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

'Prohibition" says Miss Marbury.
one of the first women of prominence
in the United States to take a public
stard against the eighteenth amend
ment, lis another of those infamous
censorships that will ultimately make
a SpinelosS nation of us.
IF we are constantly to be told by
law what we must think and do and
and say and feel and drink andeat
and wear we shall in time become
stincles, incapable of individual thought
or action; mollyCOdles and nitwitS.
Laws should be protective. but not
so partial that they allow of no self
education or wholesome evolution.
! hope l make it plain that l am
opposed to prohibitions"
Miss Elizabeth did make ii plain.
sitting there in all her smiling and
amiable decisivencsS. like queen of
some fanciful matriarChatc. her canes
resting like scepters at her elbow.
THE reason | tlout prohibition is
because / am for deccncy. order and
temperance" goes on this energetic
lady, who is a play broker by day.
down in the furious Forties OF New
York. and by night a social butterfly
after her own massive and humorous
fashion.
Like Naughty Children.
Il resent citizens of the United
States being treated Wholesale like
naughty children who do not know
how to behave. l resent the SNUG
way prohibitionists. sincere though
they may be. shut their eyes to what
their legislation has done.
Progress has been set back
long WJN nv Nv Good F,ianI How
ME Hurst says if a law is passed. il is
wrong to let it make fools and crimi.
nails of us; that we should be stronger
than the law and either repeal ii or
bow 10 ii and make the personal
denial it calls for.
i say law is no such sacred thing.
When it infringes on my rights as a
treeborn American ii is not ND to me
to leave my work and fight il. 1t is
up to those who perpetrated the law
10 admit 1t is stupid and withdraw it"
hen it's advocates say that prohibi-
ton has not received fair trial. Miss
Marbury shows symptoms of boredom,
We have had nearly eight years"
she answers. "of prohibition. How
long must we go on. and grin and
bear its consequences?
Laws Effect on Labor.
"The reason prohibition cannot he
enforced is that so few persons want it
enforced. Booteggery is so common
that the purveyor of illicit LIQUOR has
become, in the words of Senator Reed
rich. powerful and respected The sig.
nlficance is in that last wordr
What do you reply to the assertion
that the dry law has increased the
efficiency of labOr2"
"A man l know" Miss Marburv
said, "reproached me for opposing the
dry law. He asked if l didn't realize
now much prohibition had helped the
workingman?
told him / was prohibition
not solely because | had been tended
in infancy by wet-nurse. but because
l thought the employer of labor had no
more right to his alcoholic bevera pes
than the workingman.
on are looking, / told him. to your
own profits when you rejoice that the
dry law has deprived the toiler of his
beer. Whatever benefit prohibition is
TO the aboring man is through the
closing OF saloons, and no one is advo.
catlng their return-although sneak
easles DO as much harm as the saloon.
"A workingman is perfectly can.
able OF learning moderate and if
the money now wasted on prohibition
were spent to educate people in the
use of alcohol and the evils of mis-.
use, we would have better workers
and-happier ones"
What does this Fortnight ladv
Lhlnk of the assertion that lio,1or
should be suppressed because alec.
mol is a narcotic poison?
The Future Generation.
Look here" said Miss Elizabeth.
so are lots of medicines. Aconite,
iodine, strychnine-too much of anv
OF these will kill"
1t is argued" we suggested. that
benefits of prohibition will be seen in
the next generation"
Rubbish" Miss Marbury's soprano
rang out over the garden beneath
her windows, and over the busy East
River as it scuttled under Queens
boro Bridge.
Rubbish. Look at crime statistics.
Look at the wild creatures of the
younger generation. / tell you it will
make us a race OF weaklings.
What we need is a little old-fash.
Toned hardening and simplicity. Teach
people, instruct children-and then
let them work out a sturdy code of
life
My own view is that this whole
subject Of prohibition should be re.
turned by Congress to the various
States. and that each State should
have the responsibility and the right
to settle it according to the needs,
nd MIL 20 70