Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-18
A Showdown on Prohibition.

| A Showdown on Prohibition.
When Senator Blaine Of Wisconsin
introduced. as his contribution to the
celebration of the tenth anniversary o!
national prohibition. a resolution t.
repeal the eighteenth amendment, Il
was widely hailed as a challenge t.
prohibition. Some of the dry Senators
have conceived the idea that it woulc
be as well to accept the challenge and
vote on the Blaine resolution. WHY
| not? There has been a great surge Of
! prohibition talk in recent weeks
Why not take a vote in the Senate
and in the House, too, to demonstrate
to the country just how its chosen rep.
! resentatives feel about the matter O,
| prohibition? These members of the
Senate and Of the House keep their ears
close to the ground to detect public
sentiment in their States and districts
If there is anything like surging wet
sentiment at home it will be revealed
| in the votes in the Senate and House
particularly on the eve of a congress
| oAOlAdA POlAIACdl CdIlpdlSIl.
Few believe that the resolution to re-
peal the eighteenth amendment would
be backed by more than a bakers dozen
Of Senators, If that number. Out of
total membership Of ninety-six Sena-
tors, the Blaine resolution would have
to be supported by sixty-four to be
adopted, or two-thirds Of the Senate
with all accounted for. If the roll call
on the resolution showed, for example,
that eighty-four Senators favored the
eighteenth amendment and twelve
stood for it, wet stock would slip quite
bit in the political market. It is
doubtful that the vets want any such
showdown. Bad politics from their
point OF view. On the other hand, such
vote might go far to substantiate the
claim Of the drys that prohibition has
come to stay in this country, despite
the vociferous efforts of the vets to
prove otherwise. It has been estimated
that the vets have more than fifty
votes and less than a hundred In the
House, which has q total membership
OF 435. 1t requires a two-thirds vote
In that body, too, to adopt a resolu-
ton proposing change in the Consti-
tuition. They might fare q little bet
ter In the showing made In the House.
but 1t would still be woefully weak If
a vote were taken on Q resolution to
repeal the eighteenth amendment
A showdown on prohibition, such as
now suggested In the Senate, NAV
come. but then again it may not. It
seems quite certain that it will not
come unless Senator Blaine himself
presses for action on his resolution In
the Senate judiciary committee and In
the Senate itself. It is one thing to
get wide publicity for the introduction
OF . resolution challenging national
prohibition, and another thing to get
wider publicity for the overwhelming
defeat OF such proposition. It does
not seem probable that the drys will
go to the length of moving to take up
the Blaine resolution themselves, even
though they may be perfectly willing
to have such a test Of strength in the
Senate. Some Of them fear that q
drive on their part to bring up the
resolution might be misinterpreted.
There is the political angle as it
affects the individual member of the
Senate and the House to be considered,
too. Prohibition is an active issue in a
number of the States and congressional
districts, particularly where wet senti-
ment is strong. It does not affect the
States Of the West and Middle West ex-
cept Wisconsin, or of the South. But it
Is asitating some of the Eastern and
Northern States, for example Massa-
chusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Con-
! necticut and Maryland. Comparatively
the group Of States in which the vets
are showing real signs Of strength is
small. But the issue may have its
erect on the individual Senators and
members Of the House from these States
to a very large degree. Some Of them
would see vote on the prohibition
amendment with very little enthusiasm
knowing that whichever way they
answered on roll call they would alien
ate votes.
Resolutions for the repeal Of the
eighteenth amendment made their APP
pearance in Congress Immediately after
it was adopted. They have been pigeon
holed in committees Of the Senate and
House for a decade. A showdown on the
repeal proposal might help to clear the
atmosphere and make it possible for the
American people and the American