The Washington times., 1929-02-20
IN SADDLE
DEPEND ON
HOOVER
ny GEORGE n. HOLMES

hy UEUhuE ~. ttURAMAS
II there ever had been any doubt
about the drys being in the saddle
In Congress-booted and spurred and
riding hard-that doubt was dis.
PEELED today.
The dying seventieth Congress,
with only II days Of life left, is
overwhelmingly dry,
The new Seventy-first, which
comes into being with the advent of
the Hoover Administration, will be
still dryer. ---- as...
Patiently, therefore, any Legislative
reform or moderation Of prohibition
lis projected into those far-distant
realms where the eye at present can.
not reat Il,
The Senate demonstrated this in a
most conclusive fashion by adopting
the drastic Jones bill. which more
than doubles the present penalties
for violation of the Volstead act.
Under its provisions 1t would be pos
sfbIe for a judge to send a hip,flasE
toter to prison for five years and i'm.
pose a fine of $4,000.
The bill passed the Seuate after
th1 most dram, tic wet-and-dry fight
Congress has seen In years. The
vote was 66 to IS. 1t now goes to
the House.
Its fate in the lower chamber Ia
uncertain-not because the House
is any wetter than the Senate, for
it Is more arid-but because the
short time remaining of the present
session and the parliamentary sit
uation may prevent its getting to
vote.
The intention of the drya IL tO
rush 1t to victory In the House IN
the next ten days. The vets hops
to stop 1t.
1t is a situation in which thG
voice of Herbert Hoover. the in
coming President, may conceiyably
play some part. Certainly, II
Hoover indicates by so much as g
lifted eyebrow that he wants Il
acted upon by the House 1t will
pass In a hurry. The drys are in
the saddle. they control the com
mittees and the votes, and they
can. if necessary, ride roughshod
over all opposition. The House il
more disciplined body than the
Senate.
Approval Expected
Hoover's position is not known
He has not expressed himself, al
least publicly. He said during the
campaign that prohibition was "a
noble experiment that must be
worked out constructively," but he
did not then, nor has he since, sc
far as is known, committed him
self directly upon the VoIstead Act
Dry Republicans, however, assume
that Hoover is in favor of putting
more teeth in prohibition enforce
ment, and they assume also thai
the Jones bill meets his approval
Right or wrong, that is their as
sumption, and 1t is upon that as
sumption that not few of his dry
supporters in the Senate voted
down all moderating amendments to
the Jones bill.
Senator Bingham (R OF Connects
cut proposed one sOftening amend
ment which would have specifically
exempted first offenders from the
maximum penalty of five years in
prison and 10000 fine. The Sen
ate voted that down. 81 to 81.
senator BhiHS NEb OF WISCONSIN,
proposed another amendment which
would have restricted application
of the maximum penalties to cases
wherein liquor was plainly manu-
featured for sale and commercial
disposal. The Senate voted that
down. 81 to 21.
In the end. the drys accepted a
compromise amednment which sin
vited" the courts TO discriminate
between casual or slight violations
and sO-calIed regular bootiegging or
attempts to cOmmercialiZe.