New-York tribune., 1920-06-30
son had never taken a stand against

son had never taken a stand against
prohibition.
Former Representative Bell opened
the fight for the vets. He was intro
duced as the presiding officer of the
Democratic National Convention of
1908, which statement Bryan nmedi-
ately resented.
us that the only reason the gentle
man is appearing here 2" Bryan asked
II represent the grape growers and
vineyard owners of this state" Bell re-
piled. "The drys were wrong in their
assumption that the Eighteenth Amend
ment would remain part Of the Consti-
tuition for all time," he said.
"The American people will not sub
NIT for ali time to the intolerance of
the Eighteenth Amendment" Bell con-
tlnued. He read from Democratic plat
forms on which Bryan ran for Con-
gress in 1892 and 1894, and for Presi-
dent in 1896, and on which Wilson
ran for President in 1912, to show that
the Democratic party in those years
had favored personal liberty and had
declared against sumptuary laws.
IL would like to know if the dis
tinguished gentleman who is leading
| the fight for prohibition here approved
those PLATFORMS" Bell asked Bryan.
Does the gentleman want the infor-
nation now?" Bryan asked
"No, do not need the information" !"
Bell replied. Then he read statements
of Bryan approving the platforms. He
declared that if the Democratic party
abandoned the principle of states
rights and did not adopt a plank de-
clarirg for the rights of the states to
decide prohibition whichever way they
| chose ait will mean the end of the
Democratic party"
bo bo cl,o
ried on their fight for prohibition "dis-
| honestly" "They wrote a deliberate
lie into the Volstead enforcement act"
Bell continued. "They knew and every
one else knows that half of l per
cent does not constitute intoxicating
| beverages
When he concluded Bryan asked him
whom he represented and the charges
were made that Bryan was in the pay
of the prohbitionists. When order
was restored Harry Ryan, of Cali
fornia, declared that the enforcement
law "is farce"
at is not being enforced and cannot
be enforced" he said
Samuel Gompers then told the COM
mittee that the American Federation of
Labor at it's recent Montreal conven-
tion had reaf1irmed it's declaration of
1919 against prohibition and in favor
|
Cochran then closed the arguments
! for the vets. "Any one who takes
| the. position that this country could
ever again be induced to en-
courage or tolerate the existence of
the saloon is unable to judge public
opinion" Cochran said. "The growth
Of prohibition is one of the most re-
! markable chapters in the history Of the
! country.
"But when we attempt, through the
| Federal government. to say what in
| dividuals can do and what they cannot
do, we are striking at the foundations
of the government. There is too much
Of what the Germans called 'Verboten.'
If you prohibit a person from doing one
thing, you will prohibit him from doing
another. The enactment of any kind
of prohibition means that the American
people are not capable of self-govern-
ment and that they must be driven to
morality.
Held Reflection on People
THAT is not the conception on which
the government of this country is
based: Every time the government
feels bound to prohibit some act of the
general public it is a reflection on
morality. How long do you think this
government can survive under such
perversion of it's institutions?
"The prohibitionists claim that the
states themselves are enforcing more
drastic prohibition laws than the VOL
stead act. If that is the case then in
Gods name why not leave it to each
state? The states are better qualified
to discharge such function than is
the Federal government
after the Civil War the Constitu-
tion was amended so as to prescribe
rules and restrictions for the Southern
states. 1t has remained imperative be-
cause the whole issue was solved when
the states were allowed to deal with it
themselves, and the Federal govern
ment was prevented from dealing with
il by public opinion.
"lf what the prohibitionists are after
is real temperance or real abstinence,
trust to the localities. They will enact
laws that can be enforced. The ques-
tion then will be dealt with in an en-
lightened manner and the theory of our
government upheld"s
When the Irish question was taken
up after Cochran concluded, the COM
mittee, by a vote of % to 21, ordered
that the advocates of a plank declar-
ing for the recognition of the Repub-
lie of Ireland be heard first.
Frank P. Walsh and Senator James
B. Phelan, Of California, presented the