New-York tribune., 1919-01-29

to citizens. These rights. the anti
prohibitionist people will assert
are comprehended by the lines which
describe what the trainers Of the Con.
stltutlon aimed to form-"a more per
1ect Union, establish Justice, insure
domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defence, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of
'Derty to ourselves and our posteritv.' y
All of these fundamental things. the
ho'el men assert, are infringed by the
drastic law signed by the President
TO take effect on July next.
Ihe hotel men assert that the Shep-
para amendment to the agricultural
Dill, which brings about prohibition.
violates the clear provisions of the
Constitution in that it was not neces-
sary This word necessary" and the
phrase "two-thirds of the House" are
likely to loom large in the discussion
OF the dry law. Counsel for the vets
con5end that when the Constitution
sald that an amendment could be
,auopted only "whenever two-thirds Of
both houses shall deem it necessary"
the expression shall deem 1t neces-
sary' goes with and must be inter
preted with the expression "two-thirds
OF both houses On this point the
pamphlet prepared by Chairman Woods
Tor distribution among legislators CON
tinues: WA
"Forty-seven members of the Senate
ana no more, declared that they deemed
ITS the dry amendment submission
TO be necessary Forty seven is not
two thirds of the House. The House
OF representatives that adopted this
proposition contained 433 members.
Two hundred and eighty-two, and no
mission necessary. They are not two
thirds Of the members of that House +"
Say 1t Wasn't Necessary
he vets assert that the amendment
cannot be considered to have been nee
essary. On this point Mr.. Woods ar
sues as follows:
ON November II the President read
TO Congress the armistice word for
word, and when he had done, at the
end OF the thirty-fifth paragraph, he
said: The war thus comes to an end.
tor, having accepted these terms of
armlstice, it will be impossible for the
German command to renew it.
AND 1t was after this. on November
Il, that the Sheppard amendment was
passed. AT that time American troops
IN home cantonments were being rap
idly disbanded; American troops in
England were boarding the transports
to come home; orders for munitions
that had been placed with our factories
were being cancelled shipbuilding was
held up. he war was ended. The
President had said so, and everybody
knew It, None the less, and under pre-
clsely those circumstances, the Shep-
pard amendment an provided that after
June 80, 1919, until the conclusion OF
the present war, and thereafter until
the termination of demobilization, the
date of which shall be determined and
proclaimed by the President of the
United States, for the purpose Of CON
serving the man power of the nation
and to increase the efficiency in the
production of arms and munitions,
ships, food and clothing for the army
and navy, it shall be unlawful to sell,
tor beverage purposes, any distilled
spirits.
Demobilization Under Way
To conserve the man power that We
were at that time disarming, To in
crease an efficiency in the production
of military supplies that we were tell
ing the factories to stop work on On
ITS face the thing was lie and a
fraud, piece of wanton dishonestv
Everybody knows that the real reason
was to speed .up the adoption Of the
prohibition amendment and to antici-
pate that provision of it which gave
1t effect one year after its adoption" !"