Evening star., 1930-06-04
Opinion Conflicts as to Goal
In Digest's Wet-Dry Report

when 10 comes TO actually voting 1ur
the return Of the saloon, lose their
&C grouping modification and ENFORCE
ment In the total figures, the Topeka
Daily Capital states: "The moral enecS
of the Digest telephone directory vote Is
to place enforcement OF the elghteentn
amendment In stronger position than
before the poll was undertaken" Tne
significance Of the Pennsylvania pr1-
mary Is emphasized by the Rochester
, Times Union and the Wheeling Intel.
IiRencer, The Lexington Leader sugs
gests these defects in the poll: "The
vote should have been q straight one
on prohibition or repeal, uncomph.
Gated by any question Of modification
In the second place. the ballots should
smaller towns and in the rural dis
tricts as In the large cities. In the
third place men and women voters
should have received an equal number
Of ballots"
judging from the returns, the dis
tribution was very faulty" maintains
the Shreveport Journal, while thS
ministers edition of the Chattanooga
News argues: Everybody knows that
practically all the agitation about pro-
hibition Is stirred up by the vets who
wish to secure a change IN the law.
It is therefore q fair inference that
practically all the vets registered their
protests, and the non-voting 100000
are 50 satisfied with the situation that
they did not care TO take the slight
trouble to register their attitude"
Typical of the replies to this group
of arguments is the statement from the
Seattle Daily Times that "the majority
~ "A OYs
close to the cities and towns; that
current returns from this years
census show an increase In this trend
Of population" and that "cities and
towns did all the wrestling with the
evils Of the saloon, Just as they now
have practically all the trouble with
the bootleggers and moonshiners, the
expensive processes of attempted en-
forcement, and the costly congestion Of
the courts"
More are In favor Of outright re-
peal than are in favor of continuance
Of the present policy" declares the
Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, while the
Duluth Herald calls the poll anything
but favorable to prohibition and the
Richmond News Leader holds that the
result "iS certain TO encourage those
who believe that prohibition is a fail
ure and that some other method Of
LluoG Dc SOuBLlJ.
"At least large plurality of the
people, and doubtless large majority
when the modification vote is analyzed.
are opposed to prohibition and want
the amendment repealed" according to
the st. Louis Times, while the Haver-
hill Gazette views change as 'in-
evitable and not far distant" and the
New York Times suggests: only pro-
fessional or bigoted drys deny that the
Nationwide vote just completed by the
Literary Digest showed two things
plainly. One is that the majority are
dissatisfied with present conditions.
The other Is that repeal sentiment has
made its way powerfully into what for
years has been considered securely dry
territory"
Confirmation In statistical form of
our private judgment and experience
as 10 the rising tide of protest" is
pointed out by the Providence Journal,
and as to the future the Syracuse
Herald takes!the position: Those op-
posed to prohibition as it now op-
crates must Cooperate in making a
new order a success; they must be
quick. to condemn and fight lawlessness
and corruption; they must be foremost
champions Of law and order"