Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-10-11
Current Events
For the Schools

Ever since the United States has
been dry" as it is rather siangily
but very compactly expressed, there
has been nc question that il was
against the law to make liquor, 20
sell it, to o it about or TO bring
it into the country from outside.
But it has not been so certain how
the law applied to ships entering
and leaving American ports.
Ships belonging to foreign
tries were permitted to visit the
UEited States and to sail away With
liquor on board, so long as they
neither sold nor gave it away while
within three miles of the coast, %
attempted to put any of it ashore.
Ships belonging to Americans
bought liquor at foreign ports and
were allowed to keep it on board un-
der the same conditions as foreign
vessels.
Ships belonging to the United
States government, and run by the
United States Shipping Board. at
first were forbidden to have liquor
on board, but later the same rules
were applied to them as to the YES
seis owned by private persons.
Thus, all these ships had bars on
beard and sold liquors to passengers
while away from the United States,
being merely required to lock it up
while inside what is known as the
"three-mile limit" a strip of ocean
three miles wide stretching all along
the country's coast, and also spoken
of as territorial waters of the Unit
ed States"
Finally it began to be urged that
the same law ought to be applied to
American ships as applied on land.
The duty of enforcing the law in
cases like this belongs to the secre-
tary of the treasury. who at this
time is Andrew w. Mellon.
Secretary Mellon was not sure
what to do, so he asked Harry M.
Daugherty. the attorney general,
whose business it is to answer legal
questions put TO him by President
Harding or other members of n
cabinet.
The attorney general replied that.
in his opinion, ships cannot, under
any circumstances, bring liquor in
side the "three-mile limit" This
rule, he said, applies to the United
States, Alaska, Porto Rico, the Vir-
gin Islands, Hawaii and the Philip
pines.
But Foreign snip owners proDdD4y
will look at the matter differently.
The attorney general does not make
the law. He only tells how he I'M
derstands it. 1t is expected the for
eign ship owners will say they think
he is mistaken. The chances are
that they will ask the United States
| courts first to stop Secretary Mellon
from meddling with their liquor
| while in American ports so long as
| they keep it locked up, and then
| that they will ask the supreme
court at Washington whether Or not
it agrees with the attorney general.
If the supreme court does -ot agree.
the foreign ships will continue to do
as they have done in the past. II II
does agree, then they will have to
comply with the law.
However, if foreign ships, finally.
are not allowed to bring liquor
locked up, inside the "three-mile
limit it is likely that man. OF them
will cease to visit the United States.
Instead, those, for instance, which
cross the Atlantic, will land their
| passengers at Canadian ports, and
| Americans who wish to travel on
these ships will have to go by rail
| to and from these Canadian ports
and the United States, in order TO
| take them, or to get home after
travelling on them from abroad.
1t is quite probable that the mat
| ter will become international, and
that President Harding and Secre-