New Britain herald., 1925-12-10

] "iNlJ IlAl 81
Cappers Weekly is at hand, and
/ the current issue contains a sum-
mary Of what Congress is likely TO
DO about the prohibition question
We do not know II Cappers Week
| ~ Is right In its diagnosis, but We
DO know that Senator Capper OF
| Kansas is an influential man in the
Senate AMI his viewpoint has been
that Of a large area OF the United
| states, the area that is credited with
having had dry inclinations long be-
fore the nation as n whole vas
Icrked upon the water wagon. Mr..
. Capper In his journal says It took n
/ YoIl Of the new Congress and adds
there is no hope for wet legislation
there. III the new Congress docs
any liquor legislating at all, it VIII
tighten rather than loosen the dry
laws" says the paper. The vets, II
adds are making a losing fight"
And then 1t cites some Signs OF
the times" The largest employers
OF labor are almost solidiy in favor
of continued dry policy, drier If
anything" says the paper. And then
it goes on TO claim the employers
are setting a good example them
selves, that prohibition is being
made fashionable in Washington,
and that the White House is setting
the style.
An SO We come to this paragraph;
mo liquor OF any kind is
served there (the White House,,
not even to foreign dignitaries.
When the French debt commits
sion dined with President and
/ Mrs. Coolidge, carbonated wa
ters were served in the tall
glasses. All other official func-
| lions in Washington are follow
/ ing the White House example,
| including even the foreign en-
hasses, which are exempt from
the Volstead Act"
Manifestly, Capper's Weekly re-
presents the dry attitude. 1t is also
not to be overlooked that the west
crn representatives are numerous in
| Congress, and combined with the re-
! representatives. from the south, they
would be apt to control it on such
question as prohibition. The Repub-
| lican party In the west has played
very careful hand regarding prohi-
bition and there probably are. as
many dry western Republicans as
there are southern Democrats.
But Cappers does not take into
account conditions in most of the
industrial states where the Nolstead
act is enforced with difficulty-"if
| at ALL" as one commentator put 1t.
If the nation is to continue being
governed under the prohibition law
as it has been since the law was
, passed, it merely means continu-
alton OF prohibition in name only in
some states. Lincoln c. Andrews, the
now prohibition boss, has promised
some moro extended "cioaning up
and in New York city, L. S, District
Attorney Emory Il. Buchner, son OF
| Nebraska minister, has padlocked
/ abo1t 500 places where liquor was
/ sold. All Of which sounds impress
/ 5ivc; but there SON TO be plenty OF
I sources OF supply left to those want
ing a supply. Whether conditions are
better in the western and southern
states where the dry delegates come
from We are not prepared to say.
Facts are hard to face, and one
Of them is that Congress has been
dry in theory since the war, ire
Spcctiye Of what individual members
may be in practice. They think pro
hibition has been good for the
country, Large employers of labor
in the first instance supported IT. and
there have been apocryphal stores
that they had an influence in help
ing to bring it about. Many states
we're dry before the nation tasted
the 18th amendment. and perhaps
the law works better In such states
than in Connecticut, Massachusetts
or New York.
The eastern wet states 10 not
possess enough power in Congress
10 change the prohibition enforce
mcnt law, one judges from western
comment. And the only way TO
change prohibition is to do 1t in
Congress. Without sufficient power
10 do it, how can it be changed?
We leave it to the Springfield Tn
,on. tho Hartford Courant and the
New Haven Journal-Couricr to tell
Congress what 10 do about it, but
have small explorations that their
.,,,.c.,g.i,r.. will a., considered by the