Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1922-04-11
WET PLATFORM
FOR CAMPAIGN
NADVISABLE
J. P. Dunn Predicts Issue at
Primaries Will Be
Prohibition.

To the Editor: Judge Deery is absolu-
tely right in his proposition that pro-
hibltion is the issue In the present pri-
mary campaign. find some Demo-
Gratis who are saying that: Zone man
cannot make the issue for the party"
but when the candidates for the
head of the ticket declare their platform,
as DIR. Sanders and Mr.. Turk have done,
If the voters nominate them they adopt
the declared platform. That is the pur-
pose of the primary law-to permit the
people not only to name their candidates,
but also to make the issues in this way.
1t is the initiative" in its simplest and
least obnoxious form.
AS a political move, such an adoption
Of a wet" platform does not look hope
full TO me. Prohibition carried in In
diana. hands down." when all the
saloons and breweries were active factors
in politics. Now that they are gone. a
party advocating wet principles would
have no trouble about keeping its cam
paign expenditures within the legal limit,
even without a gentlemen's agreement.
All Of their former efficiency in organi-
cation is completely wiped out. Even If
one or more wet candidates were elected
in Indiana. their victory would be pure
ly sentimental, as there is not the slight
est possibility Of changing the eighteenth
amendment or the Volstead law. 1t
would be hitching the party to another
"lOst cause"
But there Is more serious considera-
ton. The first two sections II the
eighteenth amendment are as follows.
"Sec. l. After one year from the rati-
fcation Of this article the manufacture,
sale or transportation Of intoxicating
liquors within, the importation thereof
into or the expectation thereof from, the
United States and all territory subject to
the Jurisdiction thereof for beverage pur-
poses is hereby prohibited.
Sec. .. The Congress and the several
States shall have concurrent power TO
enforce this article by appropriate legis-
lation."
1t Will he seen that this gives Congress
no power whatever except to enforce
the prohibition of intoxicating liquors"
Beer and wine have been held by the
courts repeatedly to be intoxicating
liquors. It IS an unquestionable rule Of
law that this article must lie interpreted
Every Senator and Representative In
Congress takes an oath to support the
Constitution. This amendment is just
as much a part Of the Constitution as
any other provision.
If the Democratic party dominates
avowed wet" candidates. under these
conditions, the prohibition question will
necessarily be the issue in the election.
because the Republican party and its can
didateS are ConclUsively bound to pro-
hbition by their record But the Demo
cratic party would enter the campaign
under the handicap Of advocating, not
the repeal of the prohibition amendment,
but the violation Of the fundamental law
of the land by men who are sworn to
uphold It.
We should be known as "the Boot
leggers" from the outset. for our avowed
purpose would be exactly the bootlegger
determination to get liquor by violation
Of law Nor would this result be for
the present only. We should have to
put in the next decade or two living
down our bootlegger record, after we
had been showed under at the polls, as
we would be- inevitably
1t would be a crime to allow the Dem-
ocrats Of Indiana to walk into such a
deadfall without warning of what 1t
means; and 1 think Judge Deery de-
serves thanks for publicly calling atten-
ton to what Is really confronting the
party Mt this time. The Democratic
party is obliged, now, to say whether It
favors obedience to the national consti-
tuition or violation of it.
JACOB P. DUNN.
INDIANAPOLIS.