Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-03-28
PR0HQBTITON

The prohibition amendment having become q part
Of the constitution. = considerable. part Of the energy and
ingenuity of\the government is directed toward devisins
and executing means tor it's enforcement. It is a matter
Of general comment that the law is ignored, evaded or
deded by q very considerable percentage Of our popula
ton, and BY people who, in most OF their relations, are
considered orderly and law-abiding. This is not merely
asserted by those who seek the repeal or modification OF
the law. 1t is<adehitted by those who are most enthusi-
Asttc in It's support, and who urge that it's provisions be
made more stringent.
The prohibition Law represents an attempt to pre-
vent by law ~sonething which is a large majority Of the
people do not regard was wrong in itself. Most people
do not believe that any moral element whatever is in
volved in the drinking of alcoholic beverages. Drunken
ness is almost universally condemned. but. a side from all
legal provisions, most people do not consider it wrong
for them to drink a glass of beer. or wine, or spirits.
Many persons have abstained from such beverages, be-
cause they did not care for them, because they did not
wish to establish a rabit which might become dangerous
to them, because they did not wish to set an example
which might be injurious to others, or because they did
not wish to give offense~ to friends. But, aside from all
such considerations few people have entertained consci-
entious scruples against the act itself.
The prohibition amendment was placed in the consti
tuition through the activity Of one element, relatively
snnall. but well organized, enthusiastic and militant, CON-
bined with the inertia Of a larger body whose members
recognized no personal obligation on the subject, but per-
Ia It's submission by congress and in It's ratification Of the
state legislatures. received the Affirmative votes of hun
drsds OF members Of all these bodies who were themselves
accustomed to the Alse Of alcoholic averages, who had no
consciousness Of guilt in the practice, and who would
never Of themselves have initiated such, a movement be-
cause Of any personal conviction Of It's destrabiity..
The law 30 passed applies to the Conduct of indivd-
uals who do not recognize in the acts prohibited anything
wrongful except that the statutes place them under the
ban. Laws prohibiting murder and theft have grown out
Of the universal conviction that murder and theft are
wrong. Our anti-liquor laws make criminal that which
the individual. in q vast number of cases. does not con-
stdsr wrong. In the ono case the individual is governed
chiefly by his recognition Of the unrtshteousness of the
act. In the other he must be governed solely BY his
respect for a statute which represents no conviction Of
his. Is. @
4 good many Of these facts have been ignored or
glossed over It il just as well that they should be under
stood and faced frankly. They have an important bear
ing on the whole subject Of law enforcement, for an
understanding Of them will help to an understanding of
why some laws are less scrupulously observed than Others
and before q law can be effectively enforced there must
be some knowledge Of why 1t is habttually disobeyed.