New Britain herald., 1926-04-09
LABOR ISSUES
 WET CHALLENGE
(Continued from Page l.)

Gan you give us the number Of state toderations that have asked for beer" put in Senator Walsh, demo- crat, Montana,
 "All Of them coincide In the action Of the executive council" Roberts said. None of them has protested"
 William J, McSorley president of the building trades department of the American Federation of Labor, urged amendment of the Nolstead act as a matter of justice.
 Rich Can Get Liquor
 The rich can get liquor" McSor- ley said, "hut the workingmen can not get the beer they want,
 "rhe great majority of the huild- Ing trade men believe in modifca- ton, especially when we see how the law is working out" he contin- ued. Justices Of the peace arc called in by district attorneys and forced to resign"
 "What for?" asked Senator Reed.
 "Tor cooperating with enforce ment officers and bootleggers. Why in Cuyahoga county. Ohio, the dis trict attorney has compelled several justices to resign"
 Replying to Senator Reed, Mcsor- ley said that if the workmen wanted to drink now he had to pay a boot logger BIO for a quart of whiskey.
 "If he could get beer he would not do that" the witness said. Those who can't buy whiskoy make homo brew which In the end is nothing but q lot of sour slop."
 "Can they get drunk on it?' ask ed Reed.
 "Oh, I suppose so. Each man has his own formula. know of nu- merous cases of men who never drank whiskey, who dring it now A man gets a bottle of whiskey; gets few friends and then don't stop until 1t Is all gone" Theory Was Failure
 Next the vets called Andrew Fur useth, president of the Internal Longshoremen's union, who said "the reformers" had started early to work on the seamen by cutting off their grog at sea.
 "The theory was" he said that if the men did not get their grog at sea they would lose their taste for It. The theory did not work out.
 "As n seaman. I am opposed to the saloon; always was and always will bo. The real men among the seamen take the same position. I've seamen, you know, are the rakings and scrapngs of hell and ibedlam. Some go down and some come back. We represent every strata of society,""
 The veteran labor leader went on 10 say that q month after enactment of the Volstead act he found in Portland, Ore, condition which made him an ardent supporter of the act. Seamen were sober and inde- pendent.
 Conditions Worse l "Tvo years later" he continued t"I returned to the same port ant 1 found conditions worse than it wal in prohibition days. The boot Ilc~gors then were organized, and tn seamen could get liquor, it seemed when no one else could. It was ter rible stuff they drank.
 ] q i,1+n ynci T [, ant, properly conducted, and get : glass of beer or a glass of claret not ten per cent of them would secl hard liquor. That's the way 1t ha' worked out in other countries; Eng land. Canada and Italy
 "Men who work In hot places liS' marine flremon, cant drink water It makes them sick. They mus have beer or else oatmeal in thei water"
 Furuseth then gave the commit tee a chapter out of his own life t' | illustrate his point that there is "n' sense" in the present situation.
 q have been prohibitionist." h l old. I took some claret. They too it away from me.
 Buys Whiskey Now
 "since prohibition I use som whiskey, a tablespoonful in a glaS of water and then eat my dinner The doctor says it does me good"
 Did you pay S6 a pint for it? asked Senator Reed.
 "No, I paid s2 and six bits, th doctor didn't charge me for the pre- scription.
 Sometimes I get some stuff give mo that didn't smell right or tast right. so I threw 1t in the swill."
 Did you have any difficulty fn) ing someone to sell that sort of stu to you?" asked Senator Reed,
 NO, I never did"
 Metal Trade Workers
 James O'Connell, president Of Il