Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-21
WICKERSTIAM BODY THOUGHT
UNDECIDED ON ENFOR CEMENT
Change of System Calling for Modification
Expected to Be Observation-Disclosures
of Amendment Not Vital, Is View.

ing their plans well in advance to avoid
it by striving to keep prohibition from
being made a party issue. 1t probably
accounts for the warning which went
out from Anti-Saloon League head
quarters last week that the presidential
campaign lis already on" and that
drys could afford to let no grass grow
under their feet In the present con-
gressional campaign II they did not
want to lose ground in the struggle for
control in 1882.
Meanwhile the extreme drys will re-
sist anything tending to give the modi-
f1cationist trend foothold in Congress
next Winter.
A division between the Republican
and Democratic parties on the question
of modification or outright repeal would
revolutionize the whole prohibition
aspect in the United States and force
the Anti-Saloon League and kindred
organizations to retreat from their pres
ent extreme stand.
AS to which of these positions would
make the stronger appeal TO the Nation
remains to be seen. The fact that
President Hoover, while keeping an
open mind on the fundamental prin-
ciple Of prohibition. has given no en-
couragement whatever to those Repub-
licans who seek TO force the question of
prefer modification to repeal, II he
should be convinced of the necessity
for any change at all.
The conclusions o. the Wickersham
commission are expected to weigh
heavily with the President. Senator
Frederic Walcott, Republican, of Con-
necticut, a close friend of the Presi-
dent, confirmed that belief the other
day when he said that the outcome of
the commissions inquiry into methods
of law observance and law enforcement
would probably furnish basis for the
administration to declare its position
on prohibition.
Leaders Concern Justified.
That there may be some justification
for the apprehension of dry leaders that
the trend in the Republican party is
toward modification is seen in the pri-
vate reaction Of party leaders to the
primary results
From one exceptionally highly placed
quarter comes the observation that the
advocates of repeal might f1nd them
selves outmaneuvered If the modifica-
tionists should bring about a simple act
of Congress restoring beer to the Nation
on short notice. 1t was estimated that
1t would take at least 10 years to repeal
the eighteenth amendment.
This observation comes from ma
tionally known Republican leader who
is generally understood to be dry. An
other who still prefers to remain anony-
nous submits that there is just as
much Justification under the eighteenth
amendment for per cent beer as there
is for one-half of / per cent.
The latter percentage, it is pointed
out, was developed as standard in the
old days when the powerful brewing in
terests we're struggling to hold dowr
the competition of ginger ale and root
beer
In this way the brewers managed 70
subject soft drinks to some Of the rigid
| restrictions applying 10 hard liquor. The
courts meantime had held in many
cases that per cent beer was not in
fact intoxicating. Yet the Volstead act
took the lower limit that had been fixed
paradoxically, by the brewers themselves
in an earlier fight.
Not a few members OF Congress
notably Senator James Couzens, Re-
publican, of Michigan, are on record as
favoring q per cent limit. William s.
Ware, the Philadelphia Republican boss
running for Senator In 1926, advocated
a ATS per cent standard. The repeal
demand has gained considerable ground
in both major parties since them.