Evening star., 1929-06-09

three -fourths. or So of the States. But
now prohibition is part of the Constl-
tuition; now it is the vets who are pro-
posing to change the Constitution as 1t
exists. Now, therefore, the vets must
control 36 of the States.
Fantastic Dream.
That the time should come when the
vets would control So Of the States is
fantastic dream. Possibly the reader
may see this more convincingly if 1t be
stated the other way round: That a
time should come when the drys would
fail to control only 13 or less of the 48
States seems incredible. In any event,
if the time is ever to come it must be
very distant.
There is a second method of repeal
ing the eighteenth amendment. That
is by calling a constitutional conVep-
ton.
If the present article were complete,
this second method should be conSld-
cred at length. But there is not enough
space to be complete. Let it be sum-
cient. therefore. to say that TINS metnod
hardly needs to be considered. In the
first place, this method of changing the
Constitution is just as difficult as the
method already described. 1t is just as
time consuming and Just as unlikely to
succeed for in the second method. as
in the first, the assent of three-fourths
of the States is required.
Have Had No Conventions.
We have never had a constitutional
convention since the original one that
wrote the Constitution. All the nine
teen amendments so far made nave
been made in the other manner. de-
scribed above. If any one should un-
dertake to bring about constitutional
convention for the purpose of repeating
the eighteenth amendment, he would
encounter such opposition as to make
the project utterly hopeless Not only
would he encounter the opposition OF
the drys, he would encounter the OPP
position of hosts besides-includtng the
opposition of many of his wet frlenos::
Because a constitutional convention, II
brought about at all, could not be held
down to the consideration of prohibl-
ton alone. It would engage in gen.
eral overhauling of the Constitution
Everything would be thrown on the
table, pulled to pieces, and made over.
In the words of one writer, a conStltu-
tional convention would result in "a
general restatement of the Constltu-
ton; many of its provisions are ar
chaic." That phrase alone is enough
to suggest the widespread opposition
convention. Very few persons-very
few, indeed-would be willing. for the
purpose of repeating prohibition, to
throw the whole Constitution into the
pot and have it all rewritten.
The net of all this is, the words
quoted above Intoxicating liquors
for beverage purposes (are) hereby
prohibited" are in the Constitution.
They will remain in the Constitution
so long as minimum OF 13 states
want them to remain in.
Will Last Generation.
That is the same as saying those
words will remain in the Constitution
at least during the lifetime of the pres
ent generation If prohibition is, as
Mr. Hoover once said, noble expert
ment," the experiment is going to last
at least a generation. The work Of Mr..
Hoover's commission will be to tell US
how best to conduct tf1at experiment,
and how best to get along while the
experiment is under way.
The reader will now ask: "Is there
nothing, then, that can be done about
prohibition? Can Mr.. Hoover's COM
mission do nothing about it? Is the
present status of prohibition unalter-
able? Can there be no ameloration
of it?
10 GIl6S6 QuSSUIOIlo CIIC dIlo"tl Aob
something can be done. There is an
area within which the present status
of prohibition can be ameliorated, with
in which there is latitude for Mr..
Hoover's commission to make recon-
mendations that are practicable.
Easily Changed.
At this point we depart from the Con-
stitution. We depart from the thing
that can only be changed by agree
ment of three-fourths of the States. We
pass now away from the Constitution
and into the field of mere statutes. We
pass to statutes which are simple acts
of Congress and which can be changed
by a simple majority of Congress.
In this field quite a good deal can
be done. For example, the Volstead act
makes an extremely austere definition
of what constitutes an intoxicating
liquor" The Volstead act says that any
liquor containing more than half of one
per cent alcohol is intoxicating ana
is therefore forbidden. That is an arol-
trary definition.
That definition, as it happens, was
not invented by the drys. 1t was in
vented by the vets; that is. by the
brewers and distillers, when they were
on top in politics-and the drys merely
adopted this definition when they got
on top. In the old days the brewers
and distillers wanted to have mo-
nopoly of the sale of alcoholic liquor.
They wanted, so far as they could ac-
complish it, to have monopoly OF all
drinks. They were jealous of the makers
of what were called soft drinks root
beer, ginger ale, sarsaparilla and the
like. And SO the brewers and dlstlllers,
being at that time dominant in politics,
brought it about that any drink con-
tanning more than one-half of one per
cent of alcohol should be regarded in
law as alcoholic. The definition was
made for the purposes of taxation. The
brewers wanted to require the makers
Of soft drinks pay the same tax as
themselves.
Can Discard Definition.
Mr. Hoovers commission, if it should
see fit can recommend that this anti
quated and arbitrary definition of what
constitutes an Intoxicating liquor be
cast aside. 1t can recommend deh-
milton that is closer to the fact, just
how high percentage of alcohol might
be permitted would be matter OF
judicial Interpretation. A common Judg--
ment is that roughly, let us say,
OF per cent alcohol is the maximum.
That would be as far as any conlmls-
sion or any laWmaking body could 90.
Neither the commission nor any law
making body can legalize the thing
which the prohibition amendment for
bids; namely, Intoxicating liquors"
The courts would not let them. That
is. the courts would invalidate any
statute permitting the sale of liquor
having more than or per cent al
collol.
There are many other changes-in the
enforcement acts, but not in the Con-
stitution-which the commission can
recommend and which Congress, If 1t
chooses, can enact. The Volstead act
4 he Y,Y.nIinifipf1