Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-12
BY MARK SULLIVAN.


have been at least three i'm
wv portant declarations from
highly placed sources look
ing to a change In the pres
ent status of prohibition-looking to
the substitution of something else for
what now is. Going back as far as the
acceptance speech of ex-Gov. Alfred E.
Smith Of New York, when he was a
candidate for the presidency, on Au-
gust %, 1923, there have been at least
eight such proposed programs from
persons or organizations having high
places in national life.
The purpose of the present article is
to assemble the gists of these propos-
ais, with the purpose of determining
| roughly, just what, specifically, the ad-
vocates of change are trending toward
just what is to be the proposed al
tentative to the existing situation, as
| Stunning there should be Showdown"
! between what now Is and something
else.
BY examining these wet proposals and
finding what common thread runs
through them we may be able to bring
clarihcation to one small facet of a
question that Is complex at best and
| at present Is extremely mixed.
For the purpose of the present analy-
sis the wet spokesman whose proposals
are examined are: The recent platform
declaration Of the New York State Re-
publican Convention, the present Re-
publican candidate for Governor of
New York, Charles H. futile; the pres
ent Republican candidate for Senator
from New Jersey, Dwight Morrow; the
Democratic candidate for President in
1928, eX-Gov. Alfred z. Smith of New
York; the longtime antagonist of pro-
hibttion, DR.. Nicholas Murray Butler,
president Of Columbia University; the
present Democratic candidate for sec
ond term as Governor of New York.
Franklin Roosevelt; the recent New
York State Democratic platform, and.
finally, one of the earliest and most
persistent of the opponents of prohi-
bition, Gov. Albert Richie of Mary
land.
Identities Of Views.
In the utterances of these eight wet
leaders and organizations we can find
some significant identities of view about
what should be substituted for the
present status of prohibition, though it
cannot be said they all agree upon any
one program ((excepting, of course, the
repeal of the present prohibition
amendment or the modification of that
amendment by another one having in
substance the effect of repeaD.
Surprisingly - surprisingly to the
writer and, I suspect, surprisingly to
many readers also-is the repetition by
wet leaders of an affirnatio that they
have no intention of bringing back the
saloon On the contrary, they agree
with the drys that the saloon must be,
as one wet leader puts it, forever out
lawed"
The passages that show this inten-
ton on the part of wet leaders are fire.
quent and strongly stated. The New
York State Republican platform, after
affirming that I'VE urge the repeal of
the eighteenth amendment" turns to
the saloon and proposes, in strong and
specific words, to ban it
Finally, and especially, we pledge
our party to the immediate amendment
of the constitution of the State of New
York In such fashion as will effectually
and forever forbid and prevent the re-
turn of the saloon"
IN the same spirit the Republican
candidate for Governor of New York,
Charles H. Tuttle, in passage after pas
sage In his formal statement on prohi-
bition, says that the saloon must be out
lowed. Mr.. Tuttle repeats this convic-
ton about banning the saloon so often
and so strongly that there can be no
possible doubt about what is in his
mind. Mr.. Tuttle is as "anti-saloon" as
the very head of the Anti-saloon
League.
Some of the passages in Mr.. TuttIe's
proposal read as follows:
Emphasis Against Saloon.
"The good in national prohibition
lies in its outlawing of the saloon and
the saloon system. The result (of
Mr. Tuttle's proposaD would be to insure
that the saloon or private traffic system
shall continue to be outlawed and for
hidden by the Constitution everywhere
in the United States. favor
constitutional guarantee completely
outlawing and forbidding everywhere
in the United States the saloon system
and its equivalent, the private traffic in
intoxicating beverages for private profit.
I oppose any direct or indirect
return to a system of saloon or private
traffic in intoxicating beverages for pri-
vate profit.
Here are the New York Republican
State convention and its candidate for
Governor, Charles H. Tuttle. clearly
stating that while they favor repeal Of
the prohibition amendment, they favor
in words even more strong-the per-
manent Punishment of the saloon. They
do not propose to bring back the saloon;
they propose to keep it forever outlawed.
The third to emphasize the same note
is DR.. Nicholas Murray Butler, long