Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-12-23
THE HASKIN LETTER
THE DRY POINT OF VIEW
Rx Frederic j. Haskin

program with winch the aili-sdiVVi
League approaches the beginning OF
a new administration. IL is backed
bv a Congress Overwhelmingly
pledged to enforcement of prohibi-
ton and to no modification of the
Ia US in the way of leniency. and 1t Is
faced by the fact that the prohibit
ton amendment is being widely and
variously broken.
The question of enforcement Is
now admitted to be the crucial one.
That is, there seems to be no doubt
but that the prohibitionists can pass
all the laws that are needed. They
dominate not only Congress but
most of the state legislatures. Thir-
ty EIGHT states have already passed
enforcement codes, and 1t is pre-
dicted that most of the others Will
speedily do so.
But passing a law Is one thing n
enforcing 1t Is another. In spite OF
all these laws, liquor is pouring into
the country over both borders n
through every port. 1t is being taken
out of bond and sold. 1t is being
illicitly made and sold. 1t is being
made in many homes by the occu-
pants thereof for their w use, and
these Illicit makers of beer, wine and
whisky include persons of a great
variety of classes, poor and rich, ru-
raj and urban.
Can this wave of lawlessness be
checked? The prohibitionists lave
presumably convinced the American
electorate that prohibition is a good
thing If it can be made effective. But
IL il cannot be made effective, If 1t
gives rise merely to an elaborate sys-
tenn of lawbreaking, then the ques-
ton legitimately arises again, as 70
whether II is a good thing in such
circumstances. In other words, h
best point Of attack which the op.
ponents of prohibition have Is that
a law which cannot be enforced is
worse than no law at all, and that
intelligent regulation. which could
be enforced. would undoubtedly be
better than complete prohibition
which cannot be enforced.
Prohibition On Trial
The prohibitionists evidently real
ize this fact. Prohibition may be
considered to be on trial now as a
practical proposition. just as it was
on trial for a long time rs a theoret-
ical proposition. If enforcement is
made year by year more effective, ii
will be hard indeed for the oppo-
nents of the law to make an effective
attack upon 1t. If the wave of law
breaking gathers and spreads, if the
law Is a dead letter in a considerable
part of the country. then prohibition
will be attacked as a practical fail
ure, whatever its theoretical merits.
The present situation seems to be
about this: Whisky of the standard
distiliery brands car be purchased In
most large cities by anyone who can
nou from ntOhf IN txUa1Ua hn1la re a
quart for it. Various moonshine
brews can be purchased in many ru-
raj sections. Certain alleged medi-
cines, containing large percentages
of alcohol and prescribed on the bot
tie to be taken in doses of several
glasses a day. may be purchased at
very reasonable prices in drug stores
and delicatessen stores almost every
where. Above all, almost anyone
who has ordinary cooking facilities
can make in his home either ale,
beer, wine or whisky, and beyond a
doubt great numbers of persons do
so. How can all of these breaches
of the law. and especially the last
one. be stopped?
We talked this matter over with
Wayne B. Wheeler. who is general
counsel for the Anti-Saloon League.
and has often been referred to as
the brains Of that organization. His
point of view is most interesting and
presumably may be taken as repre-
hibitionists in general. A profound
faith in law and in police power is
the basis of Mr. Wheeler's philos-
ophy. He see the present wave of
law -breaking as a mere temporary
thing which will inevitably be
crushed.
THE law-breaker always fails" he
says. III may give us a lot of trou-
BILE, but we will get him in the long
rum"
Campaign Against Lawlossness
He outlined at some length how
the Illicit sale Of liquor would be
checked by laws governing the dis
posal OF whisky in warehouses, by
strengthening the enforcement Or
~ganization, and by a campaign of
education against lawlessness.
THE man who breaks the law is
a traitor and ought to be shot," he
said. He added that the American
people could not hope to stamp out
bolshevism and anarchy as long as
those who break the prohibition
amendment. The Anti = Saloon
League, he intimated, will devote
much of its educational effort to
driving home this idea. In other
words. it will try to make the man
who breaks the prohibition law an
object of social odium. That is un-
doubtedly one thing which is lack
ing. It is considered no disgrace to
make your own" The best people
do it. The methods are discussed at
the most fashionable and otherwise
respectable gatherings.
The prohibitionists recognize this
as a lamentable state of affairs. They
realize that men do not fear the pun
ishments of the law half as much as
they fear the bad opinion of their
fellows. They propose, therefore. to
make the liquor law breaker a pa
riah, to put him in the same class
with the busy bearded bomb-bran-
dishing bolshevist of the cartoons.
This would be easy If he were an
isolated figure. But it will be hard
when there are large. so6d blocks of
such lawbreakers, when whole COM
munities and especially whole social
classes feel the same way about it.
The Elusive Home Brewer
Mr.. Wheeler was convincing in his
statement Of how prohibition will be
enforced, except in the matter of
home-brewing. There indeed is the
difficult part of the job. To restrict
the sale Of malt and hops will hardly
solve the problem. for you can make
a good beverage out of almost any
fruit or vegetable. and the ways OF
doing it are multiplying and spread
ing. Unless the right of a mans
home to be free from search without
warrant is abolished. so that prohi-
bition agents can ransack our houses
at regular intervals for evidences of
liquor making. the prevention by po-
lice power of home-brewing and dis
filling seems hardly practicable