El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-01-02
A BIG ISSUE, IS NOW
FACED SQUARELY BY NATION.
(BY c. 4. NJ

-. !
United States, embraced in narrow area. to the
sumptua1y regulations of minority scattered across
continent. There never would have been union
upon such terms. No true union can be maintained
upon such terms.
Aside from the question whether prohibition itself
good or bad for the nation argues the Knoxville Sentinel
dangerous excite and divide the country such
time when national unity and concentration
essential to the winning Of the The Philadelphia
Evening Ledger that to prostitute the constitution
TO purposes Of legislation IS to undermine the authority Of
that instrument and imper thereby the stability of the
government It continues: "To compel all the states
conform TO the police regulations Of majority OF the
states would be destroy local government which within
the corpus of vast soveeigntes well colonies has
been found BY human experience to be vital to contentment
among citizens Disqueting possibilities must be faced
agrees the Springfield Republican, Sin attempting make
the nation dry single stroke" And It goes to
plain what these possibilities are:
In sumptuary legislation the law should be
tanned by the mandate Of at least the majority of the
people For the law not be successfully enforced
IN this country unless the executive authority has
back Of It the popular will Under federal con-
stitutiOn amendment ratified by the states may
be the expression Of only minority of the people
Of the United States. Prohibition has thus far seemed
TO be the will mainly Of those sections Of the country
that are the more thinly inhabited. Dry states
to be found chiefly in the west and south, where
there few large cities. Yet in the process of ra
tying amendment Idaho's vote viii equal New
Tork's. This fact brings within the range of pos
slblhty the forcing Of the dry amendment into the
federal constitution by the votes Of SO states which
have but about Al 100000 inhabitants, against u
states in the minority having less than 81 100000
inhabitants It is possible speaking broadly for the
more Populous east to have prohibition forced upon
II by the less populous west and south. No such
outcome could be made to appear consistent with the
democratic principle Of majority rule.
On the other hand advocates of prohibition such as
The American Issue, that te overwhelm-
ing dry in the house reflects the temperance sentiment
throughout the nation To quote this antsaOOn league
organ further:
This bodies no good for the liquor interest when
the fight Is the respective state Legislatures
The settlement Of the prohibition question is in
the hands Of the people, just where the liquor in
terests do not want it to be. Yes, the contest Is
half won. But there IS hard fighting yet ahead all
along the far-flung battle mont that extends from
coast to coast and from Canada to the gulf But the
drys are ready, and with p dry states and a half
dozen nearby states, who can doubt the outcome.
War conditions, thinks the New York Tribune, have
wrought revolutionary change in public sentiment which
IS reflected in this prohibition amendment. says:
War efficiency and the liquor traffic have been
treated IN all helhgerent countries as irreconcable
enemies Every military administrator recognizes this
Congress recognized It when inserted in the selec
tive consumption law provision forbddng the sale
Of alcoholic liquors to soldiers and sailors And when
congress went that far it admitted the logic Of
tempting TO check or abolish the use of intoxicating
liquors in every other field Of effort in the in
dustrial sphere well in the fighting and
the training camps
The proposed amendment reads:
Section l. After one year from the ratification
of this article the manufacture, sale, tTanspOr-
tation Of Intoxicating liquors Within the importation
thereof into, or the expectation thereof from, the
United States and all territory subject the jurs-
dcton thereof for beverage purposes is hereby pro
hbited.
Section 2 The congress and the several states
shall have concurrent power TO enforce this article
by appropriate legislation.
Section 3. This article shall be imperative unless
shall have been ratified amendment to the con-
sttutiou by the legislatures of the several states
provided in the constitution, within seven years
from the date Of the submission hereof the states
by congress.
Literary Digest which reviews the situation great
detail points that If the "rys hold the 27 states they
have and win from the column within the
year period they win On the other hand 10 states
IN the negative holding out years defeat the
amendment. The states already IN the dry" column
enumerated IN the Digest are:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia,
Idaho Indiana, Iowa. Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Mis-
sissippi, Montana Nebraska, New Hampshire, New !
Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma,
Oregon, South Carolina South Dakota, Tennessee,
Utah, Virginia Washington, West Virginia.
Those still "wet" are:
California Connecticut, Delaware, Florida Illinois,
Kentucky, Louisiana Maryland, Massachusetts, Min
nesota, Missouri New Jersey, New York, Nevada,
Ohio Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont,
Wisconsin, Wyoming.
Women who got cook books practical Christmas pres
ents don't know whether to feel insued encouraged