Evening journal., 1922-08-15
One Issue On Which
They Are All in accord
(rrom the Baltimore SUM- }

! articles TO be published n The Sur
gave US yesterday an extremely en-
tightening view OF the causes which
have produced revulsion against
the dry law in that section. The re-
action that seems TO be sweeping
over the Eastern Shore is not due te
any loss OF faith IN the old local op-
tion laws. or TO any desire for the
return of the saloon. But It IS due
to a loss OF faith IN Volsteadisnl as
cure for l,ouor excesses, TO a
growing conviction that the remedy
is worse than the original disease.
In word. the wild dreams OF pro-
hibition appear to be giving way 70
the revival OF common sense.
The Eighteenth Amendment is. OF
course, a constitutional bastard, OF a
family utterly unrelated TO that into
which il was adopted in an hour OF
hysterical lunacy. II is absolutely
alien TO the character and purpose
of that instrument, and II left un-
challenged must ultimately poison
the fountains. OF constitutional lib
erty. But the more immediate and
pressing danger, in the view of mil
lions OF thoughtful and patriotic
men, is the social and personal de-
moralization and havoc which the
drastic provisions OF the Volstead
act have caused. Mr.. Bruce states
the case with unusual force when he
says:
Rarely has there been a statute
~, nT
human experience than the Volstead
act. It has created q new under
world and extended the limits OF the
old, with the bootlegger and the
gunman as their ruling spirits. II
has injected a fresh stream OF ven
ality and corruption into public Of
fee. II has organized vast appa-
ratus OF production and importation
with which even the repressive pow
ers of the General Government find
it difficult to cope. Like the Illicit
gains OF privateering, blockade run
ming and war protiteering, the tre-
mendous profits which it enables
lawless men 10 make have drawn
thousands OF individuals away from
legitimate business pursuits With
out arresting the sale OF ardent
spirits, IL has divested IL OF all the
police and sanitary safeguards that
once surrounded it. It has filled the
bowels of the people with poison. II
has set up stills even in peaceful
rural communities, where the tri-
umph OF temperance under local re-
strictions seemed 10 be achieved
1t has introduced the
processes OF mailing and distilling
under the very eyes OF young chill
dren, into the very heart of the
home. II has filed the breasts OF
young people OF both sexes with the
feverish spirit OF morbid excitement.
II has largely destroyed the old re-
spect for sobriety and the old dis
gust for drunkenness. which. with
out setting up any false philosophy
Of life or impossible system OF con-
duct, were slowly but surely, as the
memory of every well-balanced in
iividual will bear witness, making Of
The American people q highly self
and temperate people"
In a word, the thing which many
good but deluded people welcomed
IS a new savior OF mankind turns
out to be promoter of the very evil
which II was designed TO suppress.
Under the holy wing OF Prohibition
has been Matched a monstrous SER
pent brood OF wicked and lawless
progeny that are corrupting moral
standards and degrading and bru-
individual and public ethics.