Evening star., 1929-06-09

sion to study law enforcement
is at work It will study, among
other things prohibition. Many
persons expect the commission,
when it completes its work, will recon-
mend something new about prohibition,
and that thereafter the sale Of liquor
in the United States will have a
changed status.
That the commission will study pro-
hibitior is certain. That its report
will have something to say about pro-
llibition is certain.
The aim of the present article is to
state, with an attempt at 1-2-3 SIM
plicity Just what is the present status
of prohibition and just what are the
limits to what can be done about it
Just how far it is possible for this COM
mission, or any commission, or anybody
whatever, to go.
Amendment Is Basis.
The foundation stone of such a dis
cussion is the eighteenth amendment
to the Constitution. That amendment
is the charter of the commission so far
as it deals with prohibition 1t is their
charter and it is also its limitation.
The material words of the eighteenth
amendment read: 49, The manu-
facture. sale or transportation of intoXi
eating liquors within (and) the impor-
tdLlCn LilbIbDl lIlLD LllG OIllLCu
States for beverage purposes. is
hereby prohibited"
Those words are binding They have
been put to the test of the Supreme
Court, and have been held valid and
mandatory. In 1920. soon after the
amendment was adopted, some persons
interested. including two States-NeW
Jersey and Rhode Island-brought suits
to test the constitutionality of the
he M, SiHn
attacking the amendment was as strong
as could be secured it included Elihu
Root.
Validity Upheld.
In the end the Supreme Court de-
clared the amendment valid. The court
said that the amendment
rs operative throughout the entire
territorial limits of the United States;
Ends the legislative bodies. courts,
public officers and individuals within
those limits, and of its own force, in
validates every legislative act, whether
by Congress, State Legislature or by
territorial Assembly, which authorizes
or sanctions" what the amendment pro-
hibits.
That is the present status of pro-
n-constitutionally, legally. judi
cially That is where we must start
from. So long as this status exists,
no Intoxicating liquor for beverage
purposes" can be legally made or sold
in the United States, nor transported,
nor imported.
This is the status which the reader
should bear in mind. 1t is the status
to bear in mind.
Can Anything Be Done?
The question is, can the commission
do anything about this status, and if
so, what?
Conceivably the commission can rec
ommend that the prohibition amend-
r1ent be repealed. The commission can
do this conceivably, but decidedly not
probably. For the commission merely
to recommend the repeal of prohibi-
bition would be, on its part, an eva
sion of the purpose it is supposed
TO fulfill. 1t would be an evasion be-
cause, as will be explained in a moment
repeal of the prohibition amendment is,
as practical matter, impossible within
the present generation.
For simplicity's sake, however, sup
pose the commission should recommend
that the prohibition amendment be re-
pealed. This brings us to the question,
Can the amendment be repealed, and if
so, by what process?
Can Be Repealed.
The prohibition amendment can be
repealed. The process of repeating it
is sirnple-but the process is also long
and difhcult-so long and difficult as to
be inpracticable in this generation.
Suppose (what is hardly supposable)
the commission should merely recon-
mend that the prohibition amendment
be repealed. Suppose that a great many
people should accept that recommended
40 Nf l.
ing the amendment should begin. Sup
pose all these things-and then con-
slider, first the time consumed; and,
second, the possibility-or, more accu-
rately, the impossibility-of its ever be-
ing accomplished.
First of all, two-thirds of Congress
must vote to repeal. The present Con-
gress is just about three-fourths dry
in each of the two houses. But suppose
this preponderance of dry sentiment in
Congress should be reversed by the COM
missions recommendation. and should
conclude to defer TO it. CThis as an ex-
tremely strong suppose" and quite
improbable one)
Process Extremely Slow.
Suppose that first step to be accom-
plished. Thereafter would remain the
next step, the extremely time -consum-
ing step. This step would consist of
voting TO repeal the prohibition amend
ment. If-and this is a very large "if
-thirty-Six States were quite willing
the time consumed would run to sew
eral years.
But thirty-six States would not be
willing. Conceivably 10 States might
be willing Conceivably even 20 State
might be willing. Conceivably, at the
outside. 25 States might be willing. But
it would require 36 States-each and
every one of 36 States And no person
living today having any serious judg-
ment about the distribution of dry and
wet thought throughout the United
States will accept the possibility that
36 States would turn wet within the life
time of the present generation.
The stubborn fact is that prohibition
Is now in1be6ded in the Constitution Of
the United States. The equally stub
born fact is that the trainers of the
Constitution wanted to make it difficult
TO alter that document. and did make
it difficult. To change the Constitution
requires not merely a ma iorjty senti-
ment it requires first of all. two
thirds sentiment as expressed in Con-
gress. Thereafter it requires a ma iority
sentiment in tnree-fourths of the States
in each and all Of three-fourths oi
the States.
Ratified by 46 States.
It is most important that the reader
if he wants to be clear in his minc
about this question, should understand
the difficulty-the impossibility as q
practical matter-of taking the eight.
eenth amendment out of the Constitu.
ton. To understand this there is ne
better way than to reflect upon tho
following facts:
To get prohibition into the Constitu
tion-that is, to pass the existing pro-
hibition amendment--it was necessary
for the drys to control three -fourths, o
&C ou+ Of t11a AZ GtafeS (Actuallv thI