The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-06-17
LIQUOR VITAL ID KEEP UP MERCHANT
 MARINE, LASKER
Assertion Indirectly Claims Booze Is Necessity in Life of Nation-Many 0p-
 pose Argument
By HUGH ". ROBERTS
 ROO Davidson Building

 Washington, June 16.-(Special1- The United States government is in | the liquor business. Albert Lasl1er. 1 chairman of the shipping board, ad- 1 mits that the sale of Hquor aboard government vessels, flying the flag of the country, is necessary to the 1 maintenance of a merchant marine. Inasmuch as he insists that mer- chant marine is necessary to navy, and navy necessary to the safety or country, his argument means sole ly that the life of the nation is de- pendent on liquor. The disclosures contained in iet- ter addressed to the President py Adolphus Busch, former noted brewer of St. Louis, and in letter addressed by Chairman Lasker, in reply to the letter of Mir. Busch, continue to be a sensation in Washington. The gov- ornament seemingly admits that the people who saw legislatures ratify the eighteenth amendment either never favored prohibition or have grown tired of it.
 Opinions Differ An assistant attorney general un- der the administration of Woodrow Wilson prepared an opinion to the ef- feet that the government could not legally sell liquor outside the three mile zone aboard it's vessels and un- der it's flag. The general counsel of the ship ping board, at the instance of Chair nan La xsIer, prepared an opinion to l the opposite effect. This opinion has been followed by Chairman Lasker. 1 And aboard the vessels of the gov ernment all wines and liquors and | beers are retailed A special grade | of "old moonshine" is advertised on official wine lists.
 While Wayne Wheeler, general | counsel of the anti saloon league, ap- 1 pears in a statement especially pre- pared to meet the Busch disclosures, 1 to make light of the situation, cer- tain prohibitionists in Congress are l admittedly disconnected. They argue l that it doesn't matter whether the | government Is technically safe" | from legal prosecution or not; that | fit could do what it is doing without | danger of any action even were it | defiantly violating the law. It is l their point that the United States. | the Constitution of which bans the | manufacture and sale of liquor, is in- | defensibie when it engages in the | liquor business.
 ..Pony, Sensation
 The secrecy with which the gov ernment has quenched the thirst of it's citizens at so much per pony contributes to the sensation to no less startling degree than the fact | that the government openly admits | that it cannot survive under it's own | Constitution.
 It has been whispered for some | months that the shipping board was selling liquor. Two years ago, for | mer Senator ". s. Kenyon of Iowa, | returning from trip to France, de- clared in the Senate that no Amer iean need be deterred from taking passage on shipping board vessel | bs fear that he could not secure his | quel. But the shipping board said | ,othing And until the publication | the Lasker letter to MT. Busch 1t | hsiu said nothing. At the same time, | IL was conducting it's traffic, and ad- | yertisins, with the skill of pro- fessionai advertising expert, in Euro | pean newspapers that American ves- l 5els offered an unexcelled cuisine | , and bar par excellence. In the meanwhile the vessels of tho 1 government, with bars closed or dis mantled, had come into American | Ierts with nothing -outwardly dis | played indicating other than their | complete obedience to the Constitu- | tion of the government. The government says that while 1t | has been engaged in the liquor bus |
 
 tfat business along with it's vss- sells as soon as the Congress votes a | subsidy, making possible the sale of | vessels to private owners. Private owners may continue the | business-mast continue it, according | to deduction from the Lasker state | ment, If the marine and American | navy arc to survive-and the gov | ernment, because of its example, must | protect them. This will require the retirement of | the prohibition navy which oper- | ates with the understanding that to | prevent lootlegginS it need not await | the attempt of rum runners to land their cargoes. The government, it Is | rolnted our. cannot we'll prosecute | prlyate owners of vessels flying the 1 American flag who attempt to reach | bort With bars closed. despite the | nature of their cargoes. The govern | menti IS operating under an opinion | oi law Which guarantees to such op- orators perfect immunity.
 Discounts Prohibition Chairman Lasker and MT. Wheeler | of the anti-saloon league. quite se- | verely criticised MT. Busch. Ii was alleged that he had not exposed the lsquor traffic of the shipping board | Tor patriotic reasons, but for the pur- | pose Of bringing prohibition into dis repute. It was alleged, further, that | iH his procedure he was actuated by | hope that change in the prohibition | laws would result to his personal ad- | vantage.
 While admitting that the criti- | cism might be just. those prohlbi- ucnists who regard prohibition as a | moral rather than political issue. | are distressed that the United States mas become bartender, and disposed | of it's moral scruples and Constitu- ttonaf principles in return for the monetary success of one of it's enter prises