Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-20
Prohibition and Politics.

terday in the Senate undertook a lee
ture of the Hoover administration on
the ground that 1t was lodging prohibit
ton enforcement. He took as vehicle
| for his remarks resolution offered by
Senator Jones of Washington, an ardent
dry, providing for the creation of Joint
congressional committee to investigate
and report what changes should be
made in governmental administration
of the dry laws. Incidentally Senator
Glass used up quite bit Of time Of the
Senate when that body might have been
adopting the resolution, which had been
recommended by President Hoover. In
the end the Senate adjourned for its
! two months recess without acting on
the Jones resolution, which now must
60 over for final action until the House
returns In September. for that body too.
must act upon 1t. There was chance
of putting the resolution through both
houses yesterday. But the debate In
the Senate on the resolution ran along
until after the House had adjourned.
The Senator from Virginia is aware
of the fact that legislation is necessary
before the prohibition unit can be re-
moved from the Treasury Department
and transferred to the Department of
Justice. He knows that legislation is
required to bring about any otheE
transfers which may be necessary. He
n
dent has recommended a congressional
committee to draw up plans for such
Hesitation, charging that it would
merely delay action and also that the
President is seeking to shift the burden
of making the transfers to the Con-
sress. The President Is already on rec
ord In his inaugural address In favor
Of a transfer of the prohibition en-
forcement unit from the Treasury to
the Department of Justice. SO Senator
Glass argument that the President is
seeking to avoid responsibility in this
matter falls fat. Furthermore, the
President in the end must approve
the legislation put through Congress.
Mr.. Hoover called the special ses-
sion of Congress to deal with two great
subjects, farm relief and tariff revision,
both of them held to require emer-
gency treatment. 1t has been obvious
all along that If the President In
sisted upon prohibition legislation in
this session, 1t would lead to long de-
bate, and perhaps block action on these
matters for which the special session
was called. Yesterdays debate over the
| Jones resolution was merely sample
Of what might have been expected had
measure been taken up seeking to
strengthen prohibition enforcement.
The President, therefore. wisely is let
ting the matter go over to the regular
session of Congress. But Senator Glass
ignores that. In his opinion the Presi-
! dent is derelict In his duty.
Senator Glass has voted dry on iegis-
lation that has come before him for
years. He has been accounted an
ardent dry In the past. But Senator
Glass gave his support last year to AL
fred e. Smith for President. Mr.
Smiths first act after he had been
nominated by the Democrats at the
Houston conventional convention par
ticipated in by Senator Glass--was to
declare he intended to use his best
| efforts, II elected President of the
United States, to bring about repeal or
modification of the national dry laws
Senator Glass and other regular
Democratic leaders of Virginia imme-
diately found themselves afoul of the
strong dry sentiment of their State
The dry Democrats. voting against Mr.
| Smith, made it inevitable that the
state should go for President Hoover
These same Democrats consider Sena-
tor Glass backslider because he fol-
lowed the Smith banner in the last
campaign. They have already organ
lied at Roanoke to elect an anti
Smith dry Democrat for governor this
year, and there is every indication that
they intend to try to get the political
scalp of Senator Glass himself when he
comes up for reelection next year.
The Virginia Senator's attack upon
the President, whom the dry Demo
Gratis of Virginia supported in the last
campaign, in which he out Hoover;
Hoover in his demand for prohibition
enforcement, may not have beer
! designed to ingratiate himself again ir
the good graces of the drys of his
state. But at least 1t may be con-
sidered an attack upon some of the dry
leaders in his STATE who turned agains
him last year and who promise to d.
the same in 1880.