The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-08-23
PROH|BITIONISTS
LOSING GROUND
Senate Refuses to Obey
Anti-SalOOn League About
Right to Search 1
APPARENT CHANGE
IN PUBLIC MIND
InvioIability of Home Is Constitutional
Grant and Politicians Cannot Ignore
It-Liberals Have Courage to Vote
Their Own Mind These Days.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial Dispatch to The Reformer.)
Copyright 1921.

.e. BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial Dispatch to The Reformer.)
Copyright 1921.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 23.-The reac-
tion against prohibition-or rather the
lextremes to which its advocates have
,, gone in attempting to enforce their
ideas-has come at last. Congress
stands today divided as it never has
been before on the issue of whether a
man 5 home is protected by the consti-
tuition of the United States against
search without legal warrant.
Those who have been standing on the
side-lines and predicting that sooner or
later public sentiment would react
against the extreme prohibitionists are
saying that the inevitable has happened
For the first time in years members of
congress who have voted dry every
time the Anti-Saloon league puts its APP
proval or disapproval on a liquor meas
lure now are standing with the liberal
element as against the AntI-Saloon
league proposals. r.
! Up to now there has been no refuge
for the man in congress who felt that
the prohibitionists Were going too Ear
He has had to vote dry or be ranged a
quit But the search and seizure con-
| troversy has changed the whole char
acter of the controversy. The question
now is not whether liquor shall be man
ufactured and sold The federal con
stitution prohibits that and gives con
lgress the right to fix the amount of al
cohol in beverages. But the reaction is
/ against the severity OF the Nolstead act
which deals with the enforcement OF
j the constitution.
Stanley Amendment Asks Proof.
| Shall man 5 own home, his autom0-
| bile. his suitcase, his hotel room
/ be searched without a warrant? Shall
Il warrant be issued unless there is
sworn proof that the individual Is ac-
the Stanley amendment which was
| passed unanimously by the senate goes
Through finally prohibition officers viii
1 have to present proof before they can
| get a warrant from a judge. The PROM
Ibition advocates say this will dampe
the enthusiasm of enforcement officer
and give bootleggers a free hand Tn
other side insists that the constitutio
i protects citizen against search with.
out warrant and that one part of tn
constitution is Just "a sacred as an
other. The vigorous fight put.up by tbs
Anti Saloon league against the Stanley
amendment Is proof indeed of the seri
BUSINESS with which the proposal is re
L garded
Some have gone so far as to say il
would make the Nolstead act almost
impossible of enforcement so far as in
dividuals are concerned. Others on the
opposite say that it would be a good
thing for they claim the people OF
America only intended in the first place
to abolish the saloon and distllery anC
didn't intend to interfere with home
brewing or other personal liberties II
conveying one s household goods from
place to place.
Political Embarrassment
There has always been a good deal oi
political embarrassment about the prohl
bitIon question. Many men who are lib
eral at heart have voted dry and many
who have voted wet have themselves
i been tetotallers. The Anti-Saloon
league by splendid organization has
i! managed to crack the whip over con.
feress by taking advantage of public sen
timent against the saloon and other
abuses. The same strength enabled the
Antl-SalOon league TO put through the
1 Noistead enforcement act. But the re
action in sentiment which has deyel-
! oped since that law was put upon the
II statute books has encouraged the lib
lersls and brought converts to their
ranks. Some members of congress think
/ some day public sentiment will permit
! congress to legislate for 2.75 beer and
! light wines, but not very soon. Never
| theless the present fight over the right
VI pIOHibillOis OlHCtI 10 StdIGH Will
| out a warrant has opened the eyes of
everybody to the change in sentiment
and both sides are wondering just what
public opinion is at present ON the pro-
hibitiOn question.
Senate Like Rock
The senate is standing like a rock
against the compromise offered by the
Anti-SaloOn league It's the first time
the senate has detied that organization
Drys Joined with vets in framing the
Stanley amendment This would never
occur if the senate felt that public sem
timent was the same To-Day as when the
Nolstcad act was pushed through bothl
houses sually the Anti-Saloon league |
gets its legislation through in a hurry
and without difficulty The emergence
of the search and seizure controversy is !
the most significant thing that has hap
pened since the nation went dry. The |
anti-saloon league leaders are threaten
ing to carry their fight to the political |
of both parties but so long
as It is one section of the constitution
against another the chances are remote
that either convention will care to go |
on record against search and seizure
without warrant