Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-06
DRYS IN BOAST
FOE CANNOT Be
PRESIDENT
Anti-saI0On League Makes First
Declaration of It's Political
Intentions.

The drys have served notice that
they Will insist that the next presi-
dent be their own. In the clip sheet
issued by the board Of temperance.
prohibition, and public morals, of
which DIR. Clarence True Wilson is
secretary and the directing head,
appears this two-column announce
ment:
nNotice-No man can be elected
president of the United States IN
1929 Who is not openly and en-
phatically in. favor of strict en-
forcement of the prohibition law.
Every reform agency and every
church and every informed patriot
will fight a man OF any other type
to finish, no matter whether he is
Republican, Democrat, or Mug
Wump."
The dominance of the Anti-Saloon
league over senators and represen-
tatives is celebrated in song and
story, but the threat of defeat or
the promise of election to the
presidency has heretofore been i'm
piled rather than expressed. This is
the first time the super-government
has yentuFed on an open declara-
tion of it's political intentions.
As to Court Actions.
Having settled the little matter of
the presidency, DR. Wilson also
takes up the courts and directs
them in the way they should go.
Certain judges have decided that
2A per cent beer does not come
within the category of intoxicants
and is, therefore, not banned from
manufacture and sale.
mo honest man of ordinary intel
ligence doubts that the war prohibit
ton prohibits the manufacture and
sale of beer, just as it prohibits the
manufacture and sale of whisky.
The American people" declares DR..
Wilson, in a special statement rs
sued, ARE confronted with
the necessity of determining once
and for all whether or not they
own or can govern this country.
Brewers the Offenders.
''The American distiIlers seem to
be obeying the law. Brewers of Ger
man blood spit in the face of the
American people, defy the law and
should be sentenced in accordance
with the penalty provisions of the
law"
He quotes the law and adds:
''If this law means that the saloon
can continue to sell so-called 2,75
per cent beer, which is really $50
per cent beer, there is no virtue IN
the English language, and If the
American people tolerate this drag
ging of their honor in the dust by
un-American brewers and saloon
keepers our cowardice will bring
upon US decades of anarchy anu
ruin.
'Prohibitionists reverence and
obey the law. The American people
will see that all others do the
same
While DR.. Wilson is taking care
of the publicity end, DR.. Dunwfd-
die, legislative superintendent of
the Anti-Saloon league, is attending
to the more intimate duties of legis-
lation.
Would Make it a Crime.
The fights in the house judiciary
committee that resulted in the de-
feat of several drastic provisions
sponsored by the Anti-Saloon
eague will be renewed On the floor.
Drys who dared to oppose enact
ment of these severe features of the
Volstead bill behind the doors of
the committee room will be forced
into the open and required to &C on
record in view of the leagues lob
byists in the galleries of the house
and to keep history straight in the
Congressional Record for the bene-
fit of constituents.
The conservative drys and the
vets succeeded in striking out four
important provisions while the bill
was in committee. They did so De-
cause they questioned the author
ity and the wisdom of congress en-
acting them. They were:
1-Indiscriminate search of pri-
vate homes for intoxicants.
Making it a crime to possess /!
fntoxicants in ones home.
3-Making 1t a crime to use in
foxicants.
Minimum sentences of $500 |
fine and 80 days in prison or both. |