Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1919-11-15
OHIO'S OPENING GUN.


Ohio is the only state in the I'm.
ion iii which the people have ever
been permitted to vote on national
prohibition. They were not allowed
10 vote until after forty-five State
Legislatures including their own, had
ratified the Eighteenth Amendment
and Congress had enacted the most
arbitrary legislation Tor its enforce
ment which has ever appeared on the
statute books Of tho United States.
Many amazing things have happen
END Ill the course of American history
but there has been nothing else quite
SO Dewildering as tho coup d'ctat of
the prohibition lobby by which the
police powers of the States. were dc
stroycd, the relation of the Federal
GoVornment to the States was reyolu
tionizod, and the regulation of the
food and drink and the personal Ii
bcrcies of the individual citizen was
taken over by Congress as il by i'm
pcrial ukasc.
Although the Eighteenth Amend.
ment has not yet taken effect, the pro
h1Dltlon question has already ceased
to be prohibition question Whether
people Shall be permitted to use al.
cohollc beverages or not is Il trifling
ana incidental matter. The one issue
Is whether government of the people
by the people and for the people shall
be maintained in the Republic.
The rule of the majority has been
completely stifled in respect to pro
hibition and the country is living un
der dictatorship not unlike that
which Leninc and Trotzky maintain
in Russia This dictatorship is com
posed of paid lobbyists and subscr-
went politicians in Washington and
in the various State capitals, and un
Til tuesdays election all attempts to
break the grip of this autocracy had
proved unsuccessful. Even the Prcsi-
dent of the United States had failed
and failed completely.
The American people have diScov.
cred during the last year that their
constitution can he amended in the
dark. No national convention of 9th
or party ever declared in favor of
Eighteenth Amendment. No national
election was ever won or lost on that
issue. No candidate for President Of
either party ever Endorsed it. No
Congress was ever elected to submit
such national prohibition amend
mcnt to the State Legislatures or to
enforce such an amendments No Lcgis
lature was ever chosen to ratify such
an amendment to the Constitution of
the United States Yet the amend
ment has been written into the Con
stitution.
If the prohibition lobby can change
the fundamental law OF the Nation
the fundamental structure of Ameri-
can institutions, any other band of
adventures, sufficiently we'll organic
cd and sufficiently well fianccd, can
again make over the Constitution to
suit themselves. There is noting to
prevent the Fosters and the ILcwiscs
and the Maurcrs from forming their
own secret combinations with sub
SerVicnt politicians and establishing
the Soviet some day as an integral
part OF the ConStitut lou of the Unit.
ea states. IT these vital changes in
the basic law arc not to be submitted
TO the people, in any form whatever,
If the people are to have no chance
10 dlScusS uhcm or vote on them,
amending the Constitution OF the
united States has become merely a
matter of baCl1-room bargain and
, barter. Any faction that can get con
troll of Congress for one session and
lntlmldate il sufficient number of
faithlcss State Legislatures can make
over the Constitution to suit itself.
The OHIO referendum, regardless
of the official count, is already con.
elusive in one respect. 1t shows that
thousands of voters who are willing
TO accept State prohibition have re
1ected national prohibition. The Ohio
vote can therefore rightfuIly BE re.
guarded as the opening gun in a new
campaign to re-cstabliSh American in
stltutlons as they existed previous to
me adoption Of the revolutionary
Eighteenth Amendment and the enact
meht or the revolutionary legislation
mat has been devised to enforce if
whether alcohol is a blessing or q
curse, whether prohibition in itself
Is wise or unwise-these have nothing
TO do with the case. Government that
IS not the expressed will of the ma
1oflty and that is not responsive 10
the Will OF The majority is organized
tyranny. and to tolerate it is to be-
tray the faith of the Fathers.