Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-06-04
And the Poor Diplomats!

And consider the poor ~diplomatsi
1t was never intended in the enact
ing of our enforcement law that
diplomatic representatives of foreign
governments were to be denied their
wines and liquors, if they wanted
them at their embassies, legations
n consulates in this country. But
If no ship can bring any liquor what
ever within the three mile limit how
are the diplomats TO get their sup
plies? Or, if it we're possible for
them to purchase liquors in bond in
the United States, how could they
transport them from warehouses to
the aforesaid embassies, legations
and consulates without running foul
of our laws?
The Supreme Court has said that
1T is obvious that those whose wish
es and opinions were embodied in
the amendment meant to stop the
whole business When. there
fore, the amendment forbids not only
importation and expectation from
the United States, ut transportation
within it, the natural meaning of the
word expresses an altogether proba-
bic intent" The court also points
out that when congress meant to
make any exceptions to this it did
so IN express terms, as it did in the
case of transporting liquors via the
Panama Canal.
Then, in the case of the decision
of the federal district court with re-
spect to physicians prescriptions,
there is another large uncertainty
developed as to the future of prohi-
bltlon enforcement. If the Supreme
Court should sustain the lower court,
in event an appeal is taken, it is
within the bounds of possibilities
that the United States will be just
as dry as the doctors want it to be,
and no drier.
Obviously if physicians can pre-
scribe as much liquor for their pa
tients as they see fit, or deem neces-
sary, it is conceivable that there will
be practitioners who will believe that
anyone Or everyone should have
some alcoholic stimulant daily, and
who will be ready to write prescrip-
tions that carry out that idea. This
may be said without the slightest
reflection on the medical profession
as a whole. As matters stand, most
doctors regard liquor prescriptions
as a nuisance, or worse, and many
of them have refused to qualify so
that they may be able to issue the
permits.
At the same time, however, there
are other physicians who do not be-
lieve in Prohibition, although advo-
Gates of temperance, and who have
resented the restrictions With which
they have been hedged about under
the Volstead act. Some of them ac-
tually entertain the idea-abhorrent
as it may be to the drys-that the
average adult really should have a
reasonable amount of liquor if he
wants it, and it goes without saying
that they will not go slow in the
matter of writing prescriptions once
they are definitely freed of the pres
ent legal limitations.
Also it is to be taken for granted
that there will be doctors, or those
who d qualify as doctors, who will
do little else than a liquor prescrip-
ton business once it is established
that the New York judre has taken
the correct view of the law. Such
men will lot stand we'll in their pro-
fession, but they will share in the
prosperity that bootleggers are now
enjoying, and they will justify them
selves by saying that at least they
are not %purveyors of wood alcohol
or other poisonous or deliterious
drinkables.