New Britain herald., 1927-06-08
PROHIBITION IN
PARTY PLATFORMS

!
from mentioning prohibition direct
ly in the platforms to be writer
next year. This is a subject that the
Republicans and Democrats are
fond of lodging. officially: wha,
they do unofficially is another story
1t may be of value to take &
glimpse in what the party platforms
have said about prohibition in the
past. 1t may be interesting reading
10 those who think parties arc
meant TO grapple with public issues
| Before 1924, when the Republican
administration was criticized. by
Democrats for its failure to enforce
the prohibition law" the word pro
hibition" did not appear in any ma
tional platform adopted by either OF
the major parties. Reference tc
prohibition only appeared in the
successive platforms Of the Prohibit
ton party, a little political one
track branch line which led from
nowhere 10 nowhere.
Lot us GLIMPSE at the Republican
platform in 1872. In this appeared
the following plank:
| The Republican party pro-
poses to respect the rights re-
served by the people to them
selves. 1t disapproves of the
resort to unconstitutional laws
for the purpose Of removing the
! evils by Interference with the
rights not surrendered by the
| people 10 cit her the state or the
national government.
! This was regarded as an out
! standing plank for personal liberty"
and as such was roundly condemned
in the convention of the Prohibition
| party of the same year. which in
that year met for the first time to
| nominate a presidential candidate.
, Not until u years later did the
! Democratic party flirt with a doc
trine mildly approaching prohibit
ton:
I'VE oppose sumptuary laws
which veX the citizens and in
terfere with individual liberty"
For this the Democratic party
was denounced in a plat
form adopted by the Prohi-
btion party that year-1SS4
being charged with 'arraying
itself on the side of drink makers
and sellers by declaring against the
policy Of prohibition under the
false name of 'sumptUary laws.
The SAME platform declared that for
"a years in which the Republican
party had been in control of the ma
t:onal and many state governments
no effort had been made to halt the
liquor traffic. etc.
The period of transition having
begun. no reference to prohibition,
direct or indirect, appeared in the
platforms Of either major party
from 1884 on for 40 years Near the
end of this transitory period the
18th amendment was adopted and
the Volstead act passed. But even
such momentous occurrences didn't
turn the turtle into an eagle. 1t
was not until five months after the
18Th amendment had been adopted
that the Republican party, meeting
in national convention in Chicago.
declared its ''unyielding devotion to
the Constitution "a declaration
that covered much territory and
which had appeared in previous
platforms.
The first real contest at q nation
al convention over prohibition
plank occurred in the Democratic
convention at San Francisco in 1920,
when w. J. Bryan presented a dry
plank, and Eourke Cochran Of New
York presented a wet plank. Both
We're defeated A substitute for both
planlls, drawn by officials of the
Anti-Saloon League, was also defeat
ed. Tn" party delegates simply re-
fused to fool with the prohibition
buzz-saw.' This still is considered
good politics
4 change took place in 1924.
when the Anti Saloon League sub
mitted identical planks on law en-
forcement to the resolutions commit
tees OF both major parties meeting
III convention IN 'leNcland ana New
York. but without direct mention of
prohibition. The resolutions were
adopted and placed in the party
planks of both parties. and were not
contested. The prcamblcs TO the
pledges. substantially quoted below.
differ in important particulars. As
they con Stitute what the ma ior par
lies stand on today as regards pro-
hlbition, these descriptive proamblcs
ar" worth quoting;
Republican plank. 1go4-"Wo
must have respect for law. We
must have observance of law.
The YER existence of the gov
"rnnrn' depends upon this. Tic