Evening star., 1923-05-31
SMITHS MIND OPEN
AS HEARING BEGINS
ON DRY REPEALER

UN UKI REPEAlER
tContinued from First Page)
! deluged him from partisans of both
! sides. and despite vast amount Of
fpofitical pressure that has been
brought to bear. Gov. Smith went up
| TO the capitol seeking more light TO
! guide him to a decision at the BIZ
! partisan hearing. scheduled to start
at noon. eastern standard time
/ Dr,s Wei Armed.
| Opponents of repeal were primed
with arguments that to make the re-
peal bill law would leave New York
/ state prey to bootIeggers, with only
a handful of federal agents to enforce
a law the endorsements of which, to
| date. has been done. fer the most part,
by state forces.
| OrvilIe S. roland. counsel for the
! state Anti-Saloon League. had pre-
pared figures showing that state
! agencies. SINCE the enactment of the
1 Mulian-Gage act, had done IS per
| cent more enforcement than federal. !.
Estate courts. he declared, had brought I
about 2.S43 convictions. while federal
| courts convicted only 2.172. The state
! courts were clear. he said while cases
/ pending in the federal courts had in
| creased from 1.412 at the start of
| 1922 to 2,563 at the end of the year.
| Chemist TO Speak.
! DR.. Eliwood Hendrick, former presi-
dent of the Chemists Club of New
| York. and a lecturer on chemistry at
| the College of the City ot New York.
planned TO attack the Mullan-Gage
| bill as an enemy Of industry. state
ment he prepared for the governo: de-
| clared that while the Volstead act
| defined as intoxicating liquor the
manufacture or sale of which is pro-
hfbited by the eighteenth amendment
only such compounds containing
more than one-half of one per cent
| of alcohol as may be used for bev-
erage purposes" the Mullan-Gage act
! defines all compounds containing
| more than one-half of one per cent
alcohol as intoxicating liquors.
| shown Two Courses.
No political pressure was to be APP
piled at today's hearing.
t. Most of 1t already has been applied.
The governor has been told that II ne
signs the repeater he has good
| chance to lead the democratic party
| in the 1924 presidential campaign on
| a wet platform. He also mas Deen
| told that If he vetoes the repeater he
| has a good chance to lead the demo-
| cratic party in the 1924 presidential
campaign on a wet platform. The
difference is that one set of advisers
processes to think he could make
himself more popular by striking the
! wet keynote with signature of the re-
peal act. while the other says he
ought to veto the repeater to show his
respect for the eighteenth amend
! ment and the Volstead act as long as
they stand, and then seek the presi-
Dental nomination on a platform
aimed at their modification.
Opposition to the repeal of the
MuIlan-Gage state prohibition en-
forcement law was expressed by Col
, William Hayward, United States dis
trict attorney for the southern dis
trict Of New York. at the hearing be-
fore Gov. Smith in the assembly
chamber here today.
Asserting that he appeared without
the knowledge of President Harding
or Attorney General Daugherty, he
declared that 1.-The repeal of the Null
lan-Gage act would be but a gesture.
futile so far as legalizing beer is
concerned, but vicious in that 1t would
invite in the state the manufacture.
sale and transportation Of the worst
kind OF poisonous liquors.
Cites Danger of Repeal.
The Cuvillier act" he continued.
lis no lawful charter for beer. but an
outlaw charter for bootlegging, with
| its three handmaidens--perjur forg-
cry and bribery: three heinious, de.
! testable and dangerous crimes. the
perpetration of which may deprive
| an innocent man or woman of life,
] liberty or good name, and yet every
one who buys from q bootlegger must
| necessarily have induced some person
| to become a felon and to commit
| one or all of these crimes. 1t
| tion against that ancient enemy of
ma nkind the intoxicating liquor
| saloon.
Il need not point out that the
| federal amendments and the national
and state prohibition acts are the
elimination Of a century of struggle.
experiment and thought on the liquor
question. Before national prohibi-
tion thirty-two sovereign states of
the Union had gone dry, acting in
dependently. All but one state have
state enforcement codes to assist the
/ federal government.
The question today is whether the
great Empire state. having put it's
hand to the plow, viii now turn back.
1 TT seems to me that repeal would
be. serving notice. not only to the
police and other officers of this state,
but to all of the people, that we were
at least aff1rmatively disinterested in
the enforcement of the federal law.
4 would OverwhAlm.
THE machinery for federal enforce
meat In this state consists of about one
do9en judaes, q half dozen United
States commissioners and about 2OC
federal prohibition agents. The ma
chinery OF the state, which It il pro
posed to neutfalise in the great war
for law enforcement, consists of 7st
judges. besides the magistrates, $50
state oonstabulary. sixty-two shsrifrf
with all their deputies, and L. 900 police
in the city Of New York alone. 70 sud
denly withdraw the support Of the state
Of New York with its courts and peace
officers would take US completely by
surprise and leave US absolutely over.
whelmed. @
Governor. the United States attor.
neys are commanders of outposts in the
battle line formed by state and ma
ton against the bootleggers, the crooks
the grafters. the men, rich ana poor
who defy the law. You are the com
fiAndef- fn.chief Of the mighty arm,
constituting. our support and our re-
serves. Will you desert and abandon
us now in the height of the battle? j
believe not"
Gov. Smith was told by Wayne B
wheeler, general counsel for the
tAnti-Shleon League. that New York
state would become 'the rendezvous
| OF rirn runners ana liquor bandits OF
/ other states" If the BILL was signed :
Mr.. Wheeler, citing yoluminous de
/ cisions OF the United States Supreme
| Court and other federal ana state
| tribunals. declared that the states
l A,,%, "a 4