New Britain herald., 1917-08-02


 own time and convenience, except when the states themselves call for an amendment after three-fourths of 1 their number have signiied this in- 1 tention in conventions assem bled. Undoubtedly those fine points of ] constitutional law will be cleared up 1 before the Sheppard resolution is f1n- 1 ally disposed of one way the other,
 by the House of Representatives. Or, granted that the House neglects to clear up all misunderstanding the | measure may be whipped into shape i through some medium so that there
 can be no doubt as to the ccnstitu- tionality of each and every part of the ] proposed legislation. The business of i asking for an amendment to the Con-
 stitution of the United States is no l child's play. Previous attempts to 1 put throueh amendments have shown 1 just how much hard work is required. l There are now some twenty six
 states in the Union which have enact Se'AS
 alcoholic beverages within their bor- ders. It is to be presumed that the
 Legislatures of these states would vote 1 in precisely the same way should the 1 Sheppard resolution get by the lower 1 House of Congress; that these states ] already dry" would vote for the rest l of the states to be made so. If ten | more states were to do likewise, in the event the proposal is made to them, the entire nation would be made 1 "bone-dry'' insofar as such legislation can control the morals of individuals. In the event the Sheppard resolu- tion meets with the same approval in the House of Representatives that
 greeted it in the Senate we may ex-
 pect then that for the next six years
 prohibition will be the one great topic
 of conversation and chip on the shoul-
 der of the nation. Just the moment this measure is passed by the House,
 just so soon will the fight begin. It
 will not be a fight among the peo-
 pie, but a fight by the prohibition lob-
 bies throughout the country to win
 state Legislatures around to their way
 of thinking,-conversely a fight by
 the liquor interests to defeat the pur-
 poses of the prohibition Hobbies.
 Regardless of whether prohibition
 is good thing for the country, or a
 bad thing, the Sheppard resolution, if
 passed by the entire Congress, will not admit of rigid inspection under the microscope of rep1 esentative govern ment. If the people of the United States were asked to come forward and vote on this question, that would be a different matter; but they have never yet been asked to do so. Presi- | dent Wilson, in his last campaign. did 1 not advocate nationw jde prohibition. l His opponent, Charles Evans Hughes, did not do so. It has always been felt that any Presidential candidate who should come out openly for such g. thing would suffer dismal defeat. This would seem to show that the time is not ripe, if it ever will be, whenA mi nority of the people can impress their l likes or dislikes upon a majority of the people. No one will gainsay the l fact that if the nation goes dry un- ] der the proposed amendment to the 1 Constitution, it may be made dry by l a minority of the people even against l the will of the majority. It must be noted that the adoption l of the proposed eighteenth amend 1 ment to the Constitution of the Unit l ed States, should it be passed by a majority of two-thirdS in the Con- gress, would have to be ratified by three -fourths of the states of the Union, not by three-fcurths of the people of the nation. in order to be- l come part and parcel of the Constitu- tion. Therein is the rub. The state of New York has population of 10,- 1 366.77S, according to the latest census figures which is 276.193 more than
 the population of the following eight cen states put together: Arizona, 1 Colorado. Connecticut. Delaware, 1 Florida, Idaho. Maine, Montana, Ne l veda, New Hampshire, New Mexico, l North Dakota, South Dakota, Oregon, 1 Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and | Wyoming. The total population for l these states as given in the census of l January of this year is 10,090,5S5. 1 Although their population is less than l the one state of New York, in voting
 on the proposed amendment to the