The Washington herald., 1920-04-25
by WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.

umph of prohibition was neither
sudden nor incomplete.
Instead of being sudden 1t was
the result of a prolonged conflict
turing which those engaged in the
iquor business and their patrons
had ample information as to what
was going on.
Women Started Fight I'm Ohio.
The woman's Christian Temper
ance Union, organized nearly SO
years ago. began in a crusade
against Ohio's saloons; the women
listed the drinking places. plead
ID with those in charge and pray
I'd for the abolition of the traffic.
From the first the noble women
who marshalled under the banner
of the w. c. T. u. proclaimed un-
dying hostility to the saloon. and
they have never for one moment
lowered their flag or slackened
their efforts.
Twenty-siX years ago the Anti
Saloon League was organized. 1t
also had it's birthplace in Ohio. Its
name indicates it's relentless oppo-
sition to the liquor traffic.
The Prohibition party, organized
for the sole purpose of abolishing
the saloon. is older than the Anti
Saloon League. and has entered
every presidential campaign since
its birth with a candidate pledged
to the overthrow of the saloon.
A quarter of a century ought to
be sufficient to give the dealers in
intoxicants fair notice and to warn
the supporters of the saloon of the
movement on foot for its extermi-
nation.
Is Not n Partisan Triumph.
Seldom. IL ever before, have the
two parties acted together SO har-
moniously on any important ques-
tion. 1t was a triumph of the con-
science of the nation irrespective
of party. 1t was the greatest moral
victory ever achieved at the polls
so far as history records.
These facts have been presented
in order that the reader may un-
derstand the audacity of the effort
now being made by the opponents
of prohibition to undo what has
been done or. rather. to invite a
period of lawlessness. because they
can not hope to repeal the constl-
tutionaI amendment by constitu-
tional methods.
Thinks Repeal Is Not Possible.
To repeal the amendment II
would be necessary for the vets
to secure two-thirds of both Houses
in order to submit a repeating
amendment and then secure ratifi-
cation by 36 of the 4S States. Who
believes that such a change in
public sentiment is possible?
A few States have attempted To
define for themselves the alcoholic
content to be permitted in bever-
ages manufactured and sold within
the State.
Rhode Island attempted to FIX
the alcoholic content at 4 per cent
and New Jersey has recently at
tempted to TX it at 81 per cent
In Massachusetts a number Of leg.
islative districts voted under q
State statute. to instruct their
representatives in the Legislature
to vote for 4 per cent.
The Federal Enforcement Law
fixes the alcoholic content at one
half of one per cent and one and
cent mas DttT
clared by the War Department tC
be intoxicating-possi not tc
the men whose system has beer
diseased by alcohol-but at least
to the beginner.
Like Dead Controlling the Living
1t is hardly possible the Supreme
Court will permit the nullificatior
of a Federal statute and the Fed
eral Constitution by State action
a decision sustaining a State Law
permitting more than one-half oi
one per cent of alcohol in bever'
ages would entirely defeat thu
amendment; because, If the Con
stitution has no effect as against
State statutes. it is of no valu,
whatever and leaves prohibition
entirely a State matter. The court!
can not so hold on the grounC
that the fixing of the alcoholic
content is a judicial matter. be
cause it has already held that il
is a political question which Con
gress has the right to decide.
If the court were to hold tina
prohibition is a subject upon which
the Federal government can no
act, (that is. that it comes within
the reserved rights of the States)
it would be equivalent to declar
ing that the dead Gan control th'
living and no one can tell how
far-reaching such a decision woulC
be.
If the people who lived in 1889
when the Constitution was written
made a Constitution that can no
be changed by subsequent genera
tions the American people of toda!
are in a difficult position. Blu
there is no likelihood of any Su
preme Court tying the hands o
the people, and surely. those wht
wrote the Constitution never in
tended to make it Interchangeable
for they expressly provided a wa!
by which the Constitution could b.
amended, and the present amend
ment has been adopted in stric
conformity with the Constitution
provisions.
Calls One Protest Absurd.
OF course. no attention will b
paid to these vets who protes
against the amendment because /
was ratified by State legislatures
Eighteen amendments have beel
adopted and they have all beel
adopted in this way.
The absurdity of the protest i
apparent when it is remembered
that the State legislatures deal will
all other questions. The wet
do not complain when a State legis
lature changes the laws in regar,
to domestic relations, the care o
children. educational institution