Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-15
SHEPPARD DENIES
LIQUOR LAW TALE
Senator Declares Penrose
Agreement Was Merely to
Expedite Amendment.

For the first time since the Senate
reconvened, following the recess, the
subject of prohibition came to the front
yesterday. Senator Morris Sheppard.
Democrat, Of Texas, displeased by an
article on this subject in the current
issue of Golfers, purporting to be a
history of prohibition, sought to give
another version of the facts from his
standpoint. ~
Senator Sheppard especially! disputed
the idea, expressed In the article, that
Wayne B. Wheeler framed the l03-
word holeproof amendment, of which
Senator Sheppard secured passage. be-
cause the Senate was in a hurry and
most Senators didn't think it would
ever become a law anyway"
Moreover, he aSsailed the notion 1t
was passed hastily or that the late
Senator Boies Penrose played an i'm
portant part in the matter.
ITO assert" said Senator Sheppard,
that Wayne B. Wheeler-all honor to
his memory-was solely responsible for
and was then submitted to the States,
is to fall into distinct error"
Recalls Proceedings.
Senator Sheppard said that in De-
cember, 1918, he, in the Senate, and
Representative Richmond Person Hob
son, in the House, introduced a resolu-
ton for submission Of constitutional
amendment which would have prohib-
tied the manufacture, importation or
transportation of liquor for sale. Sub
sequently, dry organizations came to
the conclusion that the words FOR
sale" should be dropped. Four years
later the eighteenth amendment was
favorably reported to the Senate, Sen
ator Sheppard continued.
There are no evasions, no substitutes,
no tricks in the eighteenth amend
ment," he said. 1T developed into its
final form by a process Of readjuStment
and change, rejecting the thought and
effort and enthusiasm of forces which
militant majority Of the American
people. To call it the result Of the
efforts of any one individual is to
credit him with superhuman qualities
and to transcend the farthest boundar-
les of reality.
when Senator Penrose asked me to
accept an amendment limiting the PEN
dency of the prohibition amendment
before the States to six years, he said
that If / would do so he would make
no objection to unanimous consent Tor
time for vote upon the resolution.
This was the crucial ,difflculty which
confronted the friends Of the meas
ure. I accepted because I felt that
the amendment would be ratified long
before the six years had expired and
because acceptance made a vote sure
at that session,
"The writer in Golfers attaches a
significance out of all due proportion
to the Penrose incident. It expedited
action, but the eighteenth amendment
would have come without 1t.
Described i'm Address.
"The Penrose incident was described
by me in an address before one OF the
annual meetings of the Anti-Saloon
League after the adoption of the eight
zenith amendment.
"The writer in Golfers was wrong
in saying that Senator Penrose prom
ised to permit the measure IL oe re-
ported from the judiciary committee
in return far my agree nlent 70 The
amendment he suggested. W]1at he
promised was NOT 20 object wheT IMAM
fnouS consert for time TO vote should
be asked
Senator Shepherd concluded. saying:
"It took nearly four years and four diff
ferent measures to get the resolution
for the eighteenth amendment through
the Senate and decided majority OF
the Senate believed it would be ratified.
There was no joke in it, no haste and
no confusion.
"It was the deliberate contamination
of an ideal"