Evening star., 1925-09-29

Everybody on all sides of the aues-
tion seems TO find measure of sat
isfaction in the report by research ex-
perts of the Federal Council of Church.
es on survey of prohibition enforce
ment. The outstanding fact is gem
eral acceptance of the report as IN
honest presentation of the truth.
calls "a powerful indictment of an un-
reasonable experiment" and from
which friends of prohibition expect
stimulation to more effective endeavor.
The hope of the Federal Council
that still more thoroughgoing survey
will result is echoed by the Newark
Evening News, which charges that
both the proponents and the opponents
Of the dry law have twisted facts to
support their own ideas. THE truth, -
continues the Evening News, lies
somewhere in the realm of the ascer.
tainable, and the individual or founda-
ton that dispassionately found it out
and then told 1t to the country would
be an undoubtedly public benefactor." !"
The report is described as IAN honest
call to face the facts" by the Water
loo Tribune, which recognizes that
1.-The council has confidence that the
defects in prohibition enforcement will
be remedied; that an awakened public
will see to it,
For the first time" the Roanoke
World News says, "a responsible COM
mittee of supposedly dry people has
sought, fairly and intelligently, to face
the facts of present-day prohibition" i"
and when, according to the Pittsburgh
Sun, ANY individual or organization
has reached the point of recognizing
as clap.rap most Of the utterances Of
wet and dry agitators. he or it is on
the high road to truth"
Let us have more unbiased reports,
and we will be better able to discover
just what is the matter with prohi-
bition," declares the Erie Dispatch
Herald, and the Asheville Times con-
tinues: Evidently 1t is time for the
country to ask itself what 1t is going
to do with prohibition. The people
seem to be agreed against the return
of the saloon, but they must decide
whether prohibition shall be respected
and far better enforced. or shall con-
tinue to be ridiculed and evaded.'
X x
The Cincinnati Times-Star, which
proclaims that there is dishonest prop
aganda for and against prohibition,
and that liars are liars, even If they
think they are battling for the Lord or
for personal liberty" finds in the
church report "a sincere effort to fur
nish the facts
The investigation by the Council of
Churches, according to the Spokane
Spokesman-Review. will rally the
friends of prohibition to renewed zeal
and reorganization" and that paper
suspects lit was intended to have that
effect The New Orleans Tribune
also finds in the attitude of the Anti
Saloon League toward the report 'as
something to be received by all friends
of prohibition as a challenge to re-
newed activity"
I'VE are too close to the early
phases of prohibition" in the opinion
Of the Harrisburg Telegraph, ito
Judge fairly of what has and is hap
pening, but such survey as this helps
to establish facts on which our more
The findings are by no means dis
couraging to friends of prohibition.
ION the whole 1t seems clear that
there is an economic gain" from prohi-
bition, says the Duluth Herald, and
further, as stated by the Williamsport
Sun, If the report serves to awaken
the church people to more determined
efforts to secure enforcement every
where, it will have accomplished a
good result, even though some of the
alleged findings are denounced as an
attack on prohibition" The Lansing
State Journal also thinks that lone
chief consideration may be deduced
from the report, and that is that a
person who questions the present situ-
alton is not necessarily an emissary
of the devil
A new policy is demanded by the
Trenton Times. with the query. will
the Volstead act be permitted to be-
come a dead letter or will it be modi.
fed into a workable system. as In
CANADA" 4 \ *
THE sinister pendition portends s