The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-06-30
THE SHIPPING BOARD HAS SOLD
THE HONOR OF THIS COUN-
TRY TO THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC
AND ENDANGERED THE SAFE
TY OF ALL LAW.
Manufacturers Record)


1t is only fair to say that. Chairman
Lasker of the Shipping Board, speak
ing for the Administration. in his
effort to defend the promiscuous sell
ing of liquor on ships owned by the
Government is pitiable.
His plea is first an apotheosis of
iexpediency and secondly a reliance
on technicality to justify a most OBJ
vious breach of ordinary national
morality. Technically, claim Mr.
Lasker and his advisers, the Eigh-
jteenth Amendment commands prohi-
bition in tthe United States and all
territory subject to the jurisdiction
thereof" and there are massed decis-
ions to show that American ships
outside the three-mile limit are not
considered legally within the juris-
diction of the United States Govern
ment. How illogically that position
is becomes apparent when it is recol-
lected that many of the ships in ques-
ton are the actual property of the
United States Government. Where
ever they are, they are American ter
ritory. Not only, indeed, has Lask-
er's position been overturned by decis-
ions of the Supreme Court, as stated
by Wayne Wheeler. but the Depart
ment of Justice has never reversed the
ruling made by it, under the previous
Administration, as follows;
"The Eighteenth Amendment. en-
powers Congress to enact laws appli-
cable wherever the jurisdiction of
the United States exists. The nation
al prohibition act is law of such
general application. cannot doubt,
therefore, that it applies to those on
board American ships, whether in Am
erican waters. on the high seas, or
in foreign waters, equally with those
in any of the states of the United
States"
That was the opinion given by the
Acting Attorney General of the Unit
ed States, for the instruction of the
Treasury Department That it is a
correct ruling will be readily admit
ted by all men not versed in the intri-
cacies of 'double-reading.
Not only has Mr.. Lasker brought
into disrepute accepted governmental
practice by overruling the official
Iopinion of that branch of the Gov,
eminent authorized to decide a legal
question of the sort submitted, on the
mere sayso of his own advisers, which
is revolutionary proceeding ano
brings law into contempt, but he AND
the Administration under which he
acts have been guilty of a heinous
cffense. They have been guilty Of
seeking a way to evade the law, 6
practice long despised by reputable
citizens. And, worse still, they have
deliberately undertaken to veto 6
moral verdict of the nation, most
solemnly recorded.
How dare they do it, we are prone
to ask. how dare they do it?
The theft of property is a crime
and the taking of human life wins just
punishment from society The hanc
of Bolshevism is stained red because
in the name of sovereign power it re
ipudiates the pledges Of centuries Of
civilization and topples the ideals Of
cons into the gutter. What name car
we give to the acts of officials who
when entrusted by the people with
the administration of a fixed policy
which is the evidence not only of theil
economic wisdom but even more so Of
their high moral purpose, by quibbline