New-York tribune., 1918-04-29
They Believe Federal Pro.
hibition Amendment
Would Be Ratified
State Conference
Called by Leader.
Plea to Governor To Be
Considered as Result Of
Local Option Elections

A fresh effort to have the present
Legislature ratify the proposed prohi-
bltion amendment to the Federal Con.
stitutlon is being made by the temper.
ance forces of the state. A confer-
ence has been called for next Monday
to be held in Albany.
Mrs. Ella A. Boole, president of tho
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
in an interview with Representative
of The Tribune last night said that
the first proposal before the conven.
ton would be to ask Governor Whit
man to call an extra session of the Leo.
islature
The conference will be made nm ~
cites of the state, including ,sI vbst sU''. y
known as the Big Five-the VI. {. r +
.Anti-Saloon League, Good Temn]ars
Civic League and Prohibition party.
The call for the conference was Is
sued by Mrs. Boole on Saturday It
will be held in the Young Mems Chris.
tan Association auditorium, under tho
auspices of the Allied Forces of Civic
ana Moral Betterment of Now York
State, of which Mrs. Boole is chairman.
Ihls organization includes the larger
temperance and prohibition societies.
and the thousands of temperance soci
cites of the churches through1ut the
state S
Recent Elections Give Hope
Many cf the temperance advocates
believe that the present Legislature. if
called back by the Governor" said Mrs.
boole, would ratify the proposed Fed
erai amendment. Their reason for this
nellef is that the local option cleo
tons recently held throughout the
state, when twenty-one of the thirty
nlne cities went dry, have pointed the
way for some of the doubling upstate
legislators as to how their communities
feel on the subject"
Will be recalled that the friends of
ratlilcatlon in the closing days of the
Legislature made an effort to get the
leaders OF the two branches, Senator
Elon r. Brown and Thaddeus c. Sweet.
Speaker of the Assembly, to POSTPONE
the date Of adjournment from April 13
to at least April 20.
Senator George +. Thompson. of Nj
agara, who assumed the leadership of
the drys in the closing hours. charged
That the real reason for setting the ad-
Journment date three days before the
day on which the local option elections
were TO be held throughout the state
was to prevent a detection of upstate
legislators lined up with the vets.
The argument of these rural lcgisls-
tors for not joining the ratification fac
tlon was that Congress had passed the
resolution submitting the proposed
bone dry amendment to the several
states after they had been elected to
office, and that consequently they did
not know how their constituencies
wanted them to vote on the question.
Believe Way Has Been Shown
Now that the local option elections
have been held, it is asserted bv the
prohibitionists, the constituencies of a
sufficient number OF legislators have
indicated how they want their lagisla-
tors to vote on the question 10 make
certain the ratification Of the proposed
amendment at an extra session
Senator Thompson and Senator Will
lam H. Hill. who fosterod the ratifca.
tlon resolution in the upper house. as
serted in the closing week of the Leg
lslature that they had twcntv-fiva votes
IN the Senate. This was one short Of
the required constitutional majority.
" MaSertown, the home of Senator Elon
II. Brown, is one of the districts which
went dry. Senator Brown was one of
the principal opponents of prohibition.
so that II he were to follow the lead Of
ms constituency the ratification of the
proposed bone dry amendment would
be assured. Three ether Senatorial
districts whose representatives. were on
the e. wet fence have also gene dry
The ratification resolution never get
TO vote in either house. The As
sembly voted to postpone action indef-
nitely. In the Senate the measure was
KILLED in the Committec on Taxation
apd Retrenchment, Of which Senator
James A. Emerson is chairman.
William II. Anderson, state supern-
tendent OF the Anti-Saloon League, said
last night that prohibitionists who want
an extra session are being used by the
toes Of Governor Whitman in an at
tempt to embarrass him. Answering
this: Mrs. Boolc said:
Ihe people who believe that an extra
session should be called are Influenced
solely by the desire to aid prohibition,
and have a firm belief that if an extra
session is called the results Of the local
option elections held on April l6 and II
Will make ratification possible by this
defeat II. We know how this one,
stands