Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-01
LIQUOR PURCHASER
IS FORUM SUBJECT
Senator Sheppard Defends
and Explains Proposed VOL
stead Act Amendment.

A defense of his amendment to make
the purchaser of intoXicants equally
punishable with the seller as one way
of securing better prohibition enforce
ment" was made last night by Senator
Morris Sheppard, Democrat of Texas,
arranged by The Evening Star and
sponsored by the Columbia Broadcast
ing system.
Declaring that the purchasers money
Is the foundation of the bootleg mar
ket," the co-author of the eighteenth
amendment held that the buyer is
'guiltier in reality than the maker,
carrier or seller"
Senator Sheppard ascribed to the
purchaser the basis of most of the
contempt and ridicule" upon prohibition
enforcement.
Must Brand Purchaser.
I'VE must strip the purchaser, not
infrequently person of means and
standing, of the cloak of responsibility
and brand him as the lawbreaker he
morally is" Senator Sheppard declared.
The purchasers money" he added,
sis the explanation of the rum runner,
the bootlegger. the illicit distiller, the
murders the scandals, the bribery and
corruption which attend the efforts of
the underworld to circumvent the Gov
eminent and the law.
And yet" he continued. "the pur-
chaser looks to the very Constitution
which he f1aunts and mocks for the pro-
lection of his own life and property"
Senator Sheppard asserted that the
amendment he recently offered to the
Volstead act making the buyer equally
as guilty as the seller would be valid
under the Constitution. Also. he said
it was only logic and justice" that
the purchaser be made equally punish
able with the seller. He pronounced
purchase and sale of intoXicants as in
deiibly identified In violation of the law.
Next Thursday night Senator Halves,
Democrat of Missouri, will outline
through the National Radio Forum
the wet side of the issue.
Senator Sheppard's speech in full is
as follows:
Text of Address.
Prohibition is stronger in the United
States today than ever before. Since it
became part of the National Constitu-
ton on January l6, 1920, every seat in
the Federal House of Representatives
has been voted upon four times, and
each seat in the Federal Senate at
least once, third of the Senate seats
having been voted upon twice. The re-
suit is larger majority for prohibition
in both these bodies at the present than
at any previous time. During this Pc
Rod of nearly 10 years the American
people have made more progress in
three fundamental phases of human
welfare-to wit. savings, life insurance
and home building-than in all the 13l
years of this republic before the advent
of national prohibition. So far as the
great majority of the American people
are concerned they have traded the
smaller liberty to drink intoXicants and
to get drunk for the larger liberty to
acquire homes. to save against misfor-
tune and old age, to clothe and nourish
their families in decency and comfort.
Roger Babson tells us that both
friends and enemies of prohibition
must agree that the increased pur-
chasing. power of the masses. so gen.
eral since the World War. is largely
due to prohibition. that prohibi-
ton has not only increased pur-
chasing power by turning into useful
channels funds formerly expended for
drink, but has reduced manufacturing
and distributing costs. and that from
this every one is greatly benef1ting to-
day. President Hoover, when Secretary
of Commerce, said that the applica-
ton of the many discoveries in the
physical sciences, the increased eff
cheney of both workers and executives
and the advent of prohibition have
raised our standards of living and ma
terial comfort to height unparalleled
in our history and therefore in the
history of the world. Henry Ford, that
master of modern industrialisn, said