Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-12
WET DECLARATION STUDY
SHOWS MIXTURE OF MINDS
Eight Views Against Amendment Leave
Optional State Manufacture and Sale
as Only Alternative of Present Status.

| time and energetic fighter against the
prohibition amendment. DR.. Butler pro-
| poses that,
Following repeal of the eighteenth
amendment the Republican party Of the
State OF New York (shall adopt such
measures as will =. effectively abolish
the saloon whether open or concealed
Next, In the same spirit and with
| equal strength, Gov. Franklin Roosevelt
explaining his wet proposal, declares:
i am positive in saying that there
must be some definite assurance that BY
no possibility at any time or in any
place can the old saloon come hack
TO the same effect, the New York
State Democrotic platform pledges the
party after repeating the promotion
amendment to new system which
snail definitely and effectively Danish
the saloon"
Smith Views Similar.
Finally, ex-Gov. Alfred E. Smith of
New York. in stating concretely his DO
sitlon, said: There is no question here
! OF the return of the saloon" He added
that the system he visualizes is without
the old evil of the saloon"
TO this summary may be added re-
cent Official declaration Of the outstand-
ing wet organization, the Association
opposed to Prohibition, which specif-
lcaily declared that nothing in their
program looks to the return of the sa-
loon and that, in the associations
| dodo bird" -S
Now what does this mean? Here are
SIX out OF the eight most Outstanding
opponents OF the wet position declaring
| tnat their several programs to not CON-
template the return of the saloon-in-
oeed, condemning the saloon in words
as marsh as the Anti-Saloon League
itseH could find in any dictionary of
myecLVe, cine other two of the eight
Ritchie of Maryland, do not mention
the saloon; they state their Opposition
10 the eighteenth amendment in broad
Terms, merely calling for return of
control TO the States, without defining
what they would substituted
inese six outstanding wet leaders In
making 1t clear they do not want the
return OF the saloon, in denouncinr
mat institution, must be accepted as
Stunning this good faith. lust what /.
meant by this attitude they all take2
The saloon was an institution for the
retail sale OF liquor by private interests
Tor private profit. When these leaders
propose outlawry of the saloon do thew
mean outlawry for all retail sale of
Iiquor by private vendors? One infers
eiley must mean this We cannot as
sumo that they contemplate the retail
sale OF liquor by private interests
under some new name, or some name
other than the saloon. Saloon" has
long Deen word of odium. There was
an old-time school of statesmanshin
personified by Talleyrand, who said:
The chief business of statesmen Is to
md new names for institutions which
under their old names have become
odious to the public" But there 4 no
such UNDERSTANDING here.
Inese wet leaders mean that in the
| new status they propose there shall
BE- nowhere In the United States. any
private, retail sale Of intoxicating bey-
erages.
Meaning Is Reiterated.
That this is the meaning is reiterated
over and over by one of the wet leaders.
Mr.. futile. He shows clearly that In
ms mind. and presumably In the minds
OF the other leaders, the term Saloon"
and the term private traffic" mean the
same thing. Repeatedly he couples the
Two terms as meaning the same. He
would, he says, Ensure that the saloon
or private traffic system shall continue
to be outlawed and forbidden" He
~AOb ~AOfS okAJ VI LIU1IeCb
return TO system of saloon or private
traffic" His plan includes Completely
outlawing and forbidding everywhere in
the United States the saloon system and
its equivalent, the private traffic in in
toxlcating beverages for private use"
II, under these proposed changes, the
saloon and the private traffic in liquor
shall continue to be outlawed. then we
have two important observations One
Is that the old-time commercial foes of
prohibition, the old Liquor Dealers
Association" powerful in politics ma
tionally and through its branches To-
cally, can have no possible interest in
the present campaign for getting rid
of the prohibition amendment Appar-
emily these six outstanding wet lead
ers, able to speak for the great mass
OF the vets, are just as much opposed
to the private sale of liquor as the
Anti-Saloon League itself. Apparently
the commercial interests associated
with liquor have no more to hope from
these wet leaders than from the drys
The other observation, even more
important, is that II there is to be no
private" liquor traffic, then these
leaders who phrased their declarations
in these words must contemplate that
such future manufacture and distribu-
ton of liquor as they propose to have
in the United States, shall be solely
Government function. THAT is, a State
government function) Not all the six
Continued on Third Page)