Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-21

so hacked to pieces the official pro-
posal that it could not be recognized by
its own parent. Then the Senate con-
temptuously threw the whole thing
upon the legislative garbage-heap.
where 1t now lies, unWept, unhonored
and unsung
That amazing proposal was made in
the interest of national security"
meaning thereby swagger, and 1t rested
upon precisely the principle which Mr.
Hoover now enunciates and accepts. A
whole host of Republicans dissent abso-
lutely on this point and will make that
dissent manifest by every means in
their power When the American people
pledge remuneration of war they mean
what they say and take it for granted
that our fellow nations mean what they
say We shall not support any policy
which would at once enter upon new
and enlarged plan Of naval construction
under the guise of defending ourselves
against some power which has only Just
taken a formal pledge not to attack us.
The contradiction and the hypocrisy IF
it all would be comic were they not SO
unspcakably tragic.
Repeal of Dry Law.
The second dissent has reference to
the question of prohibition 1t is quite
obvious that Mr. Hoover has no con-
ception of the real problem by which
the country is faced and which has
been under eager debate from some
five years. That problem has to do not
with liquor, not with social experiments,
good. bad or Indifferent. but with the
structure and functions of the Govern
rnent Of the United States. No one can
be in favor Of the principles upon which
our Government rests or Of the Consti-
tuition itself as it existed before 1920
and at the same time in favor of the
eighteenth amendment, because the
two are absolutely contradictory. That
amendment is an alien and unnatural
lied invader of the Constitution and
must be deported by the people If the
| Constitution itself is to be preserved
and protected
Mr.. Hoover is opposed to the repeal
Of the eighteenth amendment. and at
that point his troubles begin. Accepting
the formula nf that paid band Of agita-
tors, lobbyists and prosecutors which
calls itself the Anti-SaloOn League he
speaks of notification as if that were an
unheardof and horrid thing. As a mat
ter of fact the word notification
should not be used to describe what is
in Mr.. HOover's mind. for in American
political history 1t has a very precise
and definite meaning as applied to the
doctrine of Calhoun, which Andrew
Jackson smashed with his heavy hand
The process and action which it is now
fashionable to call notification are tho
accepted and usual ways by which any
free people, and particularly the Ameri.
can people, have gotten rid of laws that
! they did not like or that were offensive
to their sense of justice and right If il
! had not been for this treatment of the
| fugitive slave law. the Republican party
| might never have been born. Status
I books. national and State. are filled
with eractments which legislators ar
| too indifferent or too lazy to repeal, bu
| to which no one longer pays the slight
| est attention In almost any one OF
the Older States it would be quite i'm
| possible to pass the waking hours oil
Sunday without violating a half dozer
laws.
Hits at LawIessness.
Any one who is opposed to the re
| peal of the eighteenth amendment ant
| who is also opposed to that process o
| statutory obsolescence that is now callet
| notification must then be in favor o
their only alternative. which is the con
tinuance of the present reign of lawless
ness. debauchery and Government-m
| crime. Every bootlegger in the land vii
support this position, both with eager
ness and with share of his very salts
factory profits.
The parrotlike cry for law enforce
ment means somewhat less than moth
ing, and, as the Irishman said, no
| much of that. The facts being wha
they are to declare for law enforce
ment in respect to the eighteenth