The sun., 1919-02-08
NATURE THE CRIMINAL.
Can All Fermentation BE stopped by
Constitutional Amendment


To THE EDITOR OF THE suN--Sir: Now
that prohibition has been removed from
the realm of dreams and has become an
established fact by fat OF law 1t Will
be interesting to see what expedients
will be adopted to enforce It.
The Anti-Saloon League says that fer
mentation and distillatlon must stop !!
All the Legislatures necessary to back 1t
up, and more too, agree with the league.
Alas! Canute told the wet waves the
same thing, but he had to retire ig-
ANONYMOUSLY In the presence OF all his
eourtiers.
Fermentation and distillation are
processes of nature and take place with
little or no assistance from man. A
league to prohibit the freezing Of water
or the formation Of fog would be fully
as potent as the one which has every
thing rugged as far as Is humanity pos
sible to stop fermentation and distil-
| lation.
The league should have frst got
after nature and conquered her before
sary anxiety and inconvenience.
The making and selling OF apple juice.
! which is surely innocuous in the form
| of sweet cider. cannot be prevented by
the present sapient law, and what au
army Of professional tasters and SMELL
ers the taxpayers will have to support
during the apple season in order that
It may be determined just when few
| hllion gallons OF this invigorating liquid
made at divers times and in various
places is no longer safe or legal for men
to have on their premises, much less
in their persons.
Where is our vinegar to come from,
and how can we have pickles without
vinegar? Will the fifty-seven varieties
have to shrink to seventeen? 1 have
| a personal prejudice in favor OF pickles,
and protest against any league that
| would make 1t difficult or Impossible for
me to indulge this weakness.
And then, what does the league pro-
| pose TO do about grape juice? Surely
| this will endure Its scrutiny, but II II
endures In n warm, dark place not
| tightly corked. perhaps 1t will be apt
| TO change it's mind about remaining
grape Juice and turn sour on our hands
whether we like 1t or not. Is the I'M
fortunate owner and victim of search
and seizure to be hailed before some aw-
full tribunal of justice because nature
has happened to take her course on his
premises?
The homely and omnipresent tea ket-
tie also worries me. There is no getting
away from the fact that these are in
49, ta ant lHh
one a still? and. horrors does not dis
| titled water actually Issue from its
/ spout? why. then. has there not been
formed ere this Society for the Conis-
cation and Abolition Of Tea Kettles?
Before we had brewerles and bakeries
every housewife did her own brewing
and baking. There is a ray OF hope that
! the good old times may be coming back.
Brewing is a lost art in the home. along
with spinning, and baking Is nearly SO
| but who knows but that a revival OF
learning may occur in domestic life az
"A result OF all this Juror against brew
cries? II brewing Is a crime. II orisi-
mated at the hearthstone and In the
bosom of the family. and grew until
changing time and economic conditions
led to the establishment Of brewer!es In
our midst.
Bottles OF catsup also occasionally
blow their heads of. is n man to be
fined or Jailed II he happens to have a
bottle OF catsup that wishes to change
its situation?
might go or ad innnitun. but feel
that what ! have said Is sufficient to
| demonstrate the dire possibilities that
face us A NEW JERSEY PHYSICIAN
WEsrwoop. y. J., February I.