The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-01-16
BLAME DRY FIGHT
FOR SOLON DELAY
IN PACT ACTION
Questions Asked at Capital as
to Whether Wilson's Attl-
tude Did Not Make for Re-
fuSaI to Ratify.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial Correspondent OF The News
Cr.ntNa

SCtmttaf.O
WASHlNGTUN, Jan l6.-ptd the
TACT that President Wilson might MT
the ban ON wine and beer IN the period
before today, when the constitutional
amendment on prohibition went into
effect, have anything 10 do with the
delay on the ratification Of he peace
treaty.
This question Is now being asked here
In view Of the sudden effort and I'M
uuestionably vitalized backing now be-
ing given 10 the move for a compromise
on the peace treaty.
Il may be a mere coincidence that
William Jennings Bryan did not ake
a move for compromise when the treaty
failed 10 get a tWe-thirds vote last No
vembcr, and the talk Of reaching an
agreement was in the air, and II may
be a coincidence also that nothing was
done when congress r|eConvened IN De
cember. but IL is a fact that not "A
single one of the noted dry leaders
OF the senate has been conspicuous In
the overtures for compromise which
have been going on for the last Few
months, until the last two weeks, when
1t became apparent that reservations
included In the treaty would not pos
sibly be agreed upon before Jan. 10,
DRY" senators on both the Repub-
liCan and Democratic side say IT Is ao-
surd TO connect the delay on the peace
AlfdNN WIN any AAA'hkNN VIZ N'Nh I-'N
Of "A continuously dry nation in the
interim before Jan. l6.
Some OF them ave told me they
never ave even heard the wet ana dry
fight mentioned in treaty conference.
But certain wet senators are SUP
timely confident that there could have
been a compromise on the peace treaty
ratification much earlier II II had not
been for the fear that the president
would Immediately lift the prohibition
ban.
Charges Are Made,
They go 80 far ms to charge that the
powerful interests which have held n
club over dry" senators have been
quietly at work against compromise et-
forts because of its effect on prohibl-
ton. 1t Is something very difficult to
prove and 1t Is interesting merely be-
cause the belief is entertained and eX-
pressed by wet" senators who are
themselves interested in the early rati-
f~lcation of the treaty.
OF course, conversely, one might ar
que that the senators who were work.
ing for a compromise were trying hard
to get a wet" spell for the country be-
fore the nation became bone dry on
Jan. l6. But the elements of coinci-
dence In the situation are worthy oil
note.
So far AS the record goes, the votes
cast on the night the treaty failed OF a
two thirds vote in the last session show
vets and dry on both sides. Senator
Owen, Democrat, for instance, who lis
u dry. believed so strongly in compro-
mise that he even voted for the Lodge
reservations. ON the other hand. in the
Republican ranks not a dry vote was
cast for the compromise" except that oil
Senator McCumber.
But IL is in connection with the lack
az activity behind the scenes, not IN
the voting last November, that the
charge Is made that the "drys'' on hotf
the Democratic and Republican side
might have shown themselves as in
| terested in compromise six weeks age
as they are today. g,
Senators Hitchcock and Underwood
| who have been prime movers In the
compromise business, are vets ane
IL III pointed out Senator kendrick
Democrat, of Wyoming, who is a dry
has suddenly gotten active in the las
fortnight supposedly on behalf OF vii
liam Jennings Bryan in e~ndeavoring tt
bring about n compromise.
Cite Bryan Speech.
Perhaps one of the most significan
utterances which has been seized upor
by "wets" as a basis for their theor!
Is the emphasis placed by Mr.. Bryan
! champion of prohibition, on the liquoI
| question in his Jackson day speech, fol
| lowed by his message OF n few day
ago urging compromise and ratification
~ Jan. 10, which is the date the pro
| hihition amendment goes into effect.
II Is true that the first meeting o
the council Of the league occurs on Jan
16. but the United states could not, o
course, attend that meeting even II tn,
senate acted. because the actual process
OF exchanging notifications would TAX,
at least two or three weeks. Therefor
Il has been contended by vets tina
Mr.. Bryan plainly gave the game ava,
when he set Jan. 16 as the date for tn
putting into effect OF a compromise Of
the treaty. why, they ask, was h
silent between Nov. 81 and Jan, S?
It will always he difficult to say VIVA
we're the forces DELAYING the ratification
N peace by the United States. TIL
Demonstration has been variously at
trihuted to party politics, to alien ele
ments in our population and to the pro
hibition controversy. This much i
true: President Wilson would hav
lifted the wartime prohibition ban tn
moment the treaty had been ratified
"Wets" and "drvs' have known tina
for some time. Whether prohibition in
nuence had ANYTHING to do with the de
lay is something on which individuG
s%enators and public generally can dral
their own conclusions. hut with cnrsti
t@utional rrohihition effective on Frida
OF this week there no longer remain
any wet" and dry" for delav in com
nromise. BY n nrocess Of elimination
delay can hereafter be attributed onl
to marty politics, or the influence
alien elements IN the hodv polite.
Copyright, 1920. by David Lawrence,
-~ "-f D."