The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1930-02-21

now argue, that such an amend
ment goes beyond the fair province
of government
Sees Blow to Constitution
Certainly, the leaders of pro-
hlbition showed scant respect for
the constitution when they wrote
this illegitimate amendment into
that noble instrument and thus de-
stroyed its perfect symetry and
turned a wise compact of govern
ment into a mere police code.
Certainly they had scant re-
spect for the constitution when
they thus destroyed its basic prin-
ciple of home rule and in this
matter of daily habit relegated the
sovereign states to the ignomini-
Gus position of mere police prov
inces. The constitution has suffer-
ed many changes some of which
have impaired its symmetry and
beauty but none that is compare
bic to the eighteenth amendment
in its destructive effect upon the
proud conscienciousness of the
once sovereign states"
Denies We Are Lawbreakers
"The fact that, after ten years
of enforcement, with the expendi-
ture of hundreds of millions of
dollars and CHASTITY sacrifice of
many lives, the prohibition law is
still unenforced damns it beyond
any Defense" said Mr.. Beck, de-
nying the oft-repeated assertion
that American are not a law-abid-
ing people.
what effect, then, has prohibi-
ton had upon the American peo-
ple?" Beck asked, as he continued
THAT it has not increased their
respect for law, which is the vital
spirit of any government, must
be conceded, but it is of far great
er consequence that prohibition
has organized our country upon a
vast scale of collective hypocrisy
and, like a cancer, this spirit of
double-dealing is eating away the
moral fibre of the American peo-
pie. The more you try to enforce
it, the greater the spread of hy-
pocrisy.
Cities Increased Need of Jails
eve were told that prohibition
would empty the jails and we have
just voted millions to build more
federal prisons to accommodate
the thousands who are being driv-
en- there by the law, many of whom
might have been useful citizens.
refuse to believe that any system
that indicts a thousand American
citizens a week in our federal
courts, and in many cases destroys
their self respect, is of any real
advantage to the development OF
American manhood"
"The English speaking race has
never taken tyrannical laws lying
down." he warned. "Their concep-
, ton of craftsmanship is to CON
, tinue to fight until it is won. They
believe, with Lincoln, that M
question is ever settled until it j:
settled right, and they are ne
more afraid than Lincoln to b
temporarily in a minority"
"One way of settling the prob
lem would be-" Beck said, "to re-
store the institutions of a once
self respecting people and the di
rect way to end this system Of
tyranny and hypocrisy would be Il
, repeal the eighteenth amendment
and thus leave to the states the
adjustment of the problem, in &C
cordance with their local condi
tons and several necessities"
Admitting the present and in
! superable difficulties of securing
such a repeal" he declared tina
fortunately the American peopl
|. are not so impotent that they can
not undo this gigantic folly with
! out first securing the consent o
!. three-fourths of the states"
"To make a formal addition b
the constitution, such consent is
: necessity" Beck said, "but the en-
!. forcement of any clause of tn
y constitution, which is not self-en
forcing depends upon the prepon
: derating will of each living gener
s alton, for, as Jefferson well sale
: the constitution is for the Twin
2 and not for the dead
n On the Powers of Congress
o "a clear distinction must b
II made between the clauses of til
constitution that in themselves al
y mandate to congress, on tn
, one hand, and mere delegatio
n to congress of power 30 do thin
le "For example, the constitution
I. by a specific mandate required
lie census every ten years and the n
D. cent lamentable failure of congress
D to comply with that imperatiy
4 mandate admits of no excuse, fl
c. our duty was largely ministerial
r. hut the constitution also gives
I'd congress the power to regulat
d. commerce. The method of regul'
ic t;on Is a matter of political di
erection. and If congress is of OPT
in ION as it was for the first centul
* of the republic, that the interes
.. If commerce were best subserv'
/? bv the absence of any federal re
xLs~ x~oxxfd v,of couStifr1