Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-08-15
EXPECT DELAY
OF PROHIBITION
Considered Unlikely That House
Will Pass Amendment
This Session
Special Correspondence o, the Evening Ledger

| agreed 10 submit CONSTITUTIONAL hHenu
ment to the various States for ratification
within six years from the date OF the sub
mission thereto by Congress, II Is unlikely
| that the House OF Representatives viii con-
cur In the action OF the Senate during the
present session. The Democratic caucus
has undertaken to confne the business OF
the House this session to war business ex-
clusively, and while there Is no disposition
to postpone action Indefinitely upon the
question Of submitting national prohibit
tion amendment, there Is a decided objec-
tion in the House 20 the introduction OF the
prohibition controversy at this time.
The House had this question thrust upon
It unexpectedly during the discussion Of the
| food bill and, being taken by surprise,
| passed, by n kind OF legislative fiuke. n
| prohibition paragraph which anticipated the
| soIcalled Sheppard Senate amendment to
tho Constitution. This action Of the House,
| however was modified by Senate food bill
amendments and by the action of the con-
ferces, who virtually put the prohibition
| problem, as II relates to foodstuffs, up to
the President.
Unless the President exercises to the
limit the prohibitory power which is con-
| ferred upon him, national prohibition as
| contemplated by the Senate constitutional
| amendment is six years off. Three-fourths
Of the State Legislatures must ratify the
amendment within that period. 1t will fail
| If. within six years, thrty-six State Legis-
| latures do not ratify It,
At its best, national prohibition cannot
| win without n fight. The prohibitonists
| are particularly insistent in their demands
| but the other side is alert and has vast
| property interests at stake. Few members
| of the Senate or House care TO be known
| as champions of the liquor capno rut many
| of them are firmly convinced ;i.at ;he legal
| recognition Of the liquor traffic entities those
| who have their money invested IN il to
| compensation for the destruction OF their
property. 1t is also brutcd about In every
| prohibition quarter, and this causes much
| irritation that prohibition is not intended
| to deprive the individual of his personal
| rights; that people who can afford 1t are
| to have liquor II they want It, and that It
| Is the sale OF liquor only which is sought
| to be prohibited.
| But whether or not prohibition is making
| such inroads as Its champions aver. II Is
! evident that good long fight between the
| rival forces Is inevitable. IL is this fight
| at this war session OF Congress which the
House Is likely to avoid. Literature on
| both sides OF the question flows into Wash
| ington in copous doses The anti-saloon
! lobbyists are denouncing the liquor people
ior maintaining lobbies. and vice versa.
District to Go Dry
| Whether the nation goes dry within the
next SIX years IL not a matter of great
| worry just now with the people of the Dis
| trlct OF Columbia They are more concerned
about the District, which is going dry"
| on and after November / next The Dis
| trict of Columbia law is not what might be
called a "bone-dry law" such as applies In
Alaska, where the odor Of liquor on ones
| breath Is perlously near a prison offense
| but 1t is mighty close to II. in that It makes
1t unlawful to manufacture for sale or
| gift, import for sale gift sell, offer for
| sale, keep for sale. traffic in, barter export,
| ship out Of the District OF Columbia, or ex-
| change for goodk or merchandise, or solicit
| or receive orders for the purchase Of any
| alcoholic or prohibited liquors for beverage
purposes or for any other than scientific
| medicinal, pharmaceutical, mechanical sac.
ramental. or other nonbeverage purposes"
| Railroads, steamboat companies. express
| and transportation companies are to keen
| a record OF shipments of Intoxicating liquors
| and their books are to be admissible as
| evidence against any one bringing liquor
into the District. or taking 1t out About
| the only way left to get 1t in after Novem-
Der l will be by airplane private yacht
These means Of conveyance are not speci-
| fled in the act.
| This law, as previously observed goes
| into effect November 1 next, so that those
| who have liquor in stock for sale, es-
peclally the hotels and licensed places, are
putting good price on what they have,
|
| they must be rid of the liquor in their
| possession when the last horn blows Even
| the fashionable clubs of Washington must
| give up their Scotch and soda" after the
! first OF November. They will have no more
| right to dispense 1t than will the speak
easies or the bootleggers The latter tribe
| Is expected to Increase after the first of
November. but the police department is
| looking forward hopefully to its ability
| to execute the law.
| Meanwhile foreign diplomats are pre-
| pairing to suffer the shock OF abstinence
and the rank and file are beginning to look
for comfort to Baltimore, Norfolk and other
| points beyond tho confines oe the District
| 1t Is worth mentioning also, ii only as a
| suggestion Of national consistency. that,
! while the Senate has voted for a prohibition
| amendment to the Constitution, the Senate
| Finance Committee has replaced the liuuor
tax in the revenue bill and increased il,
finding 1t necessary to supply the funda
| required by the Administration for the
| prosecution Of the war. It Is difficult TO
| dissocate the financial from the moral
view Of the prohibition question.
Progress Made by Prohibition
Apart from making the national capitaI
| dry, prohibition, though far from being
nationwide, should be given credit for con-
| siderable legislative progress. In 1890 an
act was passed bringing interstate ship
ments of liquor under the police powers of
the States concerned, even as to original or
| unbroken packages In 1903 Intoxicating
liquor was banished from the limits of the
Capitol In 1909 a further penal statute
was enacted relating to interstate shipments
OF liquor and requiring the goods to be
labeled so that the consignee and the auan-
tity being shipped might be known
Then came the WebbKenyon law, passed
over President Taft's veto in February.
1913. which prohibited the shipment of
liquor into any State in violation of the
laws thereof This law. subsequently, sus
tanned by the Supreme Court, was supposed
to be the most effective prohibition law
put upon the statute books up TO that
time. but the first real bone dry" law
now known as the Alaska prohibition law. -
came along In February of the present
year. This law virtually prohibits the
admission Of liquor into Alaska or the
having of 1t In possession while in Alaska,
It makes It misdemeanor to be seen in.
toxicated or to be caught "associatng with
others who sell liquor, or who have II IN
possession or who give it away The Alaska
law is the most drastic liquor law ever
passed by Congress, but 1t was enacted he
cause the people Of Alaska voted to have
1t that way