New-York tribune., 1919-05-19
Nationwide
.Jubilation of
Drys Is Begun
Six Meetings in Metropoli-
tan District Addressed
by Prohibition Leaders
About to Start on Tour
Vets Prepare to Counter
Mass Meeting at Madison
Square Garden Saturday
Night to Open Their Fight

The national jubilation Of the Anti
Saloon League opened yesterday with
six meetings in the Metropolitan dis
trict. There are to be two mass meet
ings to-day at Calvary Baptist Church,
afternoon and evening. This morning
ct 10 o'clock leaders of the dry forces
are to hold a reception at sos Broad
way in honor of foreign delegates to
the nineteenth annual convention of
the Anti-Saloon League that opens in
Washington on June a.
The dry demonstrations are begin
ming five days in advance of the VETS
nationwide demonstrations. On Sat-
urday the Association Opposed to Ma
tional Prohibition will conduct a mass
meeting in Madison Square Garden.
Captain Richmond Pearson Hobson,
hero of the Merrimac and author of
"Alcohol and the Human Race" spoke
yesterday afternoon at the Brooklyn
Baptist Temple. In the evening he
spoke at the Kent Street Reform
Church in Greenpoint.
Colonel Smith Speaks Twice
Colonel Dan Morgan Smith, who was
wounded several times in action on the
Western front, also spoke twice yester-
day-in the afternoon at the Parthe-
non Opera House, Ossining, and in the
evening at the Methodist Episcopal
Church at Port Washington. He was
at one time general counsel of the
Model License League, a wet organiza-
tion, but is now one of the principal
orators of the drys.
Malcolm r. Patterson, former Gov
ernor of Tennessee and also a former
champion of the anti-prohibition cause,
spoke last night at the Methodist
Church in Babylon, Long Island. While
Governor of Tennessee he vetoed a
prohibition bill passed by the Legis-
lature, characterizing it as "destruct-
i've and undemocratic."
Wayne B. Wheeler, national counsel
of the Anti-Saloon League of America.
spoke in the evening in St. Andrews
Episcopal Church, in Yonkers. In
statement he issued and in his talk Mr.
Wheeler said that the next big effort
of the Anti-Saloon League will be to
have Congress define the meaning of
the term intoxicants, with the hope o>
having the legal limit of alcohol in
beverages not exceed one-half of ] per
cent.
Needs Supreme Court Action
"The decision of Jude Hand does not
give brewers the right to make 2s4 per
cent beer" he said. Each court or
jury will determine the question of
what constitutes an Intoxicating bever-
age as an issue of fact in the trial of
the case. Judges and jures will differ
until the Supreme Court decides it
finally We believe the court of last
resort vii hold that the act prohibits
all beer, without reference to its alco-
hoic content
''If it does, every brewer who vio-
lates the act in the meantime will be
liable to prosecution. They continue
at their peril.
an view of the decision of Judge
Hand, it makes it more important than
ever that Congress define the term in-
toXicating liquor in words so definite
that there shall be no doubt about
their meaning. This can be done be-
fore July l."
William H. Anderson, superintendent
of the Anti-Saloon League of New
York, in an address in the First Meth
morning, also spoke of the effort to be
made to have Congress fix the alcoholic
content of beverages at one-half of
per cent.
Good Citizenship on Trial
"The good citizenship of Syracuse is
on trial before the state and nation"
he said. "a movement is already on
foot to defeat at least two of your
three Assemblymen who voted in favor
of ratification of the prohibition
amendment and nominate vets who
Will pass an ATTEMPTED notification
measure designed to legalze 8 per
cent beer.
"lf this conspiracy should succeed
Syracuse viii be made laughing stock.
because a 3 per cent beer bill in New
York will be about as useful for prac-
tical purposes after Congress adopts a
one-half of l per cent alcoholic limit
as the German army will be after sign
Ing the peace treaty"
Ernest Boehm, secretary Of the Cen
tral Federated Union, said Yesterday
that that organization had appointed
committee of twenty-five to arrange
Tor participation Of union laborers in
the wet mass meeting to be held in
madison Square Garden next Saturday
night.
Others Who Are Invited
Nr. boehm said invitations to par
ncipate In the anti-prohibition raIlv
i. nao been extended to members Of the
Momen's Trade Union League, the
united Hebrew Trades and the United
y BOARD Of Business Representatives Of
the Building Trades
James Arthur seavey, managing di-
rector or the Association Opposed to
1x ~a'ional prohibitions, said yesterday:
I'VE have learned about nlans n bool,.
our speakers at Saturday nights hi,
meeting. All right, let them start
something. All that Charles A. Windlc
our chief speaker, asks is time to take
off his glasses"
Hand Do~so:n D.