The New York herald., 1921-08-18
THURSDAY, AUGUST IS, 1921.
The Fourth and the Eighteenth

ne ECuIIu ana the ElynteeNtHs
The Hon. Mr.. voLsTEAD of Granite
Falls displayed great good sense and
tactical shrewdness when he refused
to lend his powerful aid to the at
tempt of the extremists among his
followers to override and nullify the
Fourth Amendment of the United
States Constitution in the interest OF
the Eighteenth Amendment.
The Fourth Amendment was pro-
posed by Congress in 1889, one hun
dred and thirty years before the
adoption of the liquor prohibition
amendment of 1919. The Eighteenth
Amendment in no respect repeals or
impairs the guarantees of the Fourth
as to the rights of citizenship:
"The right OF the people to be ee-
cure in their persons, houses. papers,
and effects. against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be
violated and no warrants shall issue,
but upon probable cause, supported
by oath or affirmation, and particu-
larly describing the place to be
searched. and the persons or things
to be seized"
Judge STORY declares this funda-
mental provision indispensable to the
full enjoyment Of the rights of per-
sonal security, personal liberty and
personal property. He calls 1t little
more than the affirmance of a salient
constitutional doctrine of the COM
mon law. LET us never forget" says
this great commentator, that our
constitutions Of government are sol
emn instruments, addressed to the
common sense of the people and de.
signed to fix and perpetuate their
rights and their liberties. They are
not to be frittered away to please the
demagogues of the day. They are not
to be violated to crafty the ambition
OF political leaders. They are to
speak in the same voice now and for
ever. They are OF no mans private
Interpretation. They are ordained by
the will OF the people; and can be
changed only by the sovereign COM
mand OF the people"
Now, the doctrine or idea has be-
come prevalent in certain quarters
that because an amendment of the
Constitution in 1919 prohibits the
"a Aw Ca1n tra n
tion OF intoxicating liquors and gives
to the Congress and the several
States concurrent power to enforce
the prohibition by appropriate legis-
lation, the guarantees OF an amend
ment OF the Constitution in 1889 be-
come therefore imperative IL they
stand in the way OF the convenience
OF enforcement. There could be no
more absurd or generally destructive
proposition. IL amounts to saying
that a statute can wipe out consti-
tutional provision; that Congress,
under pressure of expediency, can
change that which can be changed
only by the sovereign will OF the
people expressed in the prescribed
way by the ratification OF constitu
tional amendment.
1t follows that the House substi-
tute for the Stanley Senate amen d.
ment, adopted on Tuesday at Mr.. voL-
sTEAD's instance, In no sense legis-
lates new permission or license or
protection TO the householder against
search and seizure unsupported by
special warrant. The language OF
the House substitute, which Mr.. Vol
STEAD himself offered for the Com
mittee on the Judiciary, and for
which his followers voted Is simply
IN this respect reaflrmation OF the
guaranty already firmly established
by the Fourth Amendment But In
one important particular, very signif.
cant OF intent on the part OF the less
intolerant leaders OF the prohibition
cause. II adds TO the protection OF the
home brewer or home distiller. The
volstead substitute not only reafflrms
the guaranty OF the Fourth Amend.
ment against household searches
without a special warrant. but it
goes further and requires that even
special warrant shall not issue un.
less there is reason to believe that
the home manufacture Is sold or
for sale. And when Representative
FIELDS Of Kentucky, in the interest
OF more drastic regulation. attempted
TO remove this distinction between
home manufacture for personal con-
sumption and home manufacture for
commercial purposes he got no help
from Mr. KnIarrAn and Mr. Xnre