The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-01-28

nority which the opponents Of prohi7
bition assail so loudly
He declared the eighteenth amend
ment by it's very wording leaves no
choice for state legislatures or con-
gress in the matter of providing en-
forcement laws.
ut is itself positive prohibition,
operating by it's inherent force to
prohibit absolutely the manufacture,
sale or transportation of intoxicating
liquors within the United States
court has upheld the Volstead provi-
sion of one half Of one per cent,
and that If there should be sub.
stitute for the volstead law, with a
provision for higher alcoholic con-
tent, it necessarily would be un-
constitutional.
"Under the constitution as it now
stands, there is no possibility Of en-
tacting valid regulatory legislation
which will permit the traffic Of liq-
uor containing percentage of al
cohol high enough to be intoxicating.
II believe that If an attempt were
made to repeal the volstead act. and
to substitute therefor. an unconstitu-
tional statute, or no statute at all,
the supreme court would be consti-
tutionally bound to hold that the
attempted repeal was void and Of no
effect and that the Volstead act
would still remain the law of the land
until there was substituted for it
some other statute equally consistent
with the eighteenth amendment and
which could be held to provide the
essentials of effective enforcement.
Only Two Questions
"There arc only two questions
(which properly can be considered by
the American people at the present
time consistently with the principles
of their established institutions; and
those are first, whether they desire
to repeal or modify the eighteenth
! amendment by the means provided in
the constitution; and second, unless
and until such repeal or modification
is effected, what duties and obliga-
tions, under the eighteenth amend
ment, rest upon the different depart
ments of the federal and state gov
ernments, what action by those gov
ernments is lawful under the amend
ment, and what would be unlawful
\ and unconstitutional"
There are two outstanding symp-
toms of lawlessness and disorder in
the country, he said. He listed one as
the campaign against the eighteenth
amendment and the other as the
prevalence of crime.
The most disquieting feature Of the
prohibition question, he declared, "is
the failure on the part Of public Of
ficials to realize or live up to their
constitutional obligations under the
eighteenth amendment"
He asserted crime was increasing
with alarming rapidity" long before
the days of prohibition.
Beginning with 1919" he con
,tinued, I'VE know that there were
! $500 homicides reported to the police
In 1925. there were 7,778 hSmicid
la large decrease in view Of the in
crease in population. The. figures
should indicate that the evil is one o.
long standing and that there ha.
been no such surprising increase
since the adoption of prohibition a.
to form any basis for regarding pro
hibition as the cause or even one O
the causes of the general prevalence
!, of crime in the United States.
'The reason must be sought else
where, and perhaps the crime wav,
itself is due to the same causes whicI
led to the present fanatical opposi
} ton to prohibition and the presen
widespread violation Of the prohibi
tion laws.
Regulated, unregulated, or abso
lutely prohibited, the liquor traffic
is the very heart and center Of tn,
spiders web of corruption, dishonest.
and dereliction Of public duties, which
has for SO long undermined the, eff
fectiveness of popular institution
: throughout large part of the ma
ftion."