Evening star., 1926-04-26
ORYS ADMIT NEED
OF STRONG DEFENSE
Effects of Prohibition Hear
ings in Senate Spurs to
Vigorous Campaign.
Ey FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

One of the most immediate and
tangible effects OF the prohibition
hearings in the Senate will be the
organization Of a vigorous defensive
campaign by the dryS In their more
commemorative moments they frank
ly conCede that Volsteadism is in dan
ger. They acknowledge that their
duty is to rally promptly and aS-
crcSslNleN to its support. They plan
10 do so, and they are supremely con
fldent that they can hold the fort
Il is firmly in their possession now
two-thirds ma ajority for prohibition
undefiled is their claim with regard TO
both houses of Congress. But they
are determined henceforward to run
no risk of letting their "stranglehold
loosen or break. That decision. from
the standpoint of The drys. is the out
standing result of the hearings which
have gripped the Nations attention
for the past three weeks.
Welcome "War Plans"
The vets welcome the prohibitions
lists war plans and. of course. m
terpret them as a confession Of weak
ness. On one phase of the drys de-
fenSive campaign the vets intend 10
keep particularly Vigilant eye. That
is the item of expenditure. 1t is con-
tended by the -Nolstead dites that
prohibition was put over" by the as
tute Wayne B. Wheeler and his CO.
drys when there was no legislative
control over the campaign barrels OF
men running for Congress. Election
expenses nowadays have to be ac-
counted for in detail and are sub
iect to careful scrutiny. The vets
plan 10 shadow every candidate In
whom the dry organization is espe-
cially interested and watch TO what
extent prohibition money is al his
disposal for campaign purposes.
This is a game at which two can
play, and the drys will keep an equal
ly watchful gaze on the grease
supplied by the liquor traffic on
behalf of candidates who want high
powered beer, light wines and repeal
OF the eighteenth amendment.
FOresees Dollars" i'm Fight.
Stories Of the fabulous extent to
which dollars are about to roll in the
fight to overthrow and maintain pro-
hibition flew thick and fast across
capitol Hill last week One circum
stantial yarn alleged that a certain
nationally known soft drink concern
has modified a warcheSt of S4,-
100000 to be put at the disposal of
the Anti-Saloon League. Drys un-
ceasinGly speak of the millions
the brewing trade is ready to spend
TO annihilate prohibition. TO this
familiar charge vets retort that the
hulk of "Wheelers money" in the
prohibition defensive war is 10 come
from "the bootlegging trust which
would look upon abolition of pro-
hibition as its ruin.
DR.. Nicholas Murray Butler. presi-
dent of Columbia University. Re
publican elder statesman, regular
White House guest and intellectual
leader of the vets. in an interview
with this writer asserted that the re
real of the eighteenth amendment is
he next wet objective. And this can
be accomplished far more speedily and
far more easily" DR.. Butler declares.
than people generally imagine. Leav-
ing charges and counterchargeS just
aired before the Senate judiciary sub
committee entirely out of account, no
one, wet or dry. will seriously dispute
that the country is rocking with un-
rest over prohibition. The demand
for some kind of a modified system
is as wide as the continent itself
Is Swamped by Reports.
Word to that effect reaches me
necessarily in simply swamping pro
portions. 1t comes from all kinds of
people and from all parts of the coun-
try. 1t consists broadly of two sorts
of sentiment-one branch that de-
plores the orgy of disrespect for law