Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-03-11
Rough-slclding for Prohibition

a LMOST daily some new evidence OF re-
a volt against prohibition manifests itself
That the country is dissat isfcd with enforced
temperance to which it gave assent only q
few months ago. is a fact that no longer
be debated. State after State and community
after community have taken steps against the
restrictions which are now imposed. and even
the most sincere of dry advocates are begin
ming to wonder what the end will be.
1T is obvious to, most thinking people that
no successful effort can be made now or in the
near future for the repeal OF the eighteenth
amendment TO the Constitution by direct ac-
ton. To do this. two-thirds of each branch
of Congress must pass resolution OF repeal
and submit it to the States. Three-fourths
of the States must thereupon vote to repeal.
In other words, one vote more than third
in either branch OF Congress can block the
resolution and one State more than one
fourth Of the forty-eight can make the re-
pealer impossible.
What, therefore. is the most practicable
resort? Admitting the liberals must ad-
nit, that they have chance OF killing
the amendment BY repeal methods, they must
trust to the courts to put that measure out
of the organic law. And from past decisions
of the Supreme Court, to which tribunal the
qualification movement has been carried, it
is at least gravely doubtful if relief is to be
hoped for in that direction.
One other move might be made. as has
often been pointed out. The Nolstead en-
forcement act might be amended or re-
written or repealed bodily This requires
only il majority OF the two houses Of Com
sresS. plus the approval Of the President
The present Congress is on record as favoring
the Nolstead act by heavy majorities, and il
would seem to he next to impossible to in
duce that body TO reverse itself. If liberal
amendments to the law are to be enacted
therefore they will probably have to be en-
acted By the Congress to be elected in Novem-
be-, and if the vets really have the strength
they claim at this time, they should turn
their attention TO the election of a liberal
House and Senate and stop wasting their time
clamorng for the repeal OF the eighteenth
amendment
Nothing is more certain than the fact that
the country is unprepared TO go back to the
old wet regime OF a few years ago 1t will
not consent to the reopening OF the saloons
the club bars and the distilleries and the
breweries. The public manufacture and sale
past in the United States and will not re-
turn in the life of this generation. if it ever
returns But there appear to be many mil
lions OF good citizens who are in revolt
against the drastic restrictions now imposed:
who feel that they should have the right and
opportunity to make gallon of wine of
cider from their own grapes or apples if they
choose, and who resent the idea that they are
lawbreakerS If they carry flask OF spirits
from their homes to their places OF business.
If the genuine temperance prohibitonists
are wise they will consent to some modiica-
tons OF the present enforcement legislation
and will not longer undertake to outlaw even
the natural processes of nature