The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-12-04
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ANTI-BEER BILL

THE action OF the United States Senate in adopting
the conference report on the anti-beer bill, which
was the final step in the passage OF that measure
through Congress, followed almost at once by the
approving action of the President. is lar more Slgnl-
ficant than even the overwhelming majority IN favor
OF such a decision indicates. 1t is significant be-
cause il declares, with unmistakable emphasis, the
deliberate and possibly final pronouncement OF the
national law-making body against any form OF
legalized traffic in Intoxicating beverages. 1t has
been the persistent claim of the champions OF the
liquor interests, more particularly of those who spoke
in behalf of the breweries, that the sentiment of the
American people, as reflected through their repre-
~sentatives in Congress, had undergone a change
since the adoption Of the prohibition amendment
and the enactment of the enforcement code. The
weakness of this claim has been proved time and
again, apparently without convincing the champions
of a lost cause that there did not remain a lurking
popular desire to open the door at least a little way
for the return OF an outlawed and discredited traffic.
But it must have been satisfactorily established by
the action of the Senate, after an opportunity had
been given for bringing forward every possible eX-
cuse for multiplying the prohibition amendment, that
the sentiment of the people is clearly expressed in
the law providing for a strict enforcement of that
amendment.
No one, probably, was ever persuaded that the ar
cument in favor Of so-called medicinal beer was
MADE III SOOQ ldltIl OF WIFI SlhSclNN' "PPi"h
ed at its face value as 4 mere subtertuge. Respon-
sible medical men almost unanimously admit that al
cohol has outlawed itself, and that it finds itself now
without a friend at court. Beer, the last guise OF
mi-respectability which it sought to assume, makes
not the slightest appeal to those 10 whom 1t looked
Tor succor and recognition. 1t can hardly assume
the questionable responsibility OF the outlaw. 1t IS
merely an outcast, spurned by even the irresponsible
traffickers in contraband connections maSquerading
in forms designed TO appeal to the unwary. The ac-
ton OF Congress. made necessary by the star
chamber ruling of an outgoing Attorney-Genera
simply restates, in unequivocal and definite form
exactly what it was the manifest intention OF the
lawmakers to express in the original Nolstead law.
It is significant and altogether commendable that
no backward step has been taken, either in the en-
actments OF Congress or in the Interpretation OF
the law by courts Of last resort, in the wel[conSid-
cred determination to end for all time in the United
States the traffic in intoxicants. 1t may be true,
as charged by the opponents OF prohibition, that the
adoption OF the Eighteenth Amendment was hast
encd, even if it was not made possible, by economic
and social conditions created by the war. But it is
unquestionably true that the people are practically
unanimous in their decision 10 sustain and fortity
that action. Its benefits are TOO apparent even 10
admit the possibility of legal notification, and the
demand for all necessary fortifcation OF the enforce
regard prohibition just as necessary in times OF
peace as they believed it was in time OF war
Christian Science Monitor.