New Britain herald., 1922-10-18
THE "WET" PLANK.


 Connecticut Baptists convention The
 pressace in the city of delegates te
 a conW~tion dedicated to the cause
 of bettering the standards Of life o'
 men and women cannot have other
 than a beneficial influence upon us
 The statements of those who address
 this convention are worthy Of deen
 consideration, and reasonable discus
 sion of matters brought up is de- cidely worth while.
 Ii is satisfactory to learn, for ln- stance, that one speaker addressing the 41st conference of Baptist nm isters of the state in connection with the convention, stressed the fact that modern theology is taking 8 more intelligent view of religious matters than formerly, becoming more prac- tical and getting away from the sunerstitions of the past which add nothing to the sacredness of matters religious.
 It is quite proper, also, since one of the speakers deemed it wise to discuss one of the blanks of the plat form of one of the great political parties. to point out the error into which such speaker has fallen Speaking of the so-called wet plank in the Democratic platform, Rev. J. N. Lackey, of Hartford, said: "~ the Democratic party of the State or Connecticut has put wet plank into its platform fayoring modification of the Nolstead act, to permit the manufacture of beer and wine and thus nullify the 18th amendment Such a plank not only gives it's encouragement to the violation of the law, but openly advocates Yo- .lation of the spirit of the constitu- ton every decent and law abiding citizen should repudiate the whole democratic ticket as a protest against the wet plank in the plat form"
 Quite possibly the speaker had for gotten the wording of the plank in question which, he says, would null lify the 18th amendment and which, according to his statement, mot only gives its encouragement to the viola ton of the law, but openly advocates a violation of the spirit of the con- stitution." The wording is this: ''We favor revision of the Nolstead act so that the same may be made to accord in letter and in spirit with the pro- vision of the 18th amendment Thus the plank denounced by the speaker advocates making the law accord in letter and in spirit with the provisions of the constitution, and the plank does not, as he says it does, advocate a violation" of the spirit of the constitution. The wet plank advocates a law upholding the constitution, not one which would nullify it, The plank the clergyman denounces does exactly the thing the clergyman says it does not do, and does not do the thing the clergyman says it does do.
 If the speaker, or if any organiza- ton, wishes to denounce the party which advocates a modification of the Volstead act, it has the right to do so, Many people in the country believe the Volstead act is proper and should be retained, Probably an equal num- Der wleve the act should be modi- fled. But to denounce a party be- cause it advocates a modification of any law. or the repeal of any law, or the adding of an amendment to the constitution or the repeal of any existing amendment to the constitu- ton, is to denounce a party which is presenting a matter in a perfectly proper manner. There is no hint in the plank proposed which encourages violation of the law There is, on the contrary, an appeal to modify the law so that there will be more obedi- ence to law. The clergyman has mis- represented the situation, unwittingly perhaps, to such an extent that it becomes the duty of law-a biding citizens to add to their urging of obedience of the law as it stands, the caution that interpretations re- garding what a person or party stands for are apt to cloud the real issue,
 The democratic platform contain ing this wet" plank pledges itself, 1 also, to support reorganization of the tax system. Ii would be just as log ical for the clergyman who has spoken to declare that this plan en- courages people to violate the law and not pay their taxes as it is for him to assert, with all the prestige of 1 his position, that plank advocating ! modification of the Volstead act