in your letter of
April 27 about my attitude toward
the important question of local option
is. of course. perfectly legitimate one
and you are entitled to a very frank
answer.
Il am in favor of local option. l am
thorough believer in local self-gov-
ernment and believe that every self
governing community which constitutes
a social unit should have the right to
control the matter of the regulation or
Of the Withholding of licenses.
But the questions involved are social
and moral and are not susceptible of BE-
ing made parts of party program.
Whenever they have been made the sub
ject- ma tier of party contests they have
party action athwart to the utter con-
fusion OF political action in every other
field. They have thrown every other ques-
ton however important. into the back
ground and have made constructive party
action impossible for long years together
SO far as / am concerned. therefore, /
can never consent to have the question of
local option made an issue between no.
litcal parties in this state NV Judgment
is very clear in this matter / do not
believe that party programs of the high
est consequence to the political life of the
state and of the nation ought to be thrust
on one side and hopelessly embarrassed for
long periods together by making po-
litical issue of great question which is
essentially non-political. non-partisan,
moral and social in its nature.
Very sincerely yours
Former Statement Reaffirmed.
For some time after entering the
White House Mr. Wilson received fire.
quent letters asking for a statement
of his position and one of these, from
Mr.. Grogan, in Texas, he answered.
May IA, 1915, w. B. Ha1deman OF the
Louisville Times. wrote him asking
about the Grogran letter In reply to
Mr.. Haldeman the President wrote this:
The reply to your letter is very sim
pie. My so-called Shannon letter pre-
cisely defines my position with regard
to the liquor issue, not only as it was
when | wrote the letter. but as it Is
now. and the letter to Mr.. Grogan is,
or was, at any rate, intended to be en-
tirely consistent with it, What I in
tended to say to Mr.. G:ogan and think
that ! said with sufficient clearness was
that while the position had taken in
the Shannon letter expressed my fixed
self confident or self opinionated
enough to say what the proper course
of action was either in Texas or in
any other state where l was not per-
sonaIiy IN touch WIN the CONDITIONS
obtaining. I felt that 1t would be ar
rogant on my part to state that there
were. in my opinion, no circumstances
which justified an agitation for state
wide prohibition,
81 am sure that you yourself felt that
there was no Inconsistency between the
two letters, and l am sincerely obliged
to YOU for having afforded me the op
portunity to make this very explicit.
Cordially and sincerely yours.
WOODROW WILSON"
Settlement bv Ballot.