Evening star., 1925-01-16
PROHIBITION TEST
STILL UNSETTLED
Five-Year Trial of Dry En-
forCement Leaves Issue
Yet in Dispute.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Five years OF prohibition of the
manufacture and sale of intoxicating
liquors still finds the question deep
rooted in American politics, but with
the cause of law enforcement taken
up In earnest at last by a President of
the United States.
Slowly and without ostentation the
"dry" side has made its impression on
Calvin Coolidge, so that law enforce
.nent may be expected hecceforth
with all the vigor that the Govern
ment car command.
Mr.. Coolidge in his early days in
politics was counted as not altogether
dry" but whatever he might have
been before, he stands today as the
only President in the last five years
who has won the absolute confidence
of the "drys."
Tribute of Church Board.
Here is a significant announcement
by the Board OF Temperance of the
Methodist Episcopal Church:
The vigorous and intelligent action
OF Attorney General Stone in New
Jersey. together with the quite evil
dent personal interest of the President
of the United States in the problem
of law enforcement. clearly heralds
the dawn of new day Recreant
officials will be put down Faithful
men Will be elevated. Criminal re-
bellion will be crushed. The prohi-
bition law will be enforced
For several weeks there have been
whisperings that Mr.. Coolidge had
taken the prohibition problem into his
own hands and was watching enforce
ment very closely. The "drys" have
been jubilant They claim to have
hcen harasSed and obstructed at every
turn by subordinate officials and that
the Presidents recognition OF the
situation Is a moral victory for the
cause of enforcement
Mr.. Coolidge has had relatively
little to say about prohibition since
he took office. He Is represented.
however. as viewing the matter from
the viewpoint of law and order. An
amendment forbidding the manufac-
ture and sale of intoxicants IS
part of the Constitution: a law has
been passed providing penalties for
violation, and there is nothing for an
honest and sincere public official to
do but enforce the law.
Seek Enforcement Transfer.
Some of the feeling expressed by
the "drys" that they have not been
given cooperation by the Govern
ment is due to the presence In high
administration quarters of pro-
nounced "wets." The Secretary of
the Treasury, Andrew w. Mellon, is
called wet" having had large in
terests in a distillery before prohibi-
tion came. He Is much too busy with
the financial side of the Government
to give personal attention to the
work of one OF his bureaus-that of
internal revenue, which includes the
prohibition unit-and, while no one
has ever proved that he interfered
with prohibition enforcement, the
'drys" have never been satisfied, and
there Is pending in Congress a bin
to reorganize the prohibition unit
by removing 1t from the authority
of the commissioner of internal
revenue.
The "drys" have been besieging
every President since the eighteenth
amendment was adopted. President
Wilson was not in sympathy with
the Volstead act, in fact he vetoed
1t on technicality but plainly didn't
like the measure anyhow. Mr.. Hard
ing never served liquor at the White
House table. but took a drink regu-
larly after his golf game until some
one reminded him that his act in
carrying any liquor from his own