Omaha daily bee., 1919-09-06
Eleventh Hour Amendment Of
Southern Senator to Rem.
der Ineffective Enforcement
Clause Defeated in Senate.
PANAMA CANAL ZONE IS
INCLUDED IN MEASURE
Bill Now Goes to Conference
-Intoxicants Defined as
More Than 0ne-HaIf Of
One Per Cent Alcohol.

Washington. Sept Shy the
Associated s.)-The prohibition
enforcement bill was passed by the
senate today without a record vote
and virtually in the form it came
from committee. The measure now
goes to conference for discussion Of
amendments inserted in the house
bill by the senate.
The only material change made
in the bill in the senate was the ad-
diton by amendment of the liquor
and drug prohibition act for the
Panama Canal zone. This measure
has not yet been acted on by the
house
An eleventh-hour attempt by Sem
ator Shields, democrat, Tennessee.
to render ineffective the whole sec
ton of the measure relating to en-
forcement of wartime prohibition.
failed. his own vote being the only
cne cast in favor of it. His amend
ment would have limited the opera
ton of the wartime law to the six
states in which rehabilitation camps
are located.
Intoxicants Are Defined.
As it passed the senate and goes .tos
conference, the bill defines as an
intoxicant any beverage containing
more than one-half of per cent Of
alcohol The senate modified, how
ever. some of the most rigid pro-
visions of the house bill, including
that affecting private stocks of al
coholic beverages held for personal
use.
Passage of the bill by the senate
was in striking contrast to its
troublous voyage through the house.
No serious effort to alter it's terms
was made except the attempt by
Senator Shields. The Tennessee
senator contended that since demob-
iIization was in fact almost com
pleted this section of the act applied
only to New York state as every
other state where active demobiliza-
ton camps were situated was dry by
state statute. He asserted that laws
torbidding sale of intoxicants to men
in uniform and fixing dry zones
about military camps and posts, fully
protected soldiers.
May Expire Soon.
Senator Wadsworth said only
per cent of the army remained to be
demobilized. and that passage of
wartime enforcement act offered the
curious spectacle of providing for
carrying out law that was about to
die. He brought out the fact that
the power of the president to render
this section ineffective whetever
peace was declared by means of
proclamation terminating the de-
mobilization period. was not changed
, and said:
IF events transpire as we as
sumo they will transpire this ACT
will expire in two months or six
weeks"
Does the senator mean," asked
Senator Pomerene, democrat, Ohio,
that the treaty will be ratified in
| two months?"
81 said nothing about ratifica-
tion," Senator Wadsworth replied.
Norris Attempt Fails.
Senator Shields declared con-
gress was acting under false pre-
lenses" in fixing the enforcement
regulations on all of the country
now under the guise of a demobili-
| zation necessity and denying men
with money invested in the pro-
scribed industry a fuller opportunity
to adjust their affairs. Senator
Walsh, democrat, Montana, replied
that congress had made the act ap-
ply to all of the country, regardless
OF the progress of rehabilitation.
unless that process should be COM
pleted, and the enforcement meas
ure could only follow that policy.
An attempt by Senator Norris.
republican, Nebraska, to amend the
bill so that violation of regulations
promulgated under its authority
would not have the same force as
violation of the law itself. This
provoked considerable discussion.
but the proposal found few supports
ers on the vote.
Poinrorn IN | ou rnrnorc}nno