The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1926-06-24
SENATOR BORAH ON THE
EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT

EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT
Senator Borah, of Idaho, made
the most statesmanlike speech
which has been delivered since
the World War when he discuss
ed Prohibition before the Presby-
terrain General Assembly at Baltl-
more. says The Voice. He de-
clsred that the present opposi-
ton to Prohibition is a definite
challenge to the capacity of Am
orleans for selfgovernment.
"To disregard u Constitu-
ton. to evade it, to nullify it,.
while still refusing to change It,,
is to plant the seeds of destruc-
ton in the heart of the nation
he declared. He attacked the pro
posed referendum in New York
as a scheme to subject the Prohl-
bition Amendment to forty-eight
different constructions, imposing.
mon the nation fOrty-eight differ
emit standards of intoxicating Il.
ouor. with every State having a
RIGHT to ship its brand of liquor
into every other state. He struck
boldly and straight at the heart
Of the matter in showing that pro
posed modification" is nothing
but notification. an attempt to re-
store the traffic in Intoxicating
LIQUOR. He warned the people
not to be confused by smooth
words covering %pretense. It IS
impossible to reproduce all Of the
Senator's address, The following
extracts give the heart Of his ar
gument:
"The Prohibition Amendment
is a part Of the charter of gov
eminent under which we live. Its
terms are comprehensive, COM
plete, exacting and impossible Of
misunderstanding"
whether sold in the open sa-
loon or the brothel. its natural
haunt. or secretly ~purveyed in de-
fance Of law, the wicked stuff
works its decentralization and ruin
to individuals. communities and
states. From the time it issues
from the coiled and c~opper-color-
ed worm in the distillerv until it
empties in the hell of crime, dis
honor and death, misery and pow
ertv and remorse marks its male
dict course. Not only is the re
cord of the centuries made up.
against it.. but now the modern
industrial world with its complex
and delicate machinery, with its
demand for security. safety and
fitness. asks that it be banished.'
"The question of the hour is
shall we live up to and enforce
that provision of the Constitution
until. in the orderly method point
ed out by the Constitution, we see
fit to change it? Can we enforce
the law which we have deliberate
w made? 1t is perhaps as definite
and specific a challenge of our
love for the Constitution, our ca
pacity for self-government, as
could be presented to our people.
The supreme test of a free gov
eminent is the right of a people
to write or unwrite its constitu-
ton. To disregard that consti-
tuition. to evade it, to nullify it..
and still refuse to change it, is
to plant the seeds of destruction
in the heart of the nation-is to.
confess before the world that we
have neither the moral courage
nor the intellectual sturdiness for
self-government."
$50 long as the Eighteenth
Amendment stands, I would kick
into the waste basket any refer
endum which would compromise
either in letter or in spirit with
its execution"
"Now what these advocates of
the referendum want, when they
speak candidly and plainly, is the
right to sell and transport intoxi-
eating liquor. The only way to
meet the proposition which they
have in mind is to submit, if they
wish to employ referendum, the
question of whether we shall
amend the Constitution-submit
it in the way provided by the Con-
stitution."
"a candidate who has nc con-
viction upon this question and no