The sun., 1918-07-08
ANDERSON ASSAILS
LEWIS AS DRY FOE
Insists Candidates Backers
Fooled Plan for Referen-
dunn on Prohibition.
FALSE FRONT rs CHARGED
Anti-Saloon Lacquer Asserts
Attorney-General Resorts
to Misrepresentation.

In a hot reply to Acknowledgement
Merton e. Lewis's attack on prohibition.
William II. Anderson, State superin-
tendent Of the Anti-Saloon League. says
his statement that the league does not
want the people to have vote on the
question OF prohibition is not SO and that
the brewery interests and their political
allies. whom he characterizes as Lewis
| hackers. defeated the efforts of the
| league, to get such privilege for the
voters. His statement says:
Mr.. Lewis. total abstainer that he
claims to be. is evidently seeing things,
| such as pink cold water snakes, green
| ratification elephants and prune colored
prohibition dragons After almost un-
| believable folly and indiscretion of ut
terance coming from one Of his accred-
| tied intelligence. he now resorts to wilful
! misrepresentation. which is stupid. be-
| cause he can be refuted from the rec
ords
Blames Lewis's Alleged Backers.
THE Attorney General says that the
Anti-Saloon League does not want the
| people to have a vote on the question oil
| prohibition In the face OF the notorious
| fact that II was the brewery interests
| and their political allies who are ru~
the chief hackers of Mr.. Lewis that de-
| feated the Atni-Saloon Leagues effor,
| to give every voter a chance to vote or
| the liquor question until In 1917 Gov
Whitman forced the passage Of the city
local option law.
"In all the nearly twenty weary years
| that the Anti-Saloon League fought for
! f. 10.
lions and found no voice in behalf of a
popular vote until the brewery standpa,
politicians drafted him as a respectable
| false front for their scheme to fool the
people.
MIR. Lewis's present hackers killed
the proposal for vote on State prohi.
bition as recently as the session of 1917
when it would have helped the prohibi'
ton cause. After Congress made q
back number Of State prohibition. which
cannot now possibly become effective
before 1922. by putting ratification OF g
national prohibition amendment np &c
the New York Legislature, and tn,
brewers and the wet end of the Re
publican party discovered that Stat,
prohibition might be juggled to della,
national action, then and then only Mr.
Lewis discovered how ardently his sou
yearns for popular vote.
Sees CamOunaRe for Vets.
I'm the light Of the fact that the Anti
Saloon League not. only has not asked
but Is utterly opposed to any declara
ton even for ratification in the Repub
lican party platform. Mr.. Lewis
strenuous efforts to save the party or
his alleged issue OF whether It shall b,
turned over to the Anti-Saloon Leagu,
are In reality an attempt to hide tn,
wet scheme TO tic things up in sue,
shape that legislat from dry districts
will not he free to vote for ratification
in accordance with the wishes of thei
districts.
mfr. Lewis has not dared deny tina
the brewers are for him and that tn,
thing he stands for is what they wan
as n means OF keeping New York from
being one OF the States TO ratify tn,
national prohibition amendment Speak
ing officially as the executive officer o
their federated agency for the maiorit,
Of the pastors and churches in thu
State. I declare that whatever his pro
fessions Mr. Lewis is In fact standin,
for the same thing and serving tn.
interests OF the German brewers con
corning whose relation to disloya
propaganda we shall have considerable,
to say OF a very explicit character"