The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-08-11
KEEPING UP
With
THE NE WIS
BY LUDWELL DENNY

BY LUDWELL DENNY
7 UNIVERSITY, VA, Aug. 11.-An
~ audience of 1000 educators and
students most Of them from the
South, enthusiastically applauded
the wet speaker in the prohibition
debate at the University Of Virginia
summer Institute on Public Affairs.
Representative Louis c. Cramton,
Michigan, Republican dry leader in
Congress, received less applause for
his defense Of prohibition.
Election of Smith as President
would be a disastrous blow to pro-
hibition enforcement and would
promote notification, Cramton
said. Hoover has declared that
prohibition has proved itself as
business proposition" he added. In
reply, John Philip Hill, Maryland
wet leader and former Congressman,
urged repeal of the Eighteenth
Amendment and meanwhile modifi-
cation of the Volstead Act on
grounds Of State rights and the fall
ure Of enforcement.
Cramton said in part:
Prohibition is a noble expert
ment, the success of which means
much to the whole world. Less than
one-fourth Of the House of Rep
resentatives support the wet po-
sition. We cannot abolish the laws
to accommodate the lawbrakears,
Babson estimates that only one
tenth as much money now is being
spent for liquor as before prohi-
bition. Enforcement is progressively
successful.
In the national political CAM
paign now in progress, the National
Association against the Prohibition
Amendment assumes new inn
portance through the declaration of
the candidate and the national COM
mittee Of one of the parties.
1T is idle to say that the Presi-
dent cannot affect the situation.
When a candidate makes modifl-
cation an outstanding campaign
issue his election is bound to be &C
cepted as expression Of sentiment Of
the Nation in that direction,
Passage Of a law for sale Of liquor
would be declared unconstitutional
by the Supreme Court; such law
would not legalize such sale, but
would be a blow to enforcement
practically constituting notification
of the amendment"
II Il
NOLONEL HILL in urging re-
~ peal Of the Eighteenth amend
ment and modification Of the Vol
stead act meanwhile, stressed the
familiar arguments Of State rights
and failure Of prohibition enforce
ment
Neither of the two great political
parties in their platforms indorse
the Eighteenth amendment, nor does
either party declare against its
modification or repeal he said.
The Eighteenth amendment is the
first and only amendment Of the
Constitution which attempts regu-
lation by the Federal Government
of the personal habits and actions
Of the citizens Of the individual
States
Whenever any suggestion is made
Of modification or repeal the Anti
Saloon League talks Of notification,
but it acquiesces in the nonenforce-
ment of many other constitutional
amendments. The prohibition laws
violate the Fourth amendment
against unreasonable searches and
seizures. The Fifth amendment
against Jeopardy and the Sixth
amendment guaranteeing speedy
jury trial are violated directly or in
directly by the dry laws"
After asking why the drys do not
object on notification grounds to
nonenforcement of the Fourteenth
amendment franchising Negroes,
Hill said, beverages containing one
half of one per cent of alcohol are
not in fact Intoxicating and are
therefore not prohibited by the
Eighteenth amendment, why, then,
is not the Volstead Act an immoral
law, seeking to enforce a lie?"
He quoted Volstead, former Fed
CA al 4Oll4b4J4OA4 OOllA4lA4cn4QllCA
Haynes an dthe Maryland superin-
tendent of the Anti-Saloon League
that one half Of one per cent is not
intoxicating.
"TTNHE records of arrests for
4 drunkenness in thirty-six of
the largest cities or States shows
an enormous increase in what al
ways have been prohibition centers
Of the country. In 1920, the total
number of prohibition cases in the
Federal courts we're 1891, while in
1926 they had risen to 1882"
Here is Hills substitute for the
Volstead Act:
"Sec. /. Each State shall for it
self define the meaning of tho
words intoxicating liquors as used
Gin the Eighteenth Amendment.
and each State itself shall enforce
within its own limits its own laws
on this subject.
"Sec. 2. Any person who trans
ports or causes to be transported
into any State any beverage pro-
hibited by such State as being an
Intoxicating liquor shall be punished
by the United tSates by imprison-
ment for not more than ten years
or by fine Of not less than $4,000
nor more than 100000 or by both
such fine and imprisonment"
n
I'm another debate, on whether suf-
L frage has improved the status
of women, Mrs. Sarah Lee Fain,
member of the Virginia Legislature
from Norfolk, said women should
not use the unnameable thing" to
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