Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-08
WickerSham Commission Is
Believed Ready to Favor
Beer and Wine.
BAN ON C0MMERCIALIzED
TRAFFIC STILL DESIRED
Report Will Go to Congress From
President-Long Fight Over
It Is Foreseen.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

The Wickersham Commission Is get.
ting ready to recommend to President
Hoover a revision of the present system
of distributing liquor.
While the members have by no means
agreed upon formula there is a dig
tinct leaning toward some method
which viii diminish the opportunity
of the bootleggers and the gangsters 70
ply their traffic.
For several days rumors have been In
circulation that the commission was
going TO recommend that beer contain.
ing 2.T5 per cent alcoholic content be
made legal. These rumors have a
their basis the differences being drawn
oy various chemists throughout the
country who received a QUESTIONABLE
from the commission asking their opin-
ION as to the amount of alcohol in beer
trat tney regarded as Intoxicating.
Difficult to Answer.
Incidentally, one chemist of note
stated that the questions were difficuIt
TO answer because beer taken alone pro-
duceS one effect, while the same beyer.
age, II consumed while eating a meal.
would produce quite another result
Anyway. the chemists of the country
have known for some time that The
Wickersham Commission wanted fnfor-
nation on this subject. It also came
10 the ears of manufacturers of beer
some OF whom promptly decided that
they mad better order new equipment 50
as to be able to resume manufacture az
real beer in their breweries.
Inc brewers may be good guessers AZ
to what is coming, but actuallv ali tl1af
mas happened so far is purely discus
sion, ana no matter what the Wicker
snam Commission recommends. IL win
Iake majority vote of Congress to nut
these recommendation into effect.
experience proves that even IL the
VETS secured majority the drys would
not De any too anxious to permit action
ana would have plenty of opportunity
OF both Houses.
Report Going to Congress.
This much is certain. however, Presi-
cent Hoover viii stand squarely on the
recommendation of the WickerghaTs,
commission and win submit them To-
congress early in December It has not
yet been determined whether the Wick
ersham report will. be made public
before the Presidents message is deliv-
cred to Congress the first week in De-
cember or whether the President him
self will make the first announcement
OF the finding in that message.
Prohibition Director Woodcock has
been called back to Washington for
the all-important conferences going on
now between the Wickersham Commits
sion and Government officials in the
preparation of the final report. The
Attorney General Is taking a prominent
part in the conferences and probably
an opinion from him will be needed by
the President in the construction Of
various provisions of the existing law
winch would be affected by the Wicker
sham recommendations.
Politically 1t would be a great adj
vantage from the Presidents viewpoint
to get rid Of the issue by transferring
1t to Congress- also it might be possible
for new legislation to be passed in adj
vance of 1892 and thus eliminate to q
certain extent the force of the present
issue which has developed so much re-
sentiment in both the wet and dry
camps-the dry, because the law is not
more strictly enforced, and the wet,
because of the growth in power Of the
bootlegger and gangster
Middle Of Road Position.
The middle-of- the-road position
which the Wickersham Commission
probably will take is that commercial
distribution of Intoxicating beverages
must be prevented and that the trafac
in liquor was the main objective OF
Government restriction and regulation.
In other words the brewing Of beer
and the making of wine for home use
by the individual may be regarded as
personal liberty which modification
Of the existing laws might bring about
without requiring any revision of the
eighteenth amendment
Already various decisions and legal
opinions have been rendered showing
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