The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1920-04-14
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= WASHINGTON
: NEWS LETTER
BY The Washington Star i
Copyright 1920. 4
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OF the solons on Capitol Hill is evil
anything be done to loosen up the ma
tion-wide bone-dry state of affairs ?
The same question or words tanta
mount form the burden of many let
ters received by the statesmen.
Sometimes the query is followed b,
language which shows it to have beel
put in hopeful frame Of mind, tn
interrogation having in the back of hi
head some last glimmer of expecta
tion, spark in the ashes that ha
not yet been extinguished by Con
gressional legislation and Suprems
Court upholding. Other times tn,
question is put apprehensively, as i
the propounder feared that some cour
or Congress procedure may breal
down section Of the wall which ha,
been built up against the use of NOR,
than one half of one per cent of alco
hol.
The way of asking it all depends up
on how the questioner feels on the
subject. And by the same token, the
burden of the answer is likewise lar
gely influenced by the respondents
personal predictions or views. The
wish is often father to the thought
Considered in the cold light of facts
as they exist, the situation is found
to show overwhelmingly drift in Con
gress against relaxation of the bone
dry statute, and up to this time al
least, unmistakable disposition in the
court Of last resort to uphold the leg
islation of Congress. The best judg-
ment of wise men on Capitol Hill is
that no abatement of the restrictive
laws need be expected from this Con-
gress. What other Congresses may
do is another question,
Eminent men, learned in the law
and well grounded upon the constitu-
ton and its Interpretation by the
courts, differ in their representations
as to whether the expected forthcom-
ing decisions Of the Supreme Court
will modify the existing rigorous sta
tutes or nullify the amendment to
Constitution of the United States un-
der which they were enacsad.
They do know that the court thus
far has steadily backed up the Con-
gress enactments, but now that the
question has departed from interpre-
tation Of the strict letter of the law
and entered upon the wider field of
the relations, under the constitution,
between the federal government and
the so-called sovereign states" many
otherwise confident forecasters are
afraid to venture predictions of the
Courts journeyings into this region,
a portion of which is hitherto un-ex-
plored.
This unknown land is the Concur
rent enforcement by the Congress
and the states of the constitutional
prohibition against liquors. Upon the
definition by the Supreme Court will
depend whether the states may by
state enactment permit the manufac-
ture of light wines and beers, through
legislative decision as to what percent
age Of alcohol constitutes an intoxi-
eating beverage, prohibited by the
amendment.
AS it well known, several states,
New Jersey and Rhode Island,
have undertaken to designate an al
coholic content in excess OF that pre-
scribed by the act Of Congress, and
other states are known to stand ready
to follow suit if the Supreme Court
decides they have that power. II the
Court denies states that privilege, and
upholds in every way the constitution
al amendment, there will be no re-
course for those who would relax the
save to future Con-
gress which would raise the national
of alcoholic content.
Congressman in touch with their
constituents on this very burning
1uestion say that there are many
currents of public opinion,
some of them surprising. Only on one
feature Of the liquor question, they
saw. do they find practically unani-
NOUS agreement among, the people at
large, and that is that the saloon is
lead. never to be resurrected in this
country. The dispensing Of intoxicat-
ing LIQUORS even under what might be
.alled moderately reasonable restrict
ons is altogether unlikely, and the
open bar is absolutely impossible OF
in this land.
And, it is reported to these Con-
rressmen that there is a very re-
markable shifting Of public opinion,
,r it may be open demonstration Of
N opinion already fixed, in favor OF
modifying the drastic statutes OF pro
,ibition. "Good people" and by that
term they mean, they say, people who
have been identified as 4men about
.owna are chatting under restrictions
now imposed, not always or 50 much
they do not want the thing
prohibited, but because they resent It's
being prohibited to them.
aMake no mistake said congress-