Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-10
A Little Patience.

Chairman Wickersham's definite an
nouncement that the. Law Enforcement
Commission would have q report on
prohibition ready for Congress IN De-
cember should serve TO end some Of the
conjectures that have been flying thick
and fast regarding the commissions
probable procedure. The picture built
by some OF these published stories gives
the impression that the commission is
q hotbed of internal strife, its mem
bers torn between conflicting desires
to soft-pedal on prohibition, to be
brutally frank and strongly critical, to
say that prohibition has been a bowling
success, to make the report politically
expedient or to delay discussion Of pro-
hibition and put all its steam into a
paper on overtime parking.
Mr.. Wickersham has been frank
enough to say that as . matter Of fact
the commission will probably have
report ready for Congress, and that
should the commission find that pro-
hibition is not enforceable, it win GER
tainly say So His frankness should be
rewarded by q little patience on the
part Of the Nation, which Is expectantly
awaiting the commissions findings on
what is generally admitted to be the
most-discussed question of the day.
The demands now reported to be be-
fore the commission for IN immediate
report on prohibition are rather dim
cult to understand. No matter what the
report contained. the commission would
be charged with releasing it for political
effect If It were made public before the
elections. But aside from that, the re-
port Is intended primarily for the In
formation OF Congress. Congress viii
not convene before December, and there
is no reason why it should be given out
In advance Of the session.
Interest in prohibition that has been
made more keen by political develop
ments in the congressional campaigns Is,
Of course, responsible for the pressure
brought to bear on the commission for
its views on, the matter now. But one
wonders whether the public generally is
not counting too much. on the extent OF
the ground to be covered In the COM
missions forthcoming report. The COM
mission has been In existence for only
a year and q half. The people Of the
world have been puzzled over the pro-
hibition question and how best to solve
it for many hundreds Of years. The
commission has eleven committees, only
one Of which Is concentrating its study
on the problem of prohibition enforce
ment. And last January the commits
sion issued . preliminary report on
prohibition enforcement, the general
content Of which gave no indication
that It's second report would be final or
conclusive.
1t might have been wise, in the light
of later developments, If the commission
had announced at its first meeting, in
March, 1929, that it would devote two
or more years to Q thorough study Of
prohibition, at the end Of which time
it would submit full and complete
report of its findings. This would at
least have served to clarity matters that
subsequent conjecture and discussion
have left cloudy and uncertain. But as
the commissions report is not going to
usher in the millennium any more than
it will solve the question Of prohibition,
its members should be given all the time
they need to assemble vast amount OF
data and draw their conclusions. Moth
ing is TO be gained by haste.