Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-03-02
MORE FACTS ABOUT PROHIBITION
BY Charles Scanlon

nlOltlOn is failure mas Influenced a
few good people to ask if prohibition
is really successful. Let us meet this
issue squarely.
One OF the most frequent arguments
that prohibition is 4 failure is the
statement that more liquor is consum-
ed and that it is easier to procure
than before we had prohibition. If
that be true, why should the liquor
people not be satisfied, and why should
they continually urge the repeal or
modification of the present law? If
they can secure all the liquor they de-
sire, what becomes Of the arguments
they made against prohibition before
its enactment, or why do they insist
now that it robs the people of their
rights?
Who believes that it is easier to Sc
cure liquor now than before, and who
believes that the little stills hidden in
stumpS or stoves or in cellars or in
little gullies in the mountains pro-
duce more than the smallest fraction
OF the amount formerly produced by
the 600 or more distilleries in the
United States, or that the improvised
means of making home brew equals the
millions OF barrels Of beer turned out
by the 300 breweries, or that the liq-
uor struggled over the border from
Canada and Mexico constitutes more
than a modicum of that transported BY
the train-load in refrigerator cars
owned and labeled by the great brew
cries of the country?
Because our newspapers are so
largely filled with accounts of crime.
are we to conclude that the majority
OF the people are criminals ? The
outlaws get notice because their acts
are exceptional. The millions of law
abiding people who sleep and rise and
work, get no mention, because
their lives are honorable and normal.
1t is the abnormal and the criminal
which attracts attention. So it is with
the millions of people who never vio-
late the Eighteenth Amendment. 1t is
the few who break this law whose pub
LEGATION Of these acts of lawlessness to
create the impression that Everybody
is doing it," and that there is little
or no sentiment in favor of prohibit
ton, whereas the very contrary L.
true.
What constitutes failure? No plan
or work or institution of man is per-
fect. His endeavors are relative and
not absolute in their approximation Of
the ideal. What law is 100 per cent
obeyed? Because doctor does not
save the lives of 100 per cent of his
patients, or the lawyer does not win
100 per cent Of his cases, or the teach
er does not succeed with 100 per cent
OF her pupils, or because ministers do
not win 100 per cent Of their conere-
cations, are they failures? Because
marriage, one OF the most holy and
sacred OF our institutions, is broken
more than 100000 times year in this
country by divorce, is marriage a fail
ure? Because murder, the most helm
Gus OF crimes, is committed thousands
OF times each year, is the law against
this offense failure? Because more
than 100000 people annually break
some law and are committed to our
penal and correctional institutions, is
all law failure? Because so many
people are killed in automobile acct.
dents, train wrecks or the fall of air
ships> are these inventions failures g?
because goods are struggled into this
country on shipboard and over the Ca
madam and Mexican borders, are our
tariff laws failure? Because money
Is counterfe!ted, is the law against
counterfeiting to be repealed? There
are hundreds OF thousands OF automo.
oiles stolen every year, but who ad-
vocates the repeal OF the law against
this ohense? Because no form of gov
eminent is satisfactory to or respected
by all people, does that prove that all
government is failure and should be
abolished
II there were no law, OF course
mere could be no law violation. The
argument made against prohibition is
mat because it is sometimes violated
1t ought to be repealed. Why not fol.
low the logic We use with reference
10 other crimes and vindicate the law,
by furnishing those who break it?
Let us consider few facts. II cos,
about S6,250,OOO to enforce the probi.