Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1918-01-24

to the nation to take snap action, TO
suffer an uninstrhcted Legislature TO
cast this States vote-irreyocably If
aairnative--on matter Of such
vast moment to the nation and il
which il may be thai this States
affirmative vote would be decisive.
Editorial, Baltimore Sun, Janu-
arg 10:
Prohibition.
Il Is TO be hoped that our legisla-|
tors At Annapolis, before acting
upon any Of the prohibition meas.
ures introduced At this session, will
give serious thought to the effect
Of their action and be influenced
neither by prejudice nor proposes
sion. bat only by an honest and
patriotic desire to do what il best
for the state and the country
The Sun believes that neither the
ratification Of the Federal amend
mcut nor the passage Of State wide
prohibition law IL desrable at this
time. The prohibition question was
not an isaue 10 the election which
resulted in the selection % the men
who now represent the people At
Annapolis. They have no man
date from the people on this qass-
ton. The tremendous majorilics
against prohibition 10 Baltimore
city and Baltimore county at the re-
cent election make il Al least very
doubtful whether The people AZ
whole would ratify The amendment
II it could be submitted to The popu-
lar vote. And even Il slight ma
iority could b. secured for il in the
siIte as a whole Il would be CREW.
oasly wrong to force prohibition
upon o community as large as Bal.
timorc city which has jast shown 40
strong a sentiment sgains, Il.
fha, Is the obiection to slatp-
side prohibition. Aud she obieo-
tioo 70 the Federal Amendment ii
81 the same nature II Il is xroag
for 1afyland % force prohibition
upon baltimore against it, kill, IL
IL wrong Tor any combination Of
states 70 force prohibition upon
other states against their viii. Such
coupulsion wonld stir up ~ feeling,
invite contempt for the law and pro-
mote eyasions Of It. Ne do not las
stress on the abstract doctrine Of
states rights, q theory not much re.
gsried IN these days, although once
held 80 important in Maryland and
The South. Bat we 10 stress the in
herenl justice and the danger that
Tie ia sueh a proposal.
II il Is Objectionable in ordinary
tmes, il Is trcbiy 40 in these days
Of war. The great need today -
nation united IL the work 81 winning
the war Anything that diyeris at
tcution from this work is bad. Any
thing that diyorts attention and also
arouses bad feeling Is likely to be
disastrous.
Ii should be borne il mind by our
Representatives at Annapolis that
neither of these measures il war
emergency measure. The Federal
amendment, even IL ratified, would
net become effective for several
years. Maryland alone could not
enact a prohibition measure that
would he appreciably effective in
conserving the nations resources,
even though the argument Of the
prohibitionists In this connection be
accepted a. sound. Any such legis-
la,ion must come from Washington.
When President Wilson demands
prohibition during the war as a war
emergency measure the nation will
support him in that demand. In
the meantime il must be recognized
that much has already been done ia
this direction, and thatseven before
the war temperance had for years
been making great strides aud the
evils Of intemperance were being di-
minished every year. That being
the case, there is no crisis that de-
mands radical action or any other
than serious and calm treatment of
a disputed question:.
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