New-York tribune., 1920-03-03
Gov. Edwards
Signs Jersey
$50 Beer Bill
First Use Of Law To BE in
States Immediate Attack
ON Cohstitutionality. of
Prohibition Amendment
Executive Assails Critics
Declares Act Is Example
That Will Soon Be Fol-
lowed Throughout Nation

TRENTON, N. T., March 2.-The
manufacture, sale and transportation
Of alcoholic beverages containing as
much as $50 per cent Of alcohol in the
State Of New Jersey as soon as peace
is formally declared is now legalized.
The bill, passed last week by the state
Assembly and by the Senate last night.
was signed at noon to-day by Governor
Edwards while hundreds of interested
spectators stood about him.
The historic Senate chamber where
the Governor fixed his signature to the
measure was q Mecca for motion pic
ture photographers, and many persons
attempted to get into the pictures who
could not even make their way through
the doorways.
The law, the first Of its kind to be
carried through by any state Legis-
lature since the advent of prohibition,
Will be used, it was announced shortly
after Its signing, by Attorney General
Thomas F. McCran, as a basis for a
test case against the prohibition
amendment of the yolstead act to be-
filed this week in the United States
Supreme Court. ...s
Governor Edwards's Address 5T 's-
In an address following the signing
OF the bill Governor Edwards said:
ANY natural feeling of qualification
that might have or had upon com
pleting the first portion of my task in
the signing of this bill is swallowed up
IN the intense sense Of responsibilitv
that l feel in this work undertaken bv
the State of New Jersey to restore the
ancient liberties Of the people Of this
country.
II remember the beginning Of nv
campaign for Governor, in which / took
dehnlte stand against the fanaticism
OF prohibition and promised the people
that, II elected, / would do all in nv
power legally to overcome the sumpt,1-
ary, spirit embodied in the so-calIed
Eighteenth Amendment.
i saw that campaign come to a sue
cesstul close. l understood Thoroughly
the non-psrtlsan nature of the victory
and knew whac the people of this
state meant when they elected me. /
set mysef to the task, and I am glad
10 say that. although the LEGISLATURE
was Republican in both branches. 40
surely has the conscience OF this state
spoken that the Republican Legislature
has passed this bill, which is s;gnif-
cant IN that it is a complete repudia-
tion Of the Volstead act.
Attacks Volstead Act
The Volstead act we were bound
to bow. down and worship as a god to
defy the power Of which was BIAS
phemy, and we'll organized fanaticism
has continually preached obedience to
yhis most ridiculous lava DANCE erous
saFw because it brings law intas disre
pute, and we all depend upon Tesnsct
Tor law for safety
The Volstead act, as lam Mdyised d
ny lawers, makes a criminal Of anv
housekeepcr whose fruit preserves by
natural process produce more than
one-half Of per cent alcohol, and, ur-
less she has poisoned them to prevent
further fermentation, this law makes
her a criminal. Although this Vol
stead act, we are told with much in
hation OF the checks, is demanded by
ene morality Of the country. yet many
OF tne churches who are said to de-
mand it are founded upon the Bible.
winch correctly records tho acts of the
founder Of those churches, proves that
under the Volstead act He would have
Deen guilty Of crime by turning water
into VINE. The extreme sectarians t1v
TO eVade this by saying that the Bible
is wrongfully translated, yet they CON
tlnue to use it. l mention this to show
the value Of the Volstead act as
peace measure which we in New Jersey
have repudiated, as we believe we have
aright to repudiate it as a peace meas
ure under the provisions of the So
called Eighteenth Amendment, even if
the amendment shall be declared hy
the Supreme Court to be the organic
law of the land.
Let no one mistake what the act
Of New Jersey means. 1t does not
mean defense of the saloons or the
ilquor traffic: | believe that the coun-
try is through with them. and with the
brood of miseries which they produce:
but this act does mean that no narrow
spirit of fanaticism can fasten itself
TT TT XyAY