The Mena weekly star. (Mena, Ark.) 1904-1977, 1919-06-19
lADOR'S PLEA FOR
BEER WAS F|zzLE
Demonstration Staged at Nations
Capital Created but Little Stir, and
Dry Law Making Went Right on
as Usual Drank Soda Pop.

Washington, June 1.-THE "wets"
stormed the Nations capital today,
less than five thousand strong, instead
of the advertised one hundred thou
sand, made their demand for saving
of beer" from the coming prohibit
fion under d boiling hot sun and with
the waving of several thousand Amer
lean flags, and then departed, most of
them for Baltimore. the nearest wet
Mecca, leaving Congress as dry as
ever it was.
Significant of the influence the
widely advertised demonstration will
have on future votes in Congress, 1t
may be stated that while several thou
sand representatives of the American
Federation of Labor and wet sympa-
thizers generally were marching to
the Capitol steps, led by several
bands, the House judiciary commit
tee was putting the finishing touches
to a rigid dry enforcement measure,
which will be reported to the House
next week, instead of the war time
prohibition repeal asked by President
Wilson, and in turn today by the
SWEET" protest meeting.
4 Demonstration a "Flivver."
Candidly, it must be said the wide
ly-advertised demonstration which
was so going to "move" Congress it
would repeal war time prohibition,
largely proved to be "flivver." Up
until this morning, the publicity
agents of the vets had advertised that
one hundred thousand representatives
of union labor were going to storm
Washington.
This morning they had their figures
cut down to twenty thousand persons
going to march in the big wet pro-
test demonstration. Kindly estimat-
ors placed the crowd at ten thousand
persons when the affair was finally
pulled off on the capitol steps. But
there were by liberal estimates only
four or FIVE thousand in the crowd
that finally massed on the capitol
steps to make the appeal for beer.
Washington, bone dry city, is not
exactly the most strategic spot on
earth to chose for wet mecca. And
so it proved today. The sun was boil
ing down and on the stone steps Of
the capitol, where the meeting was
held, it was many degrees hotter than
anywhere else.
Other Vets Joined In.
Some twelve excursion trains
brought the professors" here, along
with three or four bands. They were
Joined by a special train from Attain
tic City bearing delegation of five
hundred from the American Fedora
ton meeting, headed by Samuel Com
peers. Chicago had sent good num-
Der of "wet' professors, Milwaukee
some, Cincinnati more, New York a
good many and Boston delegation
that yelled for Honey Fitz," or as he
is known here, Representative Fitz-
gerald. But Baltimore, the nearby
vet oasis, sent the bulk of the crowd.
Carrying American flags and led by
the bands and Samuel Gompers, the
professors against the abolition of
beer marched to the Capitol, where
there were several hours Of speech
making. Before it was all thru there
were only couple of hundred left.
Everyone else had hunted shady
spot or a soft drink emporium, and
nobody blamed them.
Drank Pop as They Listened.
A small boy with good business
head on him had brought to the Cap
itoi grounds lot of soda pop and it
vanished in a few minutes, for it was
scorching hot. After everyone had
stood while the Star Spangled Ban
ner was played, the speechmaking
urging Congress to save beer began.
State Goes Into Oil Business.
1-~.f.r a. rT,ns Ctap