Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-17
VETS IN LAST STAND
WILL GIVE Up FIGHT
IF U.S.. COURT FAILS
Validity Of Eighteenth Amend
nent Test to be Based on the
Ohio Referendum
EXPORT TIME IS BRIEF
3y associated Frass 70 Pverv Evening

~ Aesorfafed Fraes 10 Eve~v Evrning
Washington Dec 1.-THE wet forces
fell back yesterday 10 their fna iljre 0f
trenches LEGAL steps were taken ID the
United States Supreme Court to uDhcid
tho contention ~ the Observation-Disclosures
that the constitutional pro hibltion amend
ment . not valid
The move made in the supreme Court
was on behalf Of the retail liouor dealers
of New jersey, who. under he name Of
William Deuehne az plaintiff. asked the
court for permission 10 file an original
bill testing the validity Of the ratIfca-
ion IF the amendment The petition
asAs Tor an injunction 10 restrain state
ana Federal officers from enforcing the
Volstead law q New Jersey after January
IS
The contentious II the retail dealers
If New ,isrs y Is bas u On the ground nat
he proclamation # rati1catIon included
Ohio IN he list Of rasify1ng States where
rs hat State hos sinca. Nv porIl4r refer
endum renudiated the action of me
State Legislature IN ratifylng the ,ight-
ecnth amendment
This question already mas been con-
sidered BY the State department, which
issued the original proclamation and an
opinion has been asked from the depart
ment of justice as n whether the Ohio
referendum actually lnvalldates the rati-
fication. Informally, the Federal 4u-
thoriiles have taken the position nat
in1smuch as TWO other States besides
Ohio were added TO the list Of rat..ivlng
States On the day that ratification was
COMPLETED, the elimination II Ohio in
nowise can affect the fact of ratification
rs proclaimed The vets On the other
hard take tha posltIoa that . new nroc-
IaTnatl1a Is necessary ard hat under the
law the effective date OF tie amendment
would have 70 be set 10 a time one year
from the date Of the new proclamation
1t IS admitted privately n wet circle
Jaat the oew legal move represents the
l2St resort If the opo1aelts 05 prohlbi-
ton, and that AZ best it IS q technical
one. Ii IS expected that the New Jer-
sev ease viii De joined with d similar one
that the illinois whisky dealers are plan
ming 10 brlnE Il the Supreme Court agrees
10 the fling q q bill
Treasury Department officials are pro
ceedlng rapidly with The task Of setting
10 machinery Tor the enforcement 0f
constitutions! prohibition. 50 far IS
wartime prohibition Is concerned, en-
forcement is being lett 70 the regular
internal revenue agents supported by the
Department of Justice. The new force
being organized under Prohibition Com
missioner John Kramer viii not get into
operation until January l6,
Mr. Kramer admitted yesterday tina.
the existence IN bonded warehouses Of
60.000, 900 gallons Of whisky is threaten
ing T. be white elephant on his depart
meat fer some tifae Il come
u wish be said. that those 60,0O0.-
900 gallons were either At the bottom Of
the sea or had been consumed before
this time | had hoped that much Of il
would have been exported by this time
but evidently the owners had retained
some hope that the wartime oct would
be declared unconstitutional and that
they would be able u dispose oi it in this
country ut Il profit
While export Is pcTmISSi bic under the
wartime act, ports viii be closed abso-
lutely 10 shipment after constitutional
prohibition goes into effect After that
date the only way by which owners can
dispose Of stocks on hand will be through
their conversion into industrial alcohol
or their sale 10 registered druggists, san
atoTla and HOSPITALS la the meantime
the government must guard the hquor
20 keep il from being removed for beYer-
Age purposes.
In tins connection il is understood that
several church organizations having wlncS
shjopod to them for sacranental pur-
pos2s from various parts of the country
have complained % the authorities Of
larga numbers of thefts from these shin
Yneufa