Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-01-19
"DRY" FORCES CALL HALT
ON n. ]. RUM SHIPS
CONTINUED from page i

The resolutions drawn at the
convention included attacks on Gov
ernor Silzer's plea for wine and beer,
Encouragement of enforcement OFF,
GERS protest to foreign governments
about booze smuggling and pro-
nouncement on the sanctity OF the
prohibition amendment.
A resolution was drawn adyocat-
ing the creation of a separate bu-
reau under civil service rule. rather
than having the enforcement of
liquor laws of the nation under con-
troll of the treasury department.
The federal government was called
upon to stop rum running by boot
Logging fleets by sea and conveys by
land at any cost, according to an
other resolution. This section of the
document went so far as to agitate
for the use of the army along the
border and the navy of the United
States along the coast. to put stop
to the smuggling of Illicit liquor. II
the dry navy" is not fast enough
to catch the bootleggers, according
to the resolution, then the faster and
heavier vessels of tho United States
navy were asked to break up the
importation of intoxicants.
In this connection, Secretary Of
State Charles e. Hughes will be
called upon to notify the British am
bassador to put q quietus on the
practice of rum runners in clearing
frCnl the British possessions in the
Bahamas for Canada and then put
ting into the United States ports sur
reptitiousIy. France and Cuba were
also included in tho list of foreign
nations to be notified in this con-
nection.
Would Tax Stills
The secretary of the treasury was
also called upon by resolution to
enforce the tax on stills strictly, it
being declared that there are at
present thousands OF stills in New
Jersey which are not registered and
upon which consequently. no tax is
paid.
The preamble to the resolutions
gates repudiatei what was termed
The propaganda" that prohibition
was the result of fanatic minority
overriding a passive majority"
The working against the eigh- |
teenth amendment was declared by
speakers at the convention to be
treason against the constitution of
the United States, and the laugh |
which greeted the word prohibit
tior;" as the opening word of that
paragraph of Siizer's message deal |
ing with prohibition was deemed to
be a scoffing at the law.
The meeting was conducted with
much contagious enthusiasm having
somewhat the air OF religious re-
vival meeting. For instance. when
the famous Billy Sunday hymn,
Brighten the Corner Where You
-
version was handed to the chairman
this effect:
"Silzer far from harbor,
You may rescue from the bar,
Work for enforcement
Where you are"
Miss Elizabeth H. Goodwin, who
was said to come from a south Jer-
sey county, and who is state super
intendent of publicity of the Wom-
ans Christian Temperance Union,
asserted from the platform that
''even with a prosecutor who doesn't
prosecute" that conditions were bet
ter under the eighteenth amendment
than they were before.
There were g mum ber OF speakers
on the program at the convention,
notably former Governor Richard
Yates, OF Illinois, who told Of his
personal experiences with the dry
cause.
Former Speaker of the New Jer-
sey House of Assembly George S.
Hobart, whose name the state ems
forcement act bears, defeated the
dry act which he helped to draw.
Hobart referred repeatedly to 're-
cent state paper" presumably the
inaugural message of Governor Sill
ger. and attacked the statements re-
garding the Hobart act in the meg
sage.
"That simply isn't so," asserted
the former assenblyman, replying to
Silzer's charge that under the state
act the burden of proof is upon the
accused rather than upon the state,
1t was also said that defendants arc
not required to testify against them
selves under the act, as has been
charged.
There were delegations represent
ing every county In the state at the
convention. A few of them, particu-
larly Hudson and Atlantic, had signs
bearing facetious captions. Hudson's
delegation bore a sign intimating
that there were a few "drys" in that
county while Atlaptic's delegation
was responsible for the information
that Atlantic was wet only around
the edge.
The resolution committee consist
ed OF Nolan r. Best, of Montclair,
chairman, former Speaker Hobart,
of Newark; Samuel Wilson. of Jor-
sey City. assistant state superinten-
dent of the Anti-Saloon League;
Charles c. Read of Camden, and
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