, 1925-01-22
Take Heed of Wisdom

A favorable report has Just been made by a
committee of the house of representatives at
Washington of a bill that would compel judges
to give jail sentences for every conviction Of
violating the Volstead act, great or small; that
would leave no discretion to the court once the
person had been found guilty of fracturing even
the least splinter of that structure; that would
allow no fines however great or small. Let us
see to what the proposal would lead, were it fin
ally 10 become law.
Under such a provision a person must be jailed
if found guilty of carrying. on his person n single
ounce of liquor of any sort containing over one
half of one per cent of alcohol. He must be jail
ed for carrying in a handbag to a friendly din
ner alcoholic beverages of his own bought legally
before prohibition. He must be jailed for carry.
ing in his automobile a phial of wine for a sick
friend. lie must be jailed for transporting liquor
that he has legally purchased at a druggists on
a doctors prescription. He must be Jailed for
making home-brewed beer of any sort having
more than the Nolstead standard of alchol. We
do not say that he always would be, but he could
be, and if convicted of any one Of the acts we
have mentioned, he must be. And the extent to
which f%anatical prosecution might go no man
knoweth.
But into the midst t of this heated and controver-
sial matter comes the cool, calm influence of wis
dom and courage in u high place. 1t proceeds
from Calvin Coolidge, now residing, by the over
whelming wish of his countrymen, in the White
House. lie has given it to be understood that he
does not look with favor upon any such extreme
legislation as this. Then he feels that there is
a vast difference between smuggling and selling
liquor in pertinacious and continued violation
of the law for profit and the carrying of a few
ounces of Scotch in the pocket. That running a
big bootlegging still for the money in it is quite
a larger offence than making a gallon or two
Of home brew for home consumption. The infer
ence is permitted that he would veto this Stalker
bill that would send every offender to jail, the
inoffensive and unintentional, along with the i'm
pudent and the wholesale. He will be right in so
doing. if the measure ever reaches him, which,,
since his powerful influence is thrown against it,
may now he doubted.
One thing the extremists who have put forward
such a proposition fail to realize, and that is
that, if in operation, it would greatly weaken
the enforcement of the Volstead act itself. When
YOU make penalties over-drastic, you by so much
increase the difficulties of conviction. We still
have jury trials for offences against the prolibi-
ton laws, and if iuries found that every man
brought before them must go to jail, no matter
how trivial his offending, they would acquit more
often than now even, and the whole system would
suffer.
The president realizes that we have law
enough now to take care of the real offenders
against prohibition. He knows that the new prop
osition is a distinct slur upon our judges who are
given discretion to differentiate between kinds
of offending, and may be relied upon to exercise
1t. In a word, he feels that extremes do not cure.
and he does not wish to try them. We believe that
the great and fair opinion of the country will
agree with him.