Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-12

Nearly half a century of campaign
Women "5 SSs Convinced ten, ct, ' Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Gait of the wisdom of the
prohibition law.
IF there We're no other results Of
prohibition" says Mrs. Gait. than
to show a state of things we did not
know existed / would support it.
The war draft amazed the country
, by its showup of ilIiteracy The dry
law has shown up immortality. We
learned during mobilization that an
enormous PERCENTAGE of the boys were
subnormal mentally and that the aver
age persons intelligence in the United
States is that of a 14-year-old.
Now we look around us and see
in the light of prohibition the gem
orally low standard of the public's
morals. We observe that most of
our friends are on the fringe of
criminality. For that is what ii
amounts toto break and to aid and
ahet others in breaking a Federal
statute"
This white haired general of the
suffrage forces was not Il born tee
totaler. She became one 40 years ago
after watching others drink at
parties and not liking the results.
Never Perfect Enforcement.
Mrs Gait feels that despite our
laws against murder there will al
ways be Leopolds. Loebs. Snyders and
Grays. but that the majority can be
educated and guided by legislation.
Can the law be enforced COM
pletely?"
Never perfectly" replied Mrs.
Gait. The Oldest law in history is
Thou Shalt Not Kill vet there are
killers Most of US. however do not
kill We have come to see 1t is
wrong There are States where peO
pie have come to see that it is harm
full 10 drink and the law has made
it wrong.
81 have just come back from south
ern California. San Diego is a clean
city, but across the border in Tia
Juana American capital has establish
ed places where gambling, drinking
and every other vice f1ourishes
Recently a vote was taken to de-
eide whether 6 O'Clock should remain
the closing hour. ] am happy to say
the vote was in favor of keeping
o'clock the dead line
You may argue that morality can
not be successfully imposed from
without. This may be true in grown
up countries. But we are a young
nation. a nation OF children. Prohibi-
ton has lifted the curtain upon that
fact. Children have to be corrected
by forbidding. We must have thou
shalt-nots for a century or two, yet"
Against Modification.
AS for any modification in the
"thou-shalt-no of the Volstead law,
mo" says Mrs. Gait with emphasis
How would wines and beers he
distributed" she asks. who shall
manufacture them? Who shall sell
them? How shall they be regulated
and controlled? How shall the depots
be inspected to find out what per-
centages of alcohol are being used?
Advocates of modification say they
do not want the saloon back. But of
course they do want it back They
may point to the Quebec system
But there are as many people who de-
clare this system has been a dead
failure as there are who declare pro-
hibitiOn is a failure.
Until people think out and estab- |
liSh a workable plan that can control !
the manufacture and sale of these |
beverages, they should not try to
weaken the law as we have it,"
In time, Mrs. Gait confidently pre-
diets, the law win be enforced in the |
entire country as it is now in many |
States.
when we grow up mentally" is |
how she puts it, I'VE will be moral"
She shakes a dubious head at the |
question, Can we become moder- |
ate, wine-drinking nation like France"
The Younger Generation.
"I don't think So" she answers. |
I'VE didn't start out that way. In |
Europe they have drunk wine for hun |
dreds of years, because the water was |
bad and because there was not much |
to eat. A fiagon of thin, sour wine |
made a toiler's black bread and cheese
more palatable. Wine was cheap. In
America it was expensive. Hard
liquors were more available"
About the younger generations re-
action to all the yammer about drink,
Mrs. Gait is reserved.
II talk with mothers" she says,
"and without exception those of the
better class discount the hullabaloo
regarding the menace to youth
through prohibition.
when / was a girl we loved to
shock our elders. and l don't think
human psychology has changed! Now
adays youngsters flourish the hip
flask in defiance.
prohibition came at an unfortunate
time-a period when the cheap auto
mobile was just appearing and jazz
was on the way! If prohibition had
not come, now we would be in FAR
worse situation than we are"