Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-26
Charges Excess in Trying to
Force Moral Issue on
People.
BRANDS PROHIBITION
."LEGISLATIVE FAILURE"
Holds Crusade Is for Liberties as
Sacred as Those Fought for
in Revolution.
By the Associated Press

BY the Associated Press.
Rev. John Augustine Ryan, director
OF the social action department of the
National Catholic Welfare Council. as
serted today at the House judiciary
committees hearing on prohibition that .
as result of the dry laws President
Hoover, Attorney General Mitchell and
the National Law Enforcement Com
mission members had committed an ex-
cess In public utterances in trying 10
force moral issue on the people.
DR.. Ryan, who also is identified with
Catholic University, said that the
noble experiment" already belonged
definitely in the category of legislative
failures
When a determined and conscious
majority of the American people" he
declared, decide that they no longer
want national prohibition. thew will And
legal ways to end 1t, despite the I'M
democratic barriers erected by tories,
fanatics, tnduStrialists and autocrats.
NO doubt 1t will be a long, hard
struggle, but those who take it IN can
sustain themselves with the assurance
that as have written elsewhere. they
are engaged in great crusade for
fundamental liberties that are not one
Wnlt less sacred than those which were
fought for by the men who made the
American Revolution"
Another witness was Wilton Lambert
local attorney, representing the Federal
OlSpenSary and Tax Reduction League
He declared that conditions are far
worse than ever before" He declared
tnat the young people were openly
drinking in automobiles. Hip TASKS.
ne SAID, were common at entertain
mentS at night in the District of Co.
lumbia. The courts, he said, in Wash
1ngton were crowded with prohibition
cases.
Physicians he consulted. he added
had advised him that the general health
OF the poor people who were unable to
puy good liquor was being broken down
by poisoned liquor.
Home brew has turned the human
stomach INTO brewery watts, he con-
tlnued, and as a consequence stonachs
OF homemade beer drinkers were being
ruined.
Objection Is OverruIed.
Still another Washington witness pice
Hooe. an attorney was interrupted In a
discussion OF possible notification of
me eighteenth amendment through
failure to enforcement laws by Repre-
SehtaCIve Dyer, Republican, Missouri,
VINO objected to his phase being Injected
INTO the proceedings. Chairman Graz
nam, however, ruled the witness could
CalK ABOUT any phase of prohibition.
ana Hooe, who was for three wears
prohib1tlon prosecutor, continued
:, he advocated modification to permit
the sale, under Government supervision
OF liquor in packages.
-, Hooe said that he did not believe
Gnat Lne VolStead law would permit the
manufacture of home brew and wines
In the homes as proposed in the Ho,Ise
recently by Representative Fort. Repub-
mean, OF New Jersey, q dry advocate
| he said this would be Unconstitutional
he charged that the Volstead act was
class discrimination" because it pro-
tecteo the farmer and his hard cider"
he held that the eighteenth amend
ment would be nullified If the Volstead
law law was repealed and no enforcement
law was enacted.
the eighteenth amendment. he said
struck at the very foundation of the
Constitution.
Demands Outright Repeal.
DR.. Ryan followed DR.. Nicholas MIR
ray Butler, president of Columbia TJni-
verslty In New York City and long
prominent figure in the educational and
political worlds, and Wallace Irwin of
the authors and artists committee. who
demanded in statements the OUTRIGHT
repeal OF the eighteenth amendment.
DR.. Francis j. Cherry, head of the
Psycopathic Hospital in Cook County.
ILL.,, where Chicago is located, said there
had been material increase in alec
hol1c cases for both sexes since the dry
statute was enacted. DR.. Cherry, who
testified in person. was the first wit
ness before the House judiciary COM
mittee which is considering bills and
resolutions proposing repeal of the pro-
hibition amendment or modification of
the dry statute in one form or another.
DR.. Ryan asserted the mobile expert
ment" had proved a failure and added
that even if prohibition had proved Of
reasonable degree of enforcement, I
should want to see it abolished
Deeper study of its effects and i'm
plications has convinced me that it
is socially undesirable method of
dealing with liquor traffic" he said.
ut violates personal liberty and per-
sonal rights, is fundamentally undemo-
cratic and fosters widespread insin-
certify.
while was not in favor of national
prohibition when it was enacted, 1 did
accept it Loyalty and looked upon the
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