Evening star., 1926-04-21

Americans TO get IT. proving LhAI VIVA
Americans want Is not beer but HARD
liquor.
Mr.. Goldman asked Mr.. Striving
who had appointed him to represent
the farmers Of the coountry. The wit
ness replied that the head of the
grange, now IN Rome attending
conference, and the executive CON
rnittee, consisting Of three members.
had appointed him.
Mr.. Goldman said he did not believs
that all the farmers OF Massachusette
knew OF this appointment to represenr
them at the liquor hearings. The
witness pointed out 1t was imposs.blc
TO communicate with all the rnilIio;l
members Of the grange In such & mat
ter.
Mr.. Goldman asked II the farmer
were not allowed 10 make wine and
cider now under the law, and whethel
that was not discrimination against
the city man.
Mr.. Strivings replied that the
farmers have the right to make wine
and cider for their own use, and he
insisted that the city man has that
same privilege, too.
Mr.. Goldman wanted to know if the
city man should not be permitted to
have his beer II the farmer has his
wine and cider, but the witness said
he knew nothing about the manufac
ture Of beer.
Are you in favor Of the repeal OF
section 20 OF the Volstead act, under
which the farmers are allowed to
make wine and cider?" asked Mr..
Goldman.
mo-" replied the witness.
1.-THE farmers would not like TO have
that repealed, would they?"
NO WAS the anEWer
Oliver w. Stewart Testifies.
Oliver W. Stewart of Chicago
president OF the Flying SQuadroL
Foundation, was the first witness be
fore the Senate committee today
The Flying Squadron. he said. was
organized IN 1915, with the late J
Frank Hanly, former Governor o.
Indiana, as its president, to promote
patriotism and respect for the laws
and the Constitution Of the United
States.
Mr.. Stewart said to the committee
in part:
II come to bear my testimony as
to the improved conditions Of the
country under prohibition. Before
the amendment took effect 1 had
spoken in every State capital and
all other important cities. / caunO.
the better. have not seen a drunken
man on a train in the last four years
l have not encountered Is drunke!7
men in all my travels in the last
three years. I have lived in hotels,
passed through railway stations,
boarded boats and have been about
such places generally, where in the
saloon days drunken men were Il
common sight. They are so unusual
today that when one appears he
causes little less than q sensation.
THE bulwark Of prohibition is the
knowledge Of the average person 10
the effect that conditions, however
unsatisfactory they may be. are far
better than they were under the
legalized saloon. But the protest
against any weakening or change IN
:he enforcement act which would
make easier the return of wine and
beer is not based upon improved COZ
ditions alone. 1t has a certain moral
support. which, disregarded, IS certain
to arouse storm Of protest.
Arrests Show Increase.
Our opponents profess 10 I've
troubled about increasing arrests for
drunkenness. 1t appears to b.
granted that they are below the level
Of saloon days, but have shown
recent increase. Arrests for drunken
ness must depend upon two things
the number Of drunks and the attitude
OF the police toward them. In order
to have an arrest for drunkenness
there must be a drunk and a police
man. If the latter finds 1t convenient
not to see the former, there Is no
arrest. If he goes out after him
there Is certain TO be one. There is
no necessary connection between ar
rests for drunkenness and drunken
ness itself. 1t is we'll known that IN
the days Of saloon administration !,
was the policy, in all too many places.
to arrest only such drunks as by thei!
disturbance or criminal tendencies
made restraint necessary. Drunks
were many, and arrests comparatively
few"
Rev. j. J. Curran, q Catholic priest
of Wilkes.Barre. Pa, appeared before
the committee IN the interest of pro
i hibition enforcement and to refute
testimony given by Rev. Francis
Kasaczun, another priest, Of Sugar
Notch, in the anthracite region, dur
ing the hearing Of the ''wets."
"Were we to believe the testimony
Of the wet witnesses that appeared
before this body last week" saio
Father Curran. I'VE should conclude
that prOnlDltlOn Is responsible 10
every species of crime and of ever
class of criminals in the United State
today. Nero, the Roman fiddler and
emperor, played much the same tao
| tics in his day as the vets do in our
day, so that when anything went
wrong in the city of Rome or through
out the empire he blamed 1t on the
Christians. While the whole world
knows that there are abuses without
number attendant upon the enforce
ment Of the Volstead act, yet there
, are few who acknowledge that there
were almost infinitely more violations
Of the defunct liquor laws of State
and Nation. Practically all of the
same agencies at work today striving
to frustrate the observance Of the
dry law were at work formerly doing
lEGu,lnued e2 Third gsas>l