Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-05-19
STATE DRY LAWS
MAY Be c. 0.P. AIM
Mr.. Harding's Attitude on
New York Issue Indicates
New Trend of Party.
by DAVID LAWRENCE.

Will President Harding undertake
a campaign of persuasion in Mas
sachusetts and Maryland to bring
about the passage of state laws that
the federal prohibition act may be
concurrently enforced by those
states?
The Presidents unprecedented step
in joining the movement to have Gov.
AL Smith veto the bill passed by the
New York state legislature repeating
the state enforcement act on pho
hib.tton has raised the question of
what aid the federal executive might
give toward solving the situation in
the two other states where no as
sistance is being given in the en-
forcement OF the eighteenth amend
ment.
Two States Wet.
The impression conveyed by Mr.
Harding in his letter made public this
week Is that New York state is COM
hitting a sin Of gross magnitude in
DESERVING the states which are
pledged to support the Volstead act
by specific state and local laws. 1t
was the first time an expression had
come from the chief executive which
could be construed as the exertion of
federal influence in getting state laws
passed or strengthening existing
statutes. Neither Massachusetts nor
Maryland have ever gone SO far as to
put into effect any enforcement leg
feyo to tn, al OF
fall the people of Massachusetts, re-
fused by majority vote to sanction
such a measure. Senator Henry Cabot
Lodge, republican leader of the Sem
ate, was on the wet side, but no
criticism OF his course came from
the White House--in fact the WASH
ington administration sent speakers
to Massachusetts to help Mr.. Lodge
win.
Despite the referendum last fall, the
legislature of Massachusetts passed n
law prohibiting the manufacture and sale
of intoxicants, except as 1T might be
sanctioned by legal permit of the fed
held in allegiance and can be kept from
ever being enforced simply by means
of another referendum. which the
"wetS" are already planning for next
fall, so Massachusetts Is without an
effective enforcement act at present.
Maryland Doubtful.
Maryland, of course, is more of a
democratic state than is Massachu-
sets, but it Is near enough to the Ma
tional Capital for the federal govern
ment to be aware of the effects of a
situation in which no state enforce
ment act helps the federal government.
Still no word has been said to Mary
land about passing an enforcement law
by the President. Indeed. the Governor
of Maryland did not respond enthu-
siastically at all to the request made
by MIR. Harding for his cooperation
at the time the IirSt conference Of gov
errors was called to help enforce pro-
hibition, and, so far as known, no re-
buke went forth from the federal gov
eminent.
Feared to Interfere.
Until this week it had been sup
posed that the reason for this hands
of policy was the traditional caution
about interfering in the sovereign
rights of states. Only when the letter
from Mr.. Harding about New York
states threatened withdrawal of CO.
operation became public did 1t become
apparent that the chief executive
might go further than he has in the
past. This has led to the belief that
Mr.. Harding has committed himself
so strongly to the issue of strong en-
forcement laws in the states that he
may feel justified In using the moral
force of his position in the hope Of
making the American Union 100 per
cent dry, legislatively speaking.
Local political situations may interfere,
but before the 1924 republican national
convention platform IL written the party
leaders will be asked to put in the ma
tional platform an appeal to the repub-
lican party throughout the nation to
urge the enforcement by the states Of
prohibition concurrentiy with the fed
eral government, as provided for In the
eighteenth amendment. What the voters
of Massachusetts and Maryland may
say about 1t is, Of course, another mat
ter, but the direction Of executive effort
Just now appears to be to make the en-
forcement OF prohibition by the states
a uniform objective. Before the Presi-
dent goes to Alaska he will express his
views in person to the conference of
governors from al states.
t0vpyrtsht. 1e0D